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Update: The Judicial Council, The United Methodist
Church’s top court, plans to take up at its next session in October
questions of law regarding the proposed clergy covenant team in the
Wisconsin Annual (regional) Conference. Wisconsin Area Bishop Linda Lee
on July 2 sent to the church court her ruling that the questions of law
are hypothetical and therefore was not properly before the annual
conference. The Judicial Council automatically reviews rulings on
questions of law.
UMNS Report
By Heather Hahn*
3:00 P.M. ET June 26, 2012
The Rev. Amy DeLong (right front) and her partner Val Zellmer wave to
supporters as they enter Peace United Methodist Church in Kaukauna,
Wis., on June 23, 2011, the third day of DeLong's church trial on
charges she violated the church's rules on sexuality. UMNS photos by
Mike DuBose.
View in Photo Gallery
A year ago, a jury of 13 Wisconsin clergy convicted the Rev. Amy DeLong
of performing a same-sex union and sentenced her to a 20-day suspension
and a yearlong process to “restore the broken clergy covenant relationship.”
Now, she plans to join a team she initiated that will determine what the
United Methodist clergy covenant should look like in the Wisconsin
Annual (regional) Conference.
The team has “the potential to really plumb the depths of what it means
to be in covenant and what it means to really talk about and struggle
with the things we don’t agree with,” DeLong said.
But before the team can get started, the group first must overcome a
challenge that its existence violates church law. The Rev. Thomas
Lambrecht, a member of the Wisconsin Conference, has raised questions of law regarding the team’s mission and its funding.
DeLong made the proposal for the team as part of the document that the
jury — called a trial court — had required her to write. The trial court
instructed DeLong to outline procedures to help resolve issues that “harm the clergy covenant, create an adversarial spirit or lead to future clergy trials.”
As part of her sentence, she collaborated on the document with Wisconsin
Conference leaders, including Bishop Linda Lee. She titled the finished
paper “Clergy Covenant: An Invitation.”
Wisconsin clergy members approved the document and the creation of
DeLong’s proposed “Conference Clergy Covenant Team” during the executive
(clergy only) session of the annual conference meeting
on May 31. The vote, by a show of hands, clearly favored the proposal,
say multiple clergy members who attended the closed-door session.
On June 3, the lay and clergy members of the conference designated
$5,000 to fund the team’s meetings, travel and communications.
Under the proposal, 12 clergy members, including DeLong, will meet at
least monthly “for the benefit of clergy solidarity and congregational
leadership” and bring a proposed clergy covenant to the 2013 Wisconsin
clergy session.
“I think this offers a way for the clergy in the conference to come
together with each other across clear differences of perception,
understanding and belief,” Lee said of DeLong’s plan. “We worked very
hard to offer a restorative possibility that could build people up and
build relationships based on that which binds us together, and that is
belief in Jesus Christ.”
She added that she thinks the clergy’s vote on the proposal was a “turning point in the life of the clergy here together.”
However, Lambrecht, who served as church counsel — the church equivalent
of a prosecuting attorney — during DeLong’s trial, questions whether
the team itself will infringe on church law.
The Book of Discipline, the
denomination’s law book, bans “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from
being ordained or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church. It
also says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman and forbids
United Methodist clergy from officiating at same-sex unions.
It also prohibits conferences, agencies and other denominational
entities from using church funds “to promote the acceptance of
homosexuality.”
Lambrecht, who is vice president and general manager of the evangelical
caucus Good News, has asked Lee to rule on whether DeLong’s proposal
violates any of these prohibitions.
He pointed to DeLong’s requirement that the covenant to be developed be
based on “ending participation in discrimination (specifically against
GLBTQI people).” DeLong uses those initials to refer to gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender, questioning and intersex individuals.
“By saying in the covenant we are to end that, it mandates that the
covenant would essentially circumvent the Discipline,” he said.
Lee has until the first week in July — 30 days after the conclusion of
Wisconsin’s annual conference session — to rule on Lambrecht’s
questions. Her ruling next automatically goes for review to the United
Methodist Judicial Council, the denomination’s equivalent of the U.S.
Supreme Court.
The bishop said she planned to consult with the conference’s chancellor,
its legal adviser, before making her decision on Lambrecht’s question.
For his part, Lambrecht said he supports the idea of formulating a
clergy covenant specific to the Wisconsin Conference. “But it obviously
ought to happen within the larger picture of the covenant we already
acknowledge, which is outlined in the Book of Discipline,” he said.
*Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service.
News media contact: Heather Hahn, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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