Oct. 27, 2003
Judicial Council sends gay pastor case back to committee
By Joretta Purdue
SAN DIEGO (UMNS) – The United Methodist Church’s supreme court has sent a case involving an openly gay clergywoman back to an appellate committee, with instructions for that group to follow the denomination’s Book of Discipline.
The case involves the Rev. Karen Dammann, a member of the Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference, who told Bishop Elias Galvan in a February 2001 letter that she was living in a "partnered, covenanted, homosexual relationship."
The United Methodist Judicial Council, meeting Oct. 22-24, said the rules in the Book of Discipline must be upheld throughout the church’s judicial process. The book forbids the ordination and appointment of self-avowed practicing homosexuals.
"Where the agreed facts concede a practice which the Discipline declares to be incompatible with Christian teaching, reasonable grounds exist to bring a bill of charges and specifications, and it is an egregious error of church law not to bring such a bill of charges and specifications," the council said.
The council’s decision reversed an earlier decision by the Western Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals and set aside the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference Committee on Investigation’s vote not to certify a bill of charges in the case of the Rev. Karen Dammann. The case was remanded to the appellate committee with instructions that it be sent back to the conference committee on investigation for a new hearing.
Bishop Elias G. Galvan, resident bishop of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, where Dammann is a clergy member, filed a complaint against Dammann based on the letter she wrote to him in 2001. In her letter, Dammann asked to return from family leave to active ministry.
A July 24, 2002, hearing before the conference committee on investigation didn’t produce the five votes necessary to bring charges. Likewise, the jurisdictional committee on appeals was split too narrowly to overrule the conference committee.
Judicial Council member Sally Curtis AsKew added a concurring opinion in which she said that while she agreed that the decision reflects current church law in the Book of Discipline , she felt it necessary to state "that I do disagree with the pronouncements on homosexuality contained in our present Discipline ."
No dissenting opinion was issued by the eight council members present. A ninth, Sally Geis, remained at home following surgery.
The Judicial Council held oral hearings on this matter and on two docket items from the California-Pacific Annual Conference.
Several items from that annual conference concerned the administrative and judicial processes affecting clergy. In one of these, the council said that a written request by district superintendents – to put a clergyperson on involuntary leave – does not constitute a complaint that would activate either process.
In a related item, the council ruled that at the start of the supervisory process, a respondent has the right to seek and keep a copy of the complaint against him or her and any supporting material. Two people from the California-Pacific Annual Conference expressed their understandings about both these issues in oral hearings before the council deliberated.
Another related request was decided as follows: "Where administrative or judicial proceedings are pending, a clergyperson has the right to select, and when warranted change, his or her advocate. All persons involved in administrative or judicial proceedings are bound by confidentiality."
A fourth item from the same conference related to the rights of "local pastors," a group of clergy whose ministerial credentials are tied to the charge where they are appointed. The item was deferred to the council’s spring session, which will be at the site of General Conference in Pittsburgh.
In a declaratory decision, the council advised the East Ohio Annual Conference that the Discipline allows local pastors to become elders without having a bachelor’s degree if they meet all other requirements. Local pastors have specific educational requirements set forth in Paragraph 315.6 of the 2000 Book of Discipline , the council said. They do not need to complete a bachelor’s degree to become probationary members and be commissioned in the annual conference.
Kansas West Annual Conference had asked about the legality of a plan the conference adopted to compensate women pastors for past gender-based inequities. While the council saw no illegality in the concept, the conference was directed to amend the plan to take into account individual performance. The amended plan must have the council’s approval before it can go into effect.
Several docket items grew out of bishops’ decisions of law in the various annual conferences. When bishops respond to questions about church law during the annual conference sessions, their decisions automatically go to the Judicial Council for review.
The council affirmed Bishop J. Lawrence McCleskey’s decision that a question about applying the church’s open meeting rule to the clergy session of the South Carolina Annual Conference was improper because it was not germane to the deliberation of a specific conference action.
In a West Michigan Annual Conference matter, the council told Bishop Linda Lee that she had no authority to remove or renominate people on the conference board of ordained ministry during the term for which they were elected. A pastor while under suspension continues to serve on the board because the Discipline does not provide for removal, the council decided.
