Church looks to court for guidance on homosexuality issue
9/27/2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. NOTE: For a related report, see UMNS story #427. A photograph of Bishop Elias Galvan is available at http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html.
A UMNS Report By Tim Tanton* When the United Methodist Church's supreme court meets in October, the docket item likely to draw greatest public interest will be a matter brought by the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference regarding rules about gay clergy.
The United Methodist Church forbids the ordination or appointment of self-avowed practicing homosexuals. In the Pacific Northwest Conference, however, three clergy members have publicly affirmed that they are practicing homosexuals. They don't believe their sexual orientation should disqualify them from leading local congregations. The annual conference and its leader, Bishop Elias Galvan, are awaiting a Judicial Council ruling on two passages of church law related to the issue.
As the court date approaches, Pacific Northwest members on both sides of the homosexuality issue have been meeting, praying and trying to understand the will of the God whom they share. The council meets Oct. 24-27 in Nashville, Tenn.
"People are waiting for Judicial Council to act and bring some clarity to the situation," Galvan said in a telephone interview.
Thirteen briefs related to the matter have been submitted so far to the Judicial Council, according to Sally Curtis AsKew, a council member from Bogart, Ga., and secretary for the court. That's the largest number of briefs received on one issue in her 14 years with the court - except for the 1998 special session, which dealt with another church law regarding homosexuals.
Despite differences of opinion in the Pacific Northwest Conference, Galvan perceives that people on both sides of the issue remain willing to work together. "There are many other issues, obviously, that are important to all of us, and (on) those issues we can work together."
However, lines are being drawn. Advocates for the full inclusion of homosexuals in ministry met in Tacoma, Wash., and formed a churchwide alliance to work for changing the denomination's rules. The evangelicals, historically a quiet minority in the Pacific Northwest, met Sept. 6 in Yakima, Wash., and formed their own coalition in response, aligning themselves with the unofficial Confessing Movement (see related story).
The Pacific Northwest has been the hot spot this year in the United Methodist Church's long-running struggle over issues related to homosexuality. In February, the Rev. Karen Dammann wrote to Galvan, requesting appointment to a local church. Dammann had led a Seattle-area church in 1999 before going on family leave. In her letter, she told Galvan that she was living in a homosexual relationship with another woman and their son in Massachusetts.
Galvan, writing to Dammann and the conference clergy members on April 18, said he didn't see how he could appoint her without violating the denomination's Book of Discipline. However, he said, her request would be handled through the regular church process, in which the conference board of ordained ministry and the annual clergy session determine eligibility for appointment.
The issue became the focal point of the June 13-17 annual conference gathering in Tacoma. The Rev. Mark Edward Williams announced that he is a practicing gay man, and the Rev. Katie Ladd announced her same-gender orientation. They, along with Dammann, received an outpouring of support from many in the conference. Dammann and Williams didn't get local church appointments but were placed under the supervision of their district superintendent, and Ladd was kept on disability leave.
As they dealt with the question of appointments, the annual conference members decided to ask the Judicial Council to clarify two paragraphs in the Book of Discipline that many felt were contradictory. One passage forbids the ordination of self-avowed practicing homosexuals, while the other requires that all clergy members in good standing receive appointments. The three gay clergy members were regarded as having good standing in the conference.
For the time being, Williams is serving as minister of congregational life at the church where he was pastor, Woodland Park United Methodist in Seattle. The position was developed in cooperation with the congregation, and the Rev. Bob Hoshibata, Seattle District superintendent, was named interim pastor. Galvan said he will review Williams' job after the Judicial Council ruling. Conservatives have criticized the arrangement.
Williams' assignment is not lawful, said the Rev. Gary Starkey, an evangelical and pastor of Westpark United Methodist Church in Yakima, Wash. The will of the church regarding the practice of homosexuality is "not ambiguous," he said.
The conference worked out a position for Dammann in which she would assist with ministries at a number of churches, Galvan said. However, Dammann declined to accept the position, he said.
