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Lesbian minister convicted
| Thu, 12-02-2004 - 4:08pm |
Lesbian minister convicted of violating church rules
By Jim Remsen
Inquirer Faith Life Editor
In an atmosphere of prayer and anguish, a United Methodist church jury this afternoon convicted a Germantown minister of “engaging in practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings” because she is a practicing lesbian.
The Rev. Beth Stroud, 34, associate minister at First United Methodist Church of Germantown, sat with a pained expression as the jury foreman read the verdict in the makeshift courtroom at a Methodist retreat center near Pottstown.
The jury of 13 clergy returned its verdict after deliberating for about 2 ½ hours. The vote was 12-1, with nine votes needed to convict.
The jury next considers what penalty to impose. Under the church’s Book of Discipline, Stroud could lose her ministry credentials, or receive a lesser sentence such as a temporary suspension that would be subject to review.
The church’s lead prosecutor, the Rev. Tom Hall, told the jurors that “the only penalty possible” was to defrock Stroud because the denomination’s highest court had recently declared “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” to be “unappointable.” Stroud would still be free to serve in lay ministry, Hall said.
The defense counsel, the Rev. J. Dennis Williams, urged the jurors to be “creative” and craft a lesser penalty that would allow her to keep her ordained status. Stroud, he said, is “a person called by God to build bridges of care across canyons of despair” on the charged topic of homosexuality.
The case is the latest flashpoint in the long-running conflict over gay rights in mainline Protestant churches. An estimated two-thirds of the world’s 8.5 miillion United Methodists support their denomination’s ban on gay clergy, though there is an active, vocal dissident camp.
Stroud’s conviction seemed foregone after the judge ruled before the trial opened yesterday that the defense team could not pursue a key argument that the United Methodist ban on non-celibate gay clergy violates the spirit of its own constitution.
Church officials have taken steps recently to reinforce the Book of Discipline’s ban on the ordination and appointment of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals.”
In a news conference after the verdict, Stroud said she “went into the trial not expecting to win but knowing it would be a painful moment in the life of the United Methodist Church. … I felt it was important to experience this pain together and acknowledge this pain.”
The proceedings had begun this morning with the defense calling two clergymen to the stand who testified that Stroud was a star pastor and role model in her ministry.
Washington Bishop John Schol had been Stroud’s pastor at West Chester United Methodist Church in the late 1990s. He recalled how she had memorized congregants’ faces and names out of the church directory so that when she presided at communion, “she could offer God’s grace to people by name.” He said Stroud had told him she was a lesbian, though at the time she was not in a committed relationship.
The Rev. Fred Day, Stroud’s current pastor, called her “a transformational leader” who had drawn people to the Germantown church.
Under questioning from prosecutor Hall, Day said he strongly disagreed with the gay-clergy ban. The Book of Discipline also says gays have “sacred worth” and extols inclusiveness, he said.
“How can we be faithful to that aspect of the discipline,” Day said, “and move to banish or bar gay or lesbian persons from the ministry?”
Williams, the defense counsel, repeated that sentiment in his closing statement. “The heart of the issue,” he said, “is whether all United Methodists, regardless of status, are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.”
In the prosecution’s summation, Hall said Stroud’s calling and competence are not in dispute, but “her decision to live outside the boundaries is what is in dispute.” The jurors, as fellow clergy, have a duty, he said, “to confront even those we love when they are doing things that are not compatible with Christian teachings.”
The trial judge, retired Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel of Maryland, instructed the jurors that they could not “ignore or negate” the rule against non-celibate gay clergy, “even when it is based on conscientious disagreement.”
Stroud brought on the trial when she gave a sermon in early 2003 in which she told congregants at her gay-friendly church that she was living in a “covenant relationship” with another woman.
The area bishop at the time, Bishop Peter Weaver, attempted to resolve the situation, but Stroud declined the options of yielding her credentials, transferring to another denomination, or promising celibacy. That forced a trial as a last resort under church law. Stroud asked that the trial be open to the public, in a break with normal procedure.
Like many denominations, the United Methodists have many gay clergy, who live under a “don’t ask, don’t tell” climate that many church liberals would like to see end.
Stroud’s case is only the third against a non-celibate gay United Methodist minister in 17 years. One was convicted and defrocked, while the second was acquitted in a controversial ruling in March. Another minister was defrocked in 1999 for performing a holy union ceremony for two men.
In the March acquittal, a Methodist jury in Washington state found that the Book of Discipline referred to the “sacred worth” of gays and did not specifically list homosexuality as a “chargeable offense” for ministers. After an uproar ensued, delegates to the church convention reaffirmed the gay-clergy ban and the judicial council, the church’s highest court, declared homosexuality a chargeable offense.