The council agreed with Bishop Jonathan Keaton that the East Ohio Annual Conference has the authority to redesignate its Pension Reserve Account as the Conference Pension and Health Reserve Account, but the court said the conference must first fund its pre-1982 past service account (for clergy with service prior to 1982) to meet the donor intent of the 1988-92 fund campaign, the proceeds of which were placed in the reserve account.
The council affirmed Bishop Sharon A. Brown Christopher’s decision of law that the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference housing policy for conference staff does not violate the church’s constitution and laws.
The council also affirmed Bishop Susan W. Hassinger’s decision, in the New England Annual Conference, that a purported question of law from the board of the Houlton (Maine) United Methodist Church was moot and hypothetical, and not to be answered, because it did not pertain to the business of the annual conference session.
The East Ohio Annual Conference Sexual Ethics Policy for Clergy was found to be in compliance as passed at the 2003 conference session, and the conference received permission for implementation.
In another docket item from the Western New York annual Conference, the council noted that it does not have jurisdiction because the matter was not a question of law but pertained to a parliamentary procedure.
Purdue is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Washington. News media can contact her at (202) 546-8722 .
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Oct. 27, 2003
Clergywoman accepts ‘cost of being truthful’ about sexuality
By Joretta Purdue
SAN DIEGO (UMNS) — Two and a half years after revealing her sexual orientation in a letter to her bishop, the Rev. Karen Dammann came more than a thousand miles to a crowded hotel room to face her denomination’s highest court.
At stake was her profession as a United Methodist minister and her job as pastor to one of the congregations of the church’s Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference.
In addressing the United Methodist Judicial Council during oral hearings Oct. 23, Dammann said she and her partner, Meredith Savage, did not envision that the process initiated by her letter of Feb. 14, 2001, in which she asked to come off family leave, would still be ongoing.
"We knew that the cost of being truthful with my bishop and my annual conference would be high," she recalled. "We were ready to accept that cost because we already knew the cost of living in closets, with the accompanying lies and deceptions, was one we were determined not to pass on to our son."
In the letter, Dammann told Bishop Elias Galvan that she was in a committed relationship with a woman. The bishop subsequently said he believed such an appointment was forbidden in light of her statement and did not appoint her to a church. The church’s Book of Discipline , a book of laws and rules, forbids ordination and appointment of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals."
The issue of her non-appointment ended up before the Judicial Council, which ruled in October 2001 that only the clergy session of the conference could change the status of a clergy member. Because of a misquote of the Book of Discipline , the court reconsidered the case the following spring to correct the error.
The bishop brought a complaint against Dammann afterward, based on the 2001 letter. The Pacific Northwest Annual Conference Committee on Investigation held a hearing July 24, 2002, and the following day issued a statement saying that it dismissed the complaint because the matter did not receive the five votes necessary to send it forward to trial.
The committee’s decision was appealed to the Western Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals, which met Jan. 29-30. The appellate committee affirmed the conference committee on investigation by a 4-3 vote. The counsel for the church appealed the decision to the Judicial Council.
The Rev. James Finkbeiner, a retired clergyman of Townsend, Wash., presented the church’s arguments in the oral hearings.
"We believe, as the counsel for the church, that essentially the Pacific Northwest Conference of the church is presently in violation with the Discipline (Paragraph) 304.3, which gives the qualifications and disqualifications for ordination in the United Methodist Church, and for appointment as well as for ordination," he stated. The law is uniform, he said, so that every candidate in every jurisdiction of the church can look at it and know whether they are qualified.
The bishop’s office, believing it was violating the law but also heeding the decision of the committee on investigation, appointed Dammann to First United Methodist Church in Ellensburg, Wash., Finkbeiner said. He added: "It is a very trying and frustrating and difficult time for all of us who care about each other and love each other in our agreements and in our disagreements."
Dammann, in her presentation, said she was thankful for the members of the Ellensburg congregation and of the two committees that heard her case. She referred to the committee members as "‘reformers,’ for through them and through their decisions on this matter, surely the Holy Spirit is speaking clearly and strongly for the church to hear."
