SACRAMENTO, Calif -- In a decision critics say will lead to a split
within the Methodist church, the United Methodist Church decided not to bring charges against 67
Sacramento-area ministers for their participation in a ceremony blessing
a "holy union" between two female church leaders.
Two Methodist female clergy being joined in 'holy union,' with attending |
The lead defendant was Rev. Don Fado of St. Mark's United
Methodist Church in Sacramento, who
performed the January 1999 ceremony uniting church members Ellie
Charlton, 64, and Jeanne Barnett, 69. The other ministers were under
investigation for attending and blessing the wedding.
The ceremony was attended by 1,500 guests and a total of 92 Methodist
ministers. Only 68 were named in a formal complaint because the rest
were outside the jurisdiction of the California-Northern Nevada
Conference.
The couple at their ceremony. |
Weeks after the ceremony, a complaint was filed in the church's
judicial system alleging the 69 clergy in attendance, two of which have
since died, violated the church's Book of Discipline which prohibits
United Methodist clergy from marrying homosexuals.
After an unprecedented three-day hearing process in which church
pastors and scholars from both sides of the debate argued about
homosexuality's place in the United Methodist Church and Christianity at
large, church investigators decided the charges were not serious enough
to merit a trial under United Methodist law. If the pastors had been
convicted of breaking church law, they could have faced punishment as
severe as dismissal.
Investigators wrote in their conclusion, "We want to affirm that we
in the California-Nevada Annual Conference are not of one mind regarding
our church's ministry to the gay/lesbian community. We confess that our
differences of opinion have resulted in division and tension among us,
testing the depth of our commitment to our mutual covenant. We continue
to be in dialogue with one another as clergy and laity in this Annual
Conference."
Dance during the candle-lighting part of the ceremony. |
Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, of the California-Nevada Conference of
United Methodist Churches, told reporters, "While this particular
committee decision may appear to have broken covenant with the Book
of Discipline, there is another more basic and fundamental covenant
that has precedence over this one narrow focus of law." That covenant
is with Jesus Christ, said the Bishop.
"No further steps or actions will be pursued," said Talbert, although
he acknowledged, "This decision will not resolve the tension within the
community."
Fado compared the controversial ceremony to an act of civil
disobedience, which his church has supported for civil rights and
anti-war causes, and said he sought a church trial to force the church
to face the needs of homosexual members.
"I became involved in [the Methodist Church] 52 years ago in 1948,"
Fado said during the hearings which took place Feb. 1-3. "This is where
my church membership resides; I maintain a covenant relationship with
this extended family in following Jesus. Last August the Judicial
Council threw a roadblock in the way of my ministry. They ruled I could
no longer offer a prayer of blessing for certain people in my
congregation. I am allowed to bless anyone else and anything else:
houses, cars, tractors, pets, toys -- anything except two people who
wish to make a life commitment of love and fidelity if they are of the
same gender. I cannot obey the ruling of the Judicial Council and be
obedient to Christ. This matter is not just about gay rights, it is a
matter of ministerial rights. I cannot obey this rule and follow Jesus."
"The word "shall" (or "shall not") appears in our [Book of]
Discipline 2,351 times," Fado continued. "Breaking one of those means
breaking the entire covenant? Good heavens, that is almost 4 times as
many laws as in the Torah; we out-torah the Torah. But our covenant is
not based upon hundreds of rules, but on grace."
Fado quoted another section of church law that allows civil
disobedience: "We assert the duty of churches to support those who
suffer because of their stands of conscience represented by nonviolent
beliefs or acts."
"While affirming such rights in the civil arena, there are those who
believe we have no such rights in our own church," said Fado, defending
his actions.
The maverick pastor believes a trial is not needed to determine
whether or not he broke church law. Indeed, Fado, as well as other
members of the "Sacramento 68," freely
admits the ceremony is condemned, but believes his actions do not merit
punishment.
"There is no need for a trial; you know what we have done," he told
investigators. "The Annual Conference should do to us what might be
done with any pastor who breaks some of the disciplinary rules such as
refusing to take a particular special offering or refusing to use United
Methodist curriculum for confirmation class. Put it in our record. Let
that be a factor to be considered in our next appointment. Let it be
known in advance to the church to which we are being appointed."
