01-03-2005 Beth Stroud Case – Press & Commentary

NIC VOICE News Update 01-03-2005 Beth Stroud Case – Press & Commentary

Other news of interest across the UMC included in NIC VOICE news updates are now being posted in the NIC VOICE forum at Faithful Christian Laity Discussion Forum.

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View previously released NIC VOICE news updates on the Beth Stroud Case here: http://www.faithfulchristianlaity.org/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=191.

NIC VOICE news updates published during the trial week have been posted on the NIC VOICE web site: http://www.nicvoice.org/beth_stroud_trial_updates.htm

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Documentary – “The Congregation”

About the Film (link to the PBS Web Site)

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The documentary referenced a consultant and steering committee that studied issues at FUMCOG. The resulting report can be found FUMCOG’s web site:

Report of the Steering Committee

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Press Articles Related to Announcement of Appeal (click links to read full articles, excerpts follow)

Lesbian Pastor's Appeal Expected to Bear No Fruit
Agape Press - Tupelo,MS,USA

Mark Tooley, an orthodox Methodist activist with the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says even if the UMC's Northeastern Jurisdiction appeals committee were to try to restore Stroud to the ordained ministry, the church's top court would not permit that to happen.

"That judicial council ruled that during the General Conference of the church that anyone who is found by a church court to be a practicing homosexual cannot be appointed to a church by a bishop," Tooley notes. "So if that is the case, then it really doesn't make any difference what kind of punishment a jury metes out, even if they decline to defrock a minister."

Tooley believes the appeal by Stroud is a "dog and pony show" designed to generate publicity.

"I expect that Beth Stroud will try to say that the trial court, at least the judge there, refused to allow her to make her so-called 'constitutional argument,' in which she was going to say that the church's prohibition of homosexual clergy violated the church's constitution," he says. Admittedly, Tooley says, Stroud's appeal will generate much media attention, "but her story is largely a vignette from a segment of declining liberal mainline Protestantism of the last century. It does not represent a large segment of American religious life.

RELIGIOUS NEWS: Defrocked lesbian minister to appeal to Methodist court

New York Blade - New York,NY,USA

Friday, December 31, 2004

Stroud was tried by her own Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. The case now goes to an appeals panel of the Northeastern Jurisdiction, which covers 12 states and the District of Columbia. At the trial, Yeakel barred testimony from six Stroud witnesses who oppose the Methodist ban, citing both legal and theological arguments. But the six filed material that is part of the trial record, and the Northeastern Jurisdiction will review that.

Clergy are under fire for beliefs
Exton Suburban Advertiser - Exton,PA,USA
12/30/2004

Clergy are under fire for beliefs

By:David Bernard

REGION-- During the final months of 2004, Chester County was the stage for a pair of confrontations inside two mainline Protestant denominations over the beliefs of their clergy members.

Two Episcopal priests -- a husband and wife who served congregations in Downingtown and Willistown -- faced accusations that they led and participated in Druidic activities outside of the church.

In addition, a United Methodist pastor from Philadelphia stood trial at a South Coventry conference after publicly disclosing her homosexuality.

The conflicts highlighted the growing cultural divide between traditional and progressive factions within some Christian churches.

<snip>

In December, a church trial convened in a gymnasium at Camp Innabah, a Methodist camp in South Coventry.

The defendant at the two-day trial was the Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud, associate pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Philadelphia's Germantown section.

Stroud was tried before a jury of her clergy peers on charges of violating church law, namely the ruling that bars "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from the ministry.

Stroud had disclosed her sexual orientation, and the fact that she was in a committed lesbian relationship, to her supportive congregation in 2003.

"I think the church struggles with this issue mirroring with the way society struggles with this issue," said Suzy Keenan, a spokeswoman for the Eastern Pennsylvania United Methodist Church Council.

Stroud's open trial was the council's first in more than 50 years.

After deliberations, 12 of the 13 jury members found her guilty, and a majority (7 to 6) voted to convict and defrock Stroud, stripping her of her credentials as an ordained minister.

"I did not go into this trial expecting to win," Stroud said afterward. "I went in knowing it would be a painful moment for our church and the annual conference.

"I'm hopeful (that) in time and with God's spirit, the United Methodist Church will change its discipline," she said.

The trial did not, however, bar Stroud from working within the church as a lay minister, able to preach but not to administer sacraments, and Stroud has continued to work with the church.

Earlier this week, Stroud announced her decision to appeal her case to the church's regional appeals court.

She said she hesitated to appeal due to exhaustion and an aversion to controversial attention. But, she told a reporter, "There are questions the larger church needs to discuss and wrestle with."

Defrocked Lesbian Minister to Fight
Gay City News - USA
RELIGION
Philadelphia Methodist congregation’s associate pastor, appeals ouster by church court

By JASON VICTOR SERINUS

<snip>

In reaching her decision to appeal, Stroud acknowledged that a key factor was a statement shared with her privately after the church trial by Retired Bishop Joseph Yeakel, the presiding judge at the trial. Yeakel, who supported her ouster, told Stroud “the day will come when the church apologizes for this decision.”

Stroud will appeal two major aspects of the court’s ruling. The first is that Yeakel specifically excluded people from the jury pool who, for matters of conscience, felt they couldn’t abide by provisions in the Methodist Rules of Discipline that bar lesbians and gay men from serving as ordained clergy.

The second is that she contends she has not violated the Constitution of the United Methodist Church.

“I believe that the provisions of the Discipline that were cited in the charge are superceded by others that say that the Methodist Church abhors discrimination of all kinds and calls upon us to be inclusive of all peoples,” Stroud explained