Dodie Haight, a laywoman representing the Ellensburg congregation, affirmed the pastor. "Karen is a good fit for our congregation and is effective because of her honesty and openness about who she is." Haight said Dammann had won the hearts of the congregation in a short time.
The Rev. Robert C. Ward of Tacoma, Dammann’s clergy counsel, said he believed that the committee on investigation "was looking at the whole Discipline , and beyond that was trying to be aware of who we are as the people of God … and … as United Methodists."
The Judicial Council’s decision, released Oct. 27, said the Book of Discipline is binding on individuals, congregations and other groups within the church. The council remanded the case back to the jurisdictional appeals committee and set aside the conference committee’s decision.
"Our church has in place a judicial system that protects the rights of pastors and the well-being of the church," said Bishop Elias Galvan after learning of the council’s decision. "We will continue to follow the disciplinary process as directed by the Judicial Council." He requested prayers for Dammann, her family and all those involved "in this difficult process."
"I guess my immediate concern is for the congregation," Dammann told United Methodist News Service. She said she warned them from the beginning that she might be an interim rather than a long-term pastor.
She said she had not given much thought to her future. She noted that she has been employed by the church since age 19, except working nights at a nursing home when she was without an appointment.
"My calling is very strong still, and I’m not interested – at least I don’t think I am – in a denominational switch. So, I would anticipate that my profession as a minister is over or would be fairly soon unless there are big changes next year at General Conference. Even then, I don’t know."
For the time being, she said, she will try to accomplish what she can with her congregation and watch the process unfold.
Purdue is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Washington. News media can contact her at (202) 546-8722 .
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Oct. 29, 2003
Church court affirms law book in case of lesbian pastor
A UMNS Report by Tim Tanton
The United Methodist Church’s supreme court has sent a sharp reminder about the authority of denominational law in its ruling regarding a lesbian pastor in Washington state.
In an Oct. 27 decision, the Judicial Council affirmed the church’s Book of Discipline , which forbids the ordination and appointment of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals." By sending the case back to two lower-ranking judicial bodies, the court also set into motion a series of events that could lead to a clergy trial – and possible loss of credentials – for the Rev. Karen Dammann.
If that happened, it wouldn’t be the first time a gay United Methodist pastor has been brought before a church court. However, Dammann’s case is shaping up to be a precedent-setting one, observers say.
"I do think that it’s the first case that has challenged (the church’s) laws this openly and directly," said the Rev. Elaine Stanovsky, a member of Bishop Elias Galvan’s cabinet in the Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference, where the pastor serves.
She also noted that a clergy trial is not a certainty. "This is new ground," she said. "We’ve never walked this way before."
Dammann informed her bishop in February 2001 that she was living in a "partnered, covenanted homosexual relationship." The following November, at the direction of the Judicial Council, Bishop Galvan filed a complaint, charging that she had violated the Book of Discipline . The case wound its way through the church’s legal processes, finally ending up back at the Judicial Council, which met Oct. 22-24.
In its latest ruling, the court reversed the decisions of two lower-ranking church bodies, the Western Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals and the Pacific Northwest Conference Committee on Investigation. In split votes, both committees had supported the dismissal of charges against Dammann.
The Judicial Council said both committees had committed "an egregious error of church law" by refusing to apply the Book of Discipline and the council’s earlier decisions to the case. The court ordered the jurisdictional appeals committee to send the case back to the conference committee on investigation for a new hearing.
If members of the committee on investigation are "unwilling to uphold the Discipline for reasons of conscience or otherwise, such members must step aside in this matter," the court said.
The court also said it was retaining jurisdiction "for the purpose of ensuring that its decision is implemented."
The court seems to have taken a new step in defining its own role and that of the annual conference in overseeing the judicial process, Stanovsky said. Clearly, she said, the Judicial Council members "were dissatisfied with procedural matters. Clearly, they are wanting to exercise more influence at the annual conference level than they have in the past."
However, she said, she didn’t hear the Judicial Council take away the committee on investigation’s responsibility for determining grounds for a church trial. "I wouldn’t say (a trial) is a certainty" in Dammann’s case, she said.