Fado said Friday, after the decision to drop the charges was
announced, "It would have been inappropriate, financially, time-wise,
emotionally and spiritually, for this Annual Conference to have
proceeded with a trial for 67 of its clergy members over an act of
obedience to conscience and our ministerial covenant. Likewise, it would
be just as inappropriate for the church to either prosecute or persecute
any single person for such an act of conscience."
But Fado is not the only Methodist pastor to come under fire for
blessing homosexual unions. Jimmy Creech, a former United Methodist
pastor of the Nebraska Conference who lost his ministerial credentials
after officiating at a holy union ceremony last spring, testified during
the hearing process.
In 1998, Creech was acquitted for performing a holy union ceremony
for two women at First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Neb., but a
year later he performed a second ceremony for two men in North Carolina.
During the interim, the Judicial Council had clarified church policy
regarding same-sex unions, so Creech's trial for the second ceremony
ended in a guilty verdict.
"This is very different from my experience," Creech said, comparing
the Fairfield hearings to his own experiences in Nebraska. "The
(Nebraska) Committee on Investigation's proceedings were very brief;
there was very little examination of the issues. It was, 'Did Jimmy do
or not do what was said?' and then it was passed to a trial."
The homosexual couple Fado blessed also attended the hearings.
Charlton said she and Barnett lived in two social groups before the
wedding ceremony that viewed each other with suspicion -- the homosexual
community and the church.
"Now we share our church life with the gay community and share our
gay life with the church," she told the panel. "It was very stressful
being in two different closets. Now we're not in any closet."
Critics of the panel's decision, however, believe the 'gay life' has
no place in the church. A representative of the Evangelical Renewal
Fellowship -- an alliance of congregations within the California-Nevada
Conference that opposes homosexual unions -- expressed his
organization's disagreement with the decision.
"I believe that [the] decision has, in our annual conference,
effectively ended the rule of discipline, that we have basically said
that we now follow our own individual consciences," said Rev. Greg
Smith, of Hope United Methodist Church in Sacramento. "I think it's a
day that could lead to division and even the breaking up of our annual
conference."
Smith appealed to the national leadership of the United Methodist
Church "to bring order to our annual conference, to bring us back to the
rule of our discipline, or else to provide a way (for) those who
disagree with the discipline to leave the church with dignity. Our unity
is in Jesus Christ, but that covenant of unity has always included that
we have agreed together that we are going to follow the discipline of
the United Methodist Church. Today's decision effectively ends that, as
far as I can see, in our annual conference."
General Conference, the church's top lawmaking body, will meet May
2-12 in Cleveland.
Asked whether the decision not to pursue a trial will prompt some
congregations to leave the California-Nevada Conference, Smith said such
a movement has already started. Congregations in disagreement with the
panel's decision are attempting to create a separate conference within
the United Methodist Church.
Fado said although some members of his congregation are strongly
opposed to his leadership in the homosexual rights movement, he
continues to be their pastor.
"They feel very uncomfortable with that, but I can still be their
pastor. That is a message that I think is in Methodist tradition," he
said.
Rev. Robert Kuyper, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in
Bakersfield and president of Evangelical Renewal Fellowship, disagrees.
During the three-day hearing, Rev. Phyllis Bird, professor of Old
Testament interpretation at United Methodist-related
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., told the panel a passage
in Leviticus prohibiting sex between men did not refer to consensual
sex.
Kuyper addressed Bird's statement saying other passages in Leviticus
prohibit incest, "and there seems to be no indication there that
consensual has anything to do with that, either -- that you're not to
sleep with your sister even if she's an adult, period," Kuyper said.
"And I would assume that the prohibition against homosexuality would be
in the same category, that there's no 'consensual' mentioned in any of
it."
The United Methodist Church is among other
denominations, including the large Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., experiencing internal struggles over the issue of
homosexuality. Both denominations face debate on the subject at their
national meetings this year.
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