Judicial Council to be 'on call' at General Conference
A UMNS Report
By Neill Caldwell*
Feb. 5, 2008
The top judicial body of The United Methodist Church has a light
docket of cases for its spring meeting but will be "on call" to handle
questions of law that rise from the floor of the 2008 General
Conference.
The closing of General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative
meeting, also will serve as the beginning of the new eight-year terms
of Judicial Council members who are re-elected or elected by the
churchwide assembly.
The nine-member Judicial Council acts as the church’s supreme court
and often is asked from the floor to make rulings during General
Conference, which meets every four years. The 2008 General Conference
will meet April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas. The council meets twice a
year but, during a General Conference year, its spring session
coincides with the legislative gathering.
The five-item spring docket includes several items continued from previous meetings:
- Continuation of review of a bishop’s decision of law in the
Western North Carolina Annual (regional) Conference concerning the
application of Paragraph 612.19 of the 2004 Book of Discipline to
the 2007 conference budget, as required by Decision 1081, which
remanded the case back to the conference for continued investigation. In
1081, the council ruled that "the annual conference Council on Finance
and Administration is charged with the primary authority and
responsibility to ensure that … funds are not given or used in a manner
proscribed by Paragraph 612.19." That paragraph of the denomination’s Book of Discipline mandates that church funds are not given to any gay group or used to "promote the acceptance of homosexuality";
- Continuation of review of a bishop’s decision of law in the
California-Nevada Annual Conference concerning involuntary leave of
absence, administrative and judicial process, and voluntary or
involuntary retirement as required by Decision 1088. The 1088 decision
continued the item until the spring session because the Judicial Council
did not have the minutes of the conference’s clergy executive session;
- A request for declaratory decision from the Committee on
Nominations of the 2004 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference on
Paragraphs 27.5, 705, 706 and 805 of the Book of Discipline. At
issue are the actions of the secretary of General Conference regarding
central conference representation and proportional jurisdictional
representation, the concordant agreement between The United Methodist
Church and the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, and the allocation of
membership of the general boards and agencies of The United Methodist
Church. In Decision 1087, the council ruled that a similar request had
come from 11 individuals of the committee in the form of a petition,
which is not allowed. This time the request comes from the committee’s
action;
- A request for declaratory decision from the Tennessee Annual Conference with respect to Paragraph 642.3(o) of the Book of Discipline in
regard to the role of the Commission on Religion and Race as an
investigatory body following the filing of a complaint against a
clergyperson or layperson;
- The appeal of Wesley Kendall, a former pastor in the Rocky
Mountain Annual Conference, who underwent a church trial after facing
several charges. His case has been the subject of previous Judicial
Council Decisions 1046 and 1064. Kendall was found guilty of many
of the counts against him, and the church trial court imposed the
penalty of terminating his conference membership and revoking his
credentials of ordination. The Committee on Appeals for the Western
Jurisdiction upheld the rulings of the trial court, but Kendall has now
appealed the entire proceeding to the Judicial Council.
Judicial Council elections
One of the most watched moments of the 2008 General Conference will
be elections to the Judicial Council. Five of the nine members are
eligible for re-election.
Four members––Dr. James Holsinger, Mary A. Daffin, the Rev. Keith D.
Boyette and Rudolfo C. Beltran––were elected in 2000 to an eight-year
term. Also ending his term this year is the Rev. Paul Shamwange, who
replaced the Rev. Larry Pickens in 2004 when Pickens became chief
executive of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and
Interreligious Concerns.
Council members may serve two consecutive eight-year terms before they rotate off, according to Paragraph 2602.1 of the Book of Discipline.
General Conference will elect three clergy and two laity to the
council, which will be made up of five clergy and four laity through
2016. Since 2000, the council has had four clergy and five lay members.
The conference also will elect six lay and six clergy alternates for
four-year terms.
Any new members will join the council at the end of the 2008 General
Conference and serve through the end of the 2016 session. The alternates
will serve through the end of the 2012 General Conference.
*Caldwell covers the Judicial Council for United Methodist News Service and is editor of the Virginia United Methodist Advocate of the Virginia Annual Conference.
News media contact: Marta Aldrich, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
United Methodist Judicial Council
General Conference 2008 |