Dammann said she expects the case to go to trial—a possibility that she and her partner, Meredith Savage, have discussed. "From the very beginning, we looked at all the possible consequences, and we knew where it could possibly go," she said.
Currently serving at First United Methodist Church in Ellensburg, Wash., Dammann remains a pastor in good standing, according to the conference. She said her district superintendent affirmed her in remarks to the congregation Oct. 26. "He seems to be very confident that I’m not going to be going anywhere" while the case is in process, she said.
In 1987, the Rev. Rose Mary Denman of New Hampshire underwent a clergy trial after declaring that she was a lesbian. She lost her clergy credentials as a result.
Stanovsky expects that people unhappy on either side of the issue may propose legislation at the upcoming General Conference to change the judicial process in one way or another. "I think a lot of people are examining this process very closely," she said.
The Judicial Council’s ruling pleased groups in the church that are pushing for stricter adherence to the Book of Discipline , while advocates for more inclusiveness of gays expressed dismay .
The court’s ruling was fair, said the Rev. James V. Heidinger II, the president of Good News, an unofficial United Methodist organization that works for renewal in the church. "It seemed clear that both the committee on investigation and the jurisdictional appeals committee simply had not fulfilled their disciplinary responsibilities."
The Judicial Council’s decision to retain jurisdiction over the case is significant, he said.
"The Judicial Council’s ruling is a reminder to the church that no annual conference can operate independently – that is to say, (it) cannot negate or ignore the standards of the Book of Discipline – and that the place where United Methodists determine policy is at our General Conference," Heidinger said.
General Conference, the church’s top legislative body, meets every four years to revise the Book of Discipline and adopt resolutions on issues of concern. It will meet April 27-May 7 in Pittsburgh.
The provision in the Book of Discipline that was used to bring Dammann’s case to the Judicial Council was added at the 2000 General Conference, said the Rev. Kathryn Johnson, director of Methodist Federation for Social Action, an unofficial group that advocates for full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the church. The provision "reflects a growing tendency within the UMC to resort to trials and litigation as a means of settling our differences," she said.
"I fear for the church if this is the direction we continue to take," she said. She expressed hope that General Conference would seek other ways to work out such disagreements.
The timetable for resolving Dammann’s case is unclear, but the Judicial Council directed the appeals committee to move expeditiously. Said Stanovsky: "My sense is that all parties involved … are eager to move towards resolution."
Tanton is United Methodist News Service’s managing editor. News media can contact him at (615)742-5470 .
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Oct. 24, 2003
Church relief agency disburses last of 9-11 grants
By Linda Bloom
STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) – The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have given United Methodists a new awareness of what it means to be prepared for a disaster.
That’s why one of the last round of grants to be approved from the denomination’s "Love in the Midst of Tragedy" fund will be invested in the Seminars on Trauma Awareness and Recovery (STAR) program sponsored by Church World Service and Eastern Mennonite University in Harris on burg, Va. The United Methodist Committee on Relief started the fund in response to the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
Each five-day STAR seminar combines the experiences of participants with "best practices" in the areas of trauma awareness and recovery, restorative justice, conflict transformation and peace building. Information is presented in a practical way to be re-taught in communities and congregations, according to the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, domestic disaster coordinator for the churchwide Committee on Relief.
"I have been searching for ways to respond to the numerous requests UMCOR has received from clergy and bishops across the country, to help prepare them to respond to any new incidents similar to Sept. 11," he told directors of the relief agency, which is a unit of the churchwide Board of Global Ministries. "The STAR program has received great evaluations from those who have participated."
The $300,000 grant to Church World Service for the STAR program was one of 12 approved by relief agency directors during their Oct. 20 annual meeting. Their action means that, two years later, the agency has committed nearly all the $21.5 million raised by United Methodist in response to the Sept. 11 tragedy.
Bishop G. Lindsey Davis of Atlanta, president of the relief agency, said he was proud of how those gifts were administered. He predicted the denomination would be evaluating the impact of the Love in the Midst of Tragedy program for some time to come.
"We’ve learned some valuable lessons about preparedness," he said. The relief agency has particularly worked hard with the New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Baltimore-Washington annual (regional) conferences "in a way that has strengthened them and their ability to do ministry into the future," he noted.
