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Editor's Note: This story has been updated with the most recent total of signers.
By Victoria Rebeck*
6:00 P.M. EST June 2, 2011 | ST. CLOUD, Minn. (UMNS)
Forty United Methodist clergy in the Minnesota Annual (regional)
Conference have signed a statement endorsing same-sex unions. A web-only
photo courtesy of Snrang via Flickr.
Seventy Minnesota United Methodist clergy members have signed a
statement saying they would “offer the grace of the Church’s blessing
to any prepared couple desiring Christian marriage,” including same-sex
couples.
“Groups have been meeting who want to challenge parts of the United
Methodist polity with which we disagree — that which relates to the
lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual community and Christian
marriage,” said the Rev. Bruce Robbins, pastor of Hennepin Avenue
United Methodist Church in Minneapolis.
“With the possibility of a constitutional amendment in the state of
Minnesota (defining marriage as limited to heterosexual couples), this
seems important.”
He was speaking June 1 to a clergy meeting during the Minnesota Annual Conference session at the St. Cloud Civic Center.
Robbins read the statement during a time of personal privilege at the
end of clergy session, a business meeting held in the afternoon.
Initially about a dozen clergy members had signed the statement, he
said. By 9:30 p.m., the total signers had increased to about 40. As of
June 3, the number had reached 70.
“We are convinced by the witness of others and are compelled by Spirit and conscience to act,” the statement
reads in part. “We realize that our church’s discriminatory policies
tarnish the witness of the church to the world, and we are complicit.
We value our covenant relationships and ask everyone to hold the
divided community of The United Methodist Church in prayer.”
The statement was voluntary and independent of the conference agenda.
Denomination’s stand
The Book of Discipline,
the denomination’s law book, states: “Ceremonies that celebrate
homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not
be conducted in our churches.”
Minnesota Area Bishop Sally Dyck. A UMNS photo by Ronny Perry.
Under Paragraph 2702 in the Discipline,
officiating at such unions is a chargeable offense. Clergy convicted in
a church court of a chargeable offense may face a range of penalties,
from revocation of conference membership or clergy credentials to
suspension or lesser penalties.
Minnesota Area Bishop Sally Dyck clarified that simply making the
statement in support of same-sex unions — as opposed to actually
officiating at such a wedding — was not a chargeable offense, according
to the 2008 Book of Discipline, the most recent edition.
“Our church is not of one mind of this,” the bishop said at
clergy session. “Our communities are not of one mind. There are many
ways in which families and churches and communities differ in their
understanding about the way to go forward. It is important for us to be
mindful of each other and recognize differences and hold each other in
grace.”
Renewed debate
Only General Conference, the denomination’s top lawmaking body, can speak for The United Methodist Church.
The Rev. Bruce Robbins
Since 1972, the subject of homosexuality has sparked discussion at
each quadrennial gathering of the lawmaking assembly. Delegates
consistently have voted to keep the Discipline’s stance against
homosexuality.
But the longtime debate recently has heated up again as the church approaches 2012 General Conference.
In the United States, public support for same-sex unions has been growing over the past decade. On May 20, Gallup reported finding for the first time
that a majority of Americans (53 percent) now support the legal
recognition of same-sex marriage. That follows a series of other polls
in recent months that also show majority support for such unions.
Minnesota United Methodists meet annually for policy decisions,
ministry planning, worship, ordination and reporting. About 900 voting
members — half of whom are clergy and half are laity — attend the
annual conference, which this year convenes.
About 75,000 members worship in 365 United Methodist churches in Minnesota.
*Rebeck is the director of communication for the Minnesota Annual (regional) Conference.
News media contact: Heather Hahn, Nashville, Tenn., 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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