Stroud trial’s was the first test of the tightened rules.
The defense suffered a setback yesterday when Yeakel ruled that its constitutional challenges were outside the bounds of a jury trial. Those arguments, which still could be raised on appeal, include that the Methodist constitution prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and that a celibacy requirement in inconsistent with Methodist theology.
Stroud said yesterday that she had not decided whether to appeal the ruling.
The Germantown church has promised Stroud that she can continue her ministry work as a lay employee, but without presiding at baptisms or communion.
Throughout the trial, Stroud’s partner, Chris Paige, and family sat behind the defense table. Stroud kept a small felt banner on the table, a gift from the children at her church. It was covered with hearts and bore the words, “God is always with me.”
Though most United Methodists support the ban on non-celibate gay clergy, the sentiment was strongly pro-Stroud among the 150 spectators filling the gymnasium courtroom at Camp Innabah, a Methodist retreat center south of Pottstown. Dozens of members of her church and of activist Christian groups displayed banners and rainbow stoles of the gay-rights church movement.
One conservative spectator was Mark Tooley, who directs the Methodist project for the Institute on Religion and Democracy, an orthodox advocacy group in Washington.
“This case is not difficult,” Tooley said in an interview. “The church’s teaching on homosexuality is not new, and Beth Stroud was well aware of it before she was ordained.” The denomination has repeatedly reaffirmed its gay-clergy ban, by ever-increasing margins, he said, “so there isn’t a strong basis for the assertion that the denomination is deeply divided or in flux.”
© 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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Sandr
DAMN!
Posted on Thu, Dec. 02, 2004
Lesbian minister defrocked for violating church rules
By Jim Remsen
Inquirer Faith Life Editor
She’s just Beth Stroud now.
The Rev. Irene Elizabeth “Beth” Stroud was ordered to surrender her ministry license late this afternoon, hours after a Methodist church jury convicted her of “engaging in practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings” because she is a practicing lesbian.
By a 7-6 vote, the jury of clergy peers defrocked Stroud, 34, who had been associate minister at First United Methodist Church of Germantown, ending .an emotional two-day trial that had drawn national attention.
Gasps followed the verdict, and dozens of her supporters broke out in a spiritual, “We Are Jesus-Loving People,” in the makeshift courtroom at a Methodist retreat center near Pottstown.
Stroud walked slowly around the courtroom, exchanging embraces and quiet words with the prosecutors, judge and each juror, many of them in tears. Her supporters formed a wide circle, singing softly, “We are gay and straight together, singing, singing for our lives,” as Stroud returned to her partner, Chris Paige, and family for a long group embrace.
The remarkable scene capped a proceeding that had been steeped in prayer and anguish.
“In every face I saw pain and in every face I saw compassion,” Stroud told reporters moments later. “In the divided vote is the dividedness of the church.”
The trial was the latest flashpoint in the long-running conflict over gay rights in mainline Protestant churches. Stroud becomes the second non-celibate gay pastor to be defrocked by the denomination in 17 years. Under the church’s Book of Discipline, Stroud could have been suspended temporarily or the jury could have devised a lesser sanction.
The jury chairman, the Rev. Jeffrey A. Snyder of Lancaster County, told reporters that the jury had considered lesser penalties, though he would not elaborate.
The church’s lead prosecutor, the Rev. Tom Hall, had told the jurors that “the only penalty possible” was to defrock Stroud because the denomination’s highest court recently declared “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” to be “unappointable.” Stroud would still have been free to serve in lay ministry, Hall said.
The defense counsel, the Rev. J. Dennis Williams, urged the jurors to be “creative” and craft a lesser penalty that would allow her to keep her ordained status. Stroud, he said, is “a person called by God to build bridges of care across canyons of despair” on the charged topic of homosexuality.
An estimated two-thirds of the world’s 8.5 miillion United Methodists support their denomination’s ban on gay clergy, though there is an active, vocal dissident camp.
Stroud’s conviction seemed foregone after the judge ruled before the trial opened yesterday that the defense team could not pursue a key argument that the United Methodist ban on non-celibate gay clergy violates the spirit of its own constitution.
Church officials have taken steps recently to reinforce the Book of Discipline’s ban on the ordination and appointment of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals.”
At a news conference after the trial, Stroud’s Germantown pastor, the Rev. Fred Day, said the trial judge, retired Bishop Joseph Yeakel, had told him “the day will come when the church will apologize to Beth for this decision. God hasten that day.”