Final grants allocated to the New York Annual Conference include $145,000 to fund the October 2003 to September 2004 budget of its Disaster Response Task Force; $50,000 as its contribution to the three-to-five year budget of a new organization, New York Disaster Interfaith Services; and $250,000 for its work with the Blanton Peal Institute of Psychotherapy and other counseling providers.
Two programs of the interdenominational Riverside Church in New York received funding approval. The church’s social services program will receive $50,000 for the food pantry and direct aid for utilities and rent as it continues to serve a higher caseload of 6,987 individuals, a number affected by the secondary economic impact of Sept. 11. Another $50,000 will go to the Riverside Church Sojourners Ministry with Detained Immigrants, which recruits volunteers from various congregations and the community.
The Virginia Annual Conference is addressing the effects of Sept. 11 on immigrants. Grace Ministries, already a grant recipient, was approved for another $60,000 grant for its outreach to poor immigrant families during the next two years. A second $60,000 grant will be used to provide legal services to poor immigrants through the Just Neighbors Ministry.
Four of the final grants are related to Afghanistan. One of the earliest decisions about the Love in the Midst of Tragedy fund, Davis said, was to use a percentage of the money to help Afghans in need.
Through a partner relief organization, Diakonisches Werk of Germany, the Committee on Relief already had allocated $500,000 to rebuild 10 schools in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan. Another $100,000 had been approved for a project extension for five new schools and a new health clinic. At this meeting, relief agency directors approved a request to grant the remaining $230,000 needed for the project.
Church World Service, which has built 1,500 new homes for returning refugees in the Shomali Valley of Afghanistan, is constructing another 1,000 homes. Relief agency directors granted $503,125 for the expanded housing project.
The Committee on Relief’s nongovernmental organization has enabled the rebuilding of homes and assisted with agricultural and income needs for 200 families in the Bagram District in Afghanistan’s Paktiya Province. Directors approved $600,000 for a similar project in three districts of the province.
UMCOR also granted $35,000 to International Assistance Mission, which has worked in Afghanistan for more than 36 years, to help rehabilitate an irrigation system in the Shamali Valley.
More information about the work through Love in the Midst of Tragedy can be found at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/loveupdate online.
Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
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Oct. 30, 2003
United Methodist bishops will visit U.S. lawmakers Nov. 5
By United Methodist News Service
The bishops of the United Methodist Church will spend the afternoon and evening of Nov. 5 visiting with lawmakers and diplomats on Capitol Hill, as part of a weeklong gathering in Washington.
The church’s top clergy leaders will have lunch and spend the afternoon at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. There they will meet with and hear remarks from members of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The day will conclude with a dinner at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, where Moscow Bishop Ruediger Minor, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, will speak on the state of the church. A number of diplomats representing countries where the United Methodist Church has a presence, as well as members of Congress, have been invited to attend.
The visit of more than 100 bishops to Washington could not be more timely, said host Bishop Felton Edwin May. “Our church and our nation both face critical, indeed historic challenges with far-reaching theological and social implications for our lives and communities of people around the globe,” May said.
The council meets twice a year. It comprises 50 active bishops in the United States; 18 bishops in Europe, Asia and Africa; plus about 75 retired bishops worldwide. They lead a denomination of about 10 million members.
The bishops’ annual fall meeting begins Nov. 2 with worship and memorial services in the Washington area. Those will include an All Saints service at Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, where the council will unveil and dedicate a marble-and-bronze memorial tablet honoring John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. The service will commemorate this year’s 300th anniversary of Wesley’s birth and celebrate his service in the American colonies.
Later in the day, a memorial service will be held at Asbury United Methodist Church. It is believed to be the first time the council’s memorial service has been held at a historic African-American church.
Convening at the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington, Va. through Nov. 7, the bishops will discuss a wide range of topics, including their Initiative on Children and Poverty, a holistic plan for ministry in Africa and a strategy for making disciples. They also will spend time in training for their roles as presiding officers at the denomination’s legislative assembly, General Conference, which meets April 27-May 7 in Pittsburgh.
While the bishops are meeting, their spouses will be doing volunteer work in United Methodist-related ministries in the Washington and Baltimore areas.
