Court docket includes Bush library, same-gender marriage
The 2008-2012 Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church will meet
April 22-25 in Denver. A UMNS file photo by Neill Caldwell.
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A UMNS Report
By Neill Caldwell*
Jan. 21, 2009
Susan
Laurie (left) and Julie Bruno kiss after exchanging marriage vows in
Fort Worth, Texas, near the site of the 2008 United Methodist General
Conference. A UMNS file photo by Mike DuBose.
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The United Methodist Church’s supreme court will address several
high-profile issues when it meets in April, including the performance
of same-gender marriage ceremonies, the proposed George W. Bush
Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University, and the
membership process for people transferring from other denominations.
Six of the eight items before the Judicial Council relate to
bishops’ decisions of law, which are automatically reviewed by the
nine-member panel. The council will meet April 22-25 in Denver.
Two items deal with resolutions passed by the 2008 California-Nevada
Annual Conference and 2008 California-Pacific Annual Conference in
support of clergy who are willing to celebrate same-sex marriage or
union ceremonies. In November, California voters approved a ban on
same-sex marriages after the state supreme court declared such
marriages legal in May.
The United Methodist Church, while affirming all people as persons
"of sacred worth," considers the practice of homosexuality
"incompatible with Christian teaching." Its Book of Discipline
prohibits pastors from conducting such union ceremonies. Those
denominational standards were again affirmed by the 2008 General
Conference, the church’s top legislative assembly.
While the Discipline forbids United Methodist pastors from
performing same-sex marriages or union ceremonies, a group of retired
clergy in California offered to perform those services following their
legalization in that state.
Bishop Mary Ann Swenson addresses the 2008 United Methodist General Conference. A UMNS file photo
by Mike DuBose.
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At its 2008 meeting, the California-Nevada Annual (regional)
Conference passed a resolution commending those retired clergy for
their compassion. That was followed by a request to presiding Bishop
Beverly Shamana for a ruling as to whether or not the resolution
violated the Discipline. Shamana said in her response that the
resolution “steps over a disciplinary line” and was “void and of no
effect.” Her decision automatically went to the Judicial Council for
review, and the council said in October that the record of the case
lacked the documentation needed to make a decision.
Meeting the same week in June, the California-Pacific Annual
Conference approved three measures that support same-gender couples who
want to marry. The resolution in question, which dealt with the
California clergy response, stated that “while we recognize that we are
governed by the Book of Discipline … we support those pastors who
conscientiously respond to the needs of their parishes by celebrating
same-gender marriages, and we envision compassion and understanding in
any resulting disciplinary actions.”
Bishop Mary Ann Swenson ruled that the resolution was permissible.
“The action called for in the resolution can be characterized as a
pastoral response on the part of the annual conference. … What the
resolution does not call for is for pastors to violate the provisions
of the Discipline governing the celebration of same-gender marriages.
In fact, the resolution is specific in acknowledging the authority of
the Discipline. …The resolution does not call for or encourage
violation of the Discipline; it does provide for a response that is
pastoral (compassionate) in nature.”
Bush center
The council will review a decision of law from Bishop Robert Hayes
at last summer’s South Central Jurisdictional Conference regarding use
of property at Southern Methodist University in Dallas for a
presidential library. Hayes ruled that a request for a decision about
the school's right to lease campus property to the Bush Foundation was
"improper, moot and hypothetical."
Bishop Beverly Shamana presides over the 2008 California-Nevada Annual Conference in Sacramento, Calif. A UMNS file photo
by Paul "Spud" Hilton.
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Hayes made his ruling after examining actions of the South Central
Jurisdictional Conference in favor of SMU's lease agreement for the
President George W. Bush Presidential Center. The jurisdiction owns the
private school, and its bylaws require the church to approve any sale
or lease of campus land. Jurisdictional conference delegates voted
158-118 on July 17 to affirm the lease for the Bush presidential
library, museum and policy institute.
The question put to the bishop asked if the lease agreement violated
the Book of Discipline, specifically Paragraph 2503.4, which requires
all United Methodist property to be “kept, maintained … for the benefit
of The United Methodist Church and subject to the usages and the
Discipline of The United Methodist Church.”
Hayes said the request went beyond church law and involved secular,
corporate and real estate law. The bishop also said the request was
framed in a way that was “hypothetical and speculative.”
“The request for a decision of law is posed in a manner that asks if
things were done correctly,” he told United Methodist News Service last
fall. “And they were. Everything was in order.”
Critics of the plan to build a Bush center at SMU have questioned
the appropriateness of linking the Bush presidency with the United
Methodist school, saying that many policies of the Bush administration
were contrary to United Methodist teaching. University officials have
expressed their agreement with Hayes’ decision.
Membership vows
In another docket item, the Alaska Conference is asking whether Book
of Discipline Paragraphs 214 and 225 are constitutional under Paragraph
4, Article IV, of the church’s Constitution. Paragraph 4 states the
inclusiveness of the church includes all persons; Paragraph 214 deals
with the eligibility of members, saying that “all people may attend its
worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments
and become members of any local church in the connection.” Paragraph
225 deals with the process of transferring into The United Methodist
Church from another denomination.
Southern Methodist University in Dallas
has been chosen as the site of the
George W. Bush presidential library.
A UMNS photo courtesy of Southern Methodist University.
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The Judicial Council ruled in Decision 1032 that “Paragraphs 214 and
225 are permissive and do not mandate receipt into membership of all
persons regardless of their willingness to affirm membership vows.” The
pastor-in-charge of a local church has the power to determine “a
person's readiness to receive the vows of membership,” the council said
in Decision 1032.
In its fall meeting in Minneapolis, the Judicial Council deferred
the Alaska case because the court lacked the proper annual conference
minutes. The council said that a brief submitted by Alaska Conference
Lay Leader Lonnie Brooks was not a suitable substitute for the official
Annual Conference record needed to allow the court to determine
jurisdiction and rule on the case.
An oral hearing on this item was held during the council’s fall
meeting. Brooks was the only speaker addressing the council on this
case at the oral hearing.
The twist in the case is that Paragraph 225 has changed since the
Judicial Council last met, with new language becoming effective Jan. 1.
The language was changed by the 2008 General Conference from: “a member
in good standing in any Christian denomination who has been baptized
and who desires to unite with The United Methodist Church may be
received as either a baptized or a professing member” to “shall be
received…”
Decisions for review
Other cases on the docket:
- A case from the West Ohio Conference questions the
meaning of Paragraph 405.2c, adopted by the 2008 General Conference,
concerning the relationship of the Interjurisdictional Committee on
Episcopacy and the General Conference. The paragraph deals with the
formula for determining the number of bishops within a jurisdiction.
The council also deferred this case to the spring session because of
lack of official minutes.
- A review of a decision of law by Bishop Swenson in the
California-Pacific Conference related to a conference clergy benefit
change.
- A review of a decision of law by Bishop Shamana in
the California-Nevada Conference not to recognize the lay credentials
of an individual who said his local church was discontinued without
regard to disciplinary procedures.
- A review of a decision of law that Bishop Warner Brown
issued while presiding over the Rocky Mountain Conference last summer,
in which the bishop did not recognize a request as being proper because
it was not introduced during the business session of the annual
conference.
*Caldwell is editor of the Virginia United Methodist Advocate and covers the Judicial Council for United Methodist News Service.
News media contact: Tim Tanton or Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Judicial Council elects first woman president
Five new members are elected to Judicial Council
Resources:
Judicial Council
General Conference 2008
Southern Methodist University |