Dammann said that the costs of relocation, health insurance and starting the position two months late in the church year, on top of taxes and normal monthly expenses, would have reduced her salary to the point where she and her family would have been in financial jeopardy.
The outcome of the Judicial Council meeting will be important, Dammann told United Methodist News Service in an e-mail note. "At the very least, we are hoping that the Judicial Council will find that there was an egregious lack of due process in not appointing me or Mark E. Williams." She also hopes the court will address the fact that she has not received the benefits that go with an appointment - the income, the housing, and the health, dental and pension benefits.
"Beyond these practical personal matters, the decisions surrounding the two paragraphs in the Discipline and the definition or lack thereof of who is a homosexual will have far-reaching impacts on the church and gay and lesbian clergy," Dammann wrote. "The question of my status seems to be moot, as there are perfectly sound mechanisms in the Book of Discipline that address how to change the status of a clergyperson."
The newly formed evangelical coalition in the Pacific Northwest Conference will also be watching the Judicial Council's decisions with interest.
"I think we will have some witness to the Judicial Council," said Starkey, a coalition member. At the least, the coalition will support Desert Southwest Conference evangelicals, who are asking the court to reject any attempt by the Western Jurisdiction to hold a special called session, he said. "They are putting forth an objection to any Western Jurisdictional special called conference because we know the agenda of that event ... would be to network those in favor of changing church law, and we believe it would inevitably be used to further the spread of disobedience."
The case is drawing attention from across the church. John Stumbo, a layman and the mayor of Fort Valley, Ga., filed a brief on behalf of the Coalition for United Methodist Accountability, a group that works to enforce the denomination's Book of Discipline.
Stumbo, an attorney, argues that the two passages are not inconsistent with each other. "The predicate for entitlement to an appointment is you must be in good standing. In my view, if you violate the self-avowed practicing paragraph, you are not in good standing," he told UMNS.
Moreover, he said, the church has a system for dealing with this situation. Galvan, as bishop, should file complaints against the elders who are self-avowed practicing homosexuals and then let the process work, Stumbo said.
Regardless of how one feels about the issue, Stumbo said, the church's members are bound internally by their ecclesiastical law. "What really is important to me is the process, that we follow it," he said.
The reticence of the denomination's authorities to enforce the mandates of the General Conference regarding homosexuality "is tearing at the unity of the church," Stumbo said.
"People are growing increasingly resentful of those in authority for not following the law."
Dave Sutton, an Olympia, Wash., layman active in the Reconciling Ministries Network, also prepared a brief for the Judicial Council meeting. The Chicago-based network advocates the full inclusion of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in church life.
Sutton argues that one of the passages in the Book of Discipline, Paragraph 304.3, is unconstitutional. The annual conference is the basic organizing body of the church, charged with ordaining, disciplining, assessing the character of and otherwise administering the clergy, he noted. Nowhere in the constitution has he found such power given to the jurisdictional or General conferences, he said. "Unless we're going to change the constitution, it seems to me the power lies with the annual conferences."
If the Judicial Council finds that the paragraphs are not contradictory, it will have to say that one passage has precedence over the other, Sutton said.
"The issue for me is very little about homosexuality," he continued. "... My interest is in the church and whether we're going to draw lines about who gets into the church and who doesn't. It just happens that homosexuals are the ... minority that we are still excluding.
"It seems to me there's a terrible risk of establishing a litmus test for ordination, and if it's this today, what's it going to be tomorrow?" he said.
The Pacific Northwest Conference chapter of the Reconciling Ministries Network put forth a theological position paper in March, "To Plead the Cause," by the Rev. Paul Beeman. The paper accused the United Methodist Church's top legislative body, the General Conference, of heresy for its policies regarding homosexuals. "Contrary to the General Conference, we believe that homosexuality and Christian teaching are fully compatible," the document stated.
The idea of using the document as the basis for a legal challenge in the church was considered but dismissed, Sutton said. "Our purpose is not to convict our church, but to change it from the errors that have produced the present broken state," he said. " 'Reconciling' is not only our name, but our desire for the church."
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*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.
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