wfn.org | Court gives clarity in dealing with gay pastors, bishop says

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 31, 2001  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-28-71B{501}

NOTE: For detailed coverage of the Judicial Council's recent decisions, see
UMNS stories #495 and #496.

A UMNS Report
By Tim Tanton*

Following the latest United Methodist Judicial Council decisions regarding
gay clergy, a few things have become clearer to Bishop Elias Galvan, leader
of the denomination's Seattle Area.
 
First, statements made by two pastors regarding their sexual orientation are
sufficient to initiate a review process of their ministerial standing and
relationship to the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, Galvan told United
Methodist News Service on Oct. 30. The Seattle Area comprises the annual
conference.

Second, the bishop said it's clear that he cannot deny the two pastors
ministerial appointments. "Therefore, they will be appointed immediately, as
soon as possible," he said.

Meeting Oct. 24-26 in Nashville, Tenn., the Judicial Council clarified for
Galvan's conference the relationship between two passages of the
denomination's Book of Discipline. The Pacific Northwest members had asked
the church's supreme court for a declaratory decision on what they viewed as
conflicting rules: One states that "self-avowed practicing homosexuals"
should not be ordained or appointed to serve in the church; the other
requires that all clergy members in good standing receive appointments. The
two pastors, the Rev. Karen Dammann and the Rev. Mark Edward Williams, were
deemed in good standing.

In a lengthy and complex decision, the nine-member court ruled that the
passages are not contradictory. Neither Williams nor Dammann was mentioned
by name in the decision.

"We certainly have a little more clarity now as to how those two paragraphs
relate, given the Judicial Council decision," Galvan said. 

The decision has given the conference a sense of direction about how to
proceed, he said. "We're going to begin to implement the decision of the
Judicial Council as best we understand it at the present time. It's a long
decision, and I'm not sure we understand all the implications at this time,
but there are a few things that are clear to us."

Williams is being reappointed pastor of his congregation, Woodland Park
United Methodist Church in Seattle, Galvan said. Williams, who had served as
pastor, was assigned to a different staff position at the church following
his announcement at the Pacific Northwest Conference's annual gathering last
June that he is a practicing gay man. The Rev. Bob Hoshibata, Seattle
District superintendent, was named interim pastor.

Negotiations are under way with Dammann for an appointment, Galvan said. 

Dammann had led a Seattle-area church in 1999 before going on family leave.
In a Feb. 14 letter to the bishop, she asked to be taken off family leave
and given an appointment with a local congregation. She also told the bishop
that she was in a covenanted same-gender relationship. Galvan responded that
he didn't see how he could give her an appointment without violating the
Book of Discipline, but that her case would be handled through the
appropriate process. During the annual conference clergy session in June,
she was taken off family leave, effective July 1, and Galvan did not give
her an appointment. 

Following the annual conference, the bishop's office negotiated with
Williams and Dammann to ensure that they had church work, though not clergy
appointments. The conference was willing to give Dammann an assignment with
the full salary and benefits that a pastor would receive, but she declined,
based in part on the expense involved in relocating and the tenuousness of
the job pending the Judicial Council meeting. Dammann is living in Amherst,
Mass., with her partner and their small son.

A third clergyperson, the Rev. Katie Ladd, declared her same-gender
orientation during the Pacific Northwest's June meeting, but she didn't
state that she was a practicing lesbian. She was kept on disability leave.

In an Oct. 30 interview, Dammann said Hoshibata had contacted her and that
they would be discussing her situation. 

"I don't want to shut any doors. I do want to be honest, though, and say we
have commitments here now," she said, explaining that her partner started a
new, permanent job two months ago. 

Besides the expense of moving, an additional factor is the awareness that
"there are people waiting to file charges."

"The (court's) decision seems to say that my membership should be reviewed
in light of my revelations," Dammann said. "I think that there's a mandate
for it in the decision, so I know some sort of process will certainly be
initiated."

Though gratified that the court ruled she should be appointed, Dammann said,
"I certainly don't want to receive an appointment in Seattle and then be
suspended immediately or shortly thereafter. That doesn't seem to be very
reasonable." 

The court stated that while the review is under way, "the bishop, with the
recommendation of the executive committee of the board of ordained ministry,
shall place the clergy person on suspension" in accordance with the Book of
Discipline. "The clergy person shall be relieved of all clergy duties, but
not from appointment during such suspension. If the process is not concluded
within the period of suspension, then the clergy person should be placed on
an involuntary leave of absence."

How quickly the review processes for Williams and Dammann will unfold is
unclear. No one has filed complaints against either pastor, Galvan said. The
council has said that the bishop or district superintendent should file
complaints if no one else does.

A review takes time, and the Book of Discipline specifies a process designed
to protect the rights of the person involved, Galvan said. "We're dealing
with the lives of persons and their careers. We want to be careful and
responsible and follow the Book of Discipline and be fair."

Damman said she was pleased that the Judicial Council came out strongly in
favor of fair and due process "for people like me." However, she also
encountered again the strong language of incompatibility, she said, a
reference to the denomination's official stand that the practice of
homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. "My family and I are
being told again ... 'you are not compatible with Christian teaching,'" she
said.

"There are some ominous parts to the decision," Dammann continued. "I think
the mandate to ask questions about genital sexual activity is going to be
interesting. ... I, for one, don't intend to answer questions about specific
genital practices with anybody." Such questions would be an "incredible
invasion of privacy," she said. 

In the decision, the council stated: "If, in the course of such
(ministerial) review, such person affirms that she is engaged in genital
sexual activity with a person of the same gender, she would have openly
acknowledged ... that she is a self-avowed practicing homosexual."

Dammann put the court's decision in the context of the nation's current
problems. "The thing that really is sad is I think the world is watching,"
she said, "and I think the country is watching, and I think they're watching
in the backdrop of the real issues of our time - terrorism and war and peace
and justice. I think it's going to be a blow to the church, ultimately." She
said people are going to ask: What is the United Methodist Church's message?

Trained in Army chaplaincy, Dammann believes her background would be
valuable at a time like this. "I have skills that I would love to put to
work in this time, in this day and age." 
# # #
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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