The prosecutor, Hall, told reporters that it was “it was the proper decision for this day and time.” Stroud said she had not decided whether to appeal the ruling.
The Germantown church has promised Stroud that she can continue her ministry work as a lay employee, though she no longer can preside at baptisms, communion or marriages.
“I am excited to go back to work at FUMCOG and see what God plans for me next,” Stroud told reporters.
Today’s session had begun with the defense calling two clergymen to the stand who testified that Stroud was a star pastor and role model in her ministry.
Washington Bishop John Schol had been Stroud’s pastor at West Chester United Methodist Church in the late 1990s. He recalled how, as a new minister, she had memorized hundreds of congregants’ faces and names out of the church directory so that when she presided at communion, “she could offer God’s grace to people by name.” He said Stroud had told him she was a lesbian, though at the time she was not in a committed relationship. Day, Stroud’s current pastor, called her “a transformational leader” who had drawn people to the Germantown church through her preaching and her work with children.
Under questioning from prosecutor Hall, Day said he strongly disagreed with the gay-clergy ban. The Book of Discipline also says gays have “sacred worth” and extols inclusiveness, he said. “How can we be faithful to that aspect of the discipline,” Day said, ���and move to banish or bar gay or lesbian persons from the ministry?”
Williams, the defense counsel, repeated that sentiment in his closing statement. “The heart of the issue,” he said, “is whether all United Methodists, regardless of status, are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.”
In the prosecution’s summation, Hall said Stroud’s calling and competence are not in dispute, but “her decision to live outside the boundaries is what is in dispute.” The jurors, as fellow clergy, have a duty, he said, “to confront even those we love when they are doing things that are not compatible with Christian teachings.”
The trial judge, retired Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel of Maryland, instructed the jurors that they could not “ignore or negate” the rule against non-celibate gay clergy, “even when it is based on conscientious disagreement.” Stroud brought on the trial when she gave a sermon in early 2003 in which she told congregants at her gay-friendly church that she was living in a “covenant relationship” with another woman.
The area bishop at the time, Bishop Peter Weaver, attempted to resolve the situation, but Stroud declined the options of yielding her credentials, transferring to another denomination, or promising celibacy. That forced a trial as a last resort under church law. Stroud asked that the trial be open to the public, in a break with normal procedure.
Like many denominations, the United Methodists have many gay clergy, who live under a “don’t ask, don’t tell” climate that many church liberals would like to see end.
In the March acquittal, a Methodist jury in Washington state found that the Book of Discipline referred to the “sacred worth” of gays and did not specifically list homosexuality as a “chargeable offense” for ministers. After an uproar ensued, delegates to the church convention reaffirmed the gay-clergy ban and the judicial council, the church’s highest court, declared homosexuality a chargeable offense. Stroud trial’s was the first test of the tightened rules.
The defense suffered a setback yesterday when Yeakel ruled that its constitutional challenges were outside the bounds of a jury trial. Those arguments, which still could be raised on appeal, include that the Methodist constitution prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and that a celibacy requirement in inconsistent with Methodist theology.
Throughout the trial, Stroud kept a small felt banner in front of her on the defense table, a gift from the children at her church. It was covered with hearts and bore the words, “God is always with me.”
Stroud’s father, Bill, who owns a photo shop in Germantown, said in an interview that “perhaps some good can come of this, in that the people who created this legislation can see what they have done. They have taken a good, faithful ordained pastor and removed her from ordained ministry.”
Though most United Methodists support the ban on non-celibate gay clergy, the sentiment was strongly pro-Stroud among the 150 spectators filling the gymnasium courtroom at Camp Innabah, a Methodist retreat center south of Pottstown. Dozens of members of her church and of activist Christian groups displayed banners and rainbow stoles of the gay-rights church movement.
One conservative spectator was Mark Tooley, who directs the Methodist project for the Institute on Religion and Democracy, an orthodox advocacy group in Washington.
“This case is not difficult,” Tooley said in an interview. “The church’s teaching on homosexuality is not new, and Beth Stroud was well aware of it before she was ordained.” The denomination has repeatedly reaffirmed its gay-clergy ban, by ever-increasing margins, he said, “so there isn’t a strong basis for the assertion that the denomination is deeply divided or in flux.”
Contact Faith Life editor Jim Remsen at 215-854-5621 or jremsen@phillynews.com.
Kim
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If I can say God made me as I am, a heterosexual,
then homosexuals can say God made them as they are.
Kim
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Sandr
I just hope that they're ready for the Karmic backlash. I'd hate to be in their shoes.
Unbelieveable.
Hugs,
Sebastian
http://www.facebook.com/sebastianbruce