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Two Judicial Council members add opinions to decision

Nov. 29, 2005

A UMNS Report
By Neill Caldwell*


Amid the debate about the United Methodist Judicial Council’s recent ruling on a pastor’s authority to determine membership, two people who were directly involved in the decision have weighed in with their own opinions.

The two additional opinions became part of the official ruling for the Judicial Council’s Decision 1032, which was issued Oct. 31 and can be found on the denomination’s Web site at www.umc.org.

In the ruling, the United Methodist Church’s supreme court found in favor of a Virginia pastor who refused to admit a self-avowed, practicing gay man into membership in his church. The ruling reversed a decision of law by Bishop Charlene Kammerer and reinstated the Rev. Ed Johnson, who had been placed on involuntary leave by the Virginia Annual (regional) Conference.

Johnson has been returned as senior pastor at South Hill (Va.) United Methodist Church, where he had served before his suspension last summer.

Judge Jon R. Gray of Missouri, one of nine members of the Judicial Council, filed a dissent to Decision 1032, while the Rev. Keith Boyette of Virginia filed a concurring opinion.

Gray lamented the “serious ramifications” of Decision 1032, including a potential loss of credibility for the court because the ruling “abandons the traditional and limited role of the Judicial Council as interpreter of church law and assumes a new mantle as creator of church law.”

“The majority’s decision now condones the denial of the fellowship of the church to persons in need of its ministry and guidance who are homosexual,” he wrote. “The decision eviscerates our statement that God’s grace is available to all and reduces it to an empty platitude. More tragically, the same Judicial Council charged with giving effect to the intent of the enactments of the General Conference has turned a cold and rejecting ear to its plea that families and churches not reject lesbian and gay members and friends. …

“We cannot begin to comprehend the unwanted and undesired consequences of this ruling,” Gray added. “The majority’s ruling has dangerous potential to create adversarial relationships between pastors and persons who seek membership in our denomination. It encroaches upon the authority of the office of bishop by judicial whim rather than through a deliberate legislative process. It upsets the delicate system of checks and balances inherent in our governance.”

Another council member, the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe of Atlanta, also wrote a dissenting opinion, which was included in the majority decision.

Boyette wrote in his concurring opinion for Decision 1032 that “contrary to what some will assert, our decision here is not a statement that homosexuals are barred from membership in the local church.”

“As one can plainly see from the decision and digest of the Judicial Council as well as the analysis and rationale, there is nothing in such language that can remotely be construed as making a sweeping declaration that the Judicial Council has held that ‘homosexuals’ are barred from membership in the church,” Boyette wrote.

Boyette — a Virginia Conference member, like Johnson — also addressed his decision not to recuse himself in the two cases that came before the court regarding Johnson. Those related to the clergy executive session of the Virginia Annual Conference placing a fellow clergyperson on involuntary leave and the subsequent rulings by the bishop.

“The issues raised by these decisions are not unique to Virginia but have impact on every clergyperson in our connectional system,” he said. “In my view, it would be inappropriate for me to recuse myself under such circumstances, and I exercised my right as a member of the Judicial Council to make that determination.”

The Judicial Council’s procedures allow members to make their own decision about whether or not to recuse themselves from an individual case.

Boyette was joined in his concurrence by lay Judicial Council member Rodolfo C. Beltran, an attorney from the Philippines.

*Caldwell is a freelance writer based in High Point, N.C.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
 

 
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Church court reinstates pastor who denied membership to gay man
Pastor denies membership to homosexual, placed on leave
Resources
Decision No. 1032
A Pastoral Letter to the People of The United Methodist Church from the Council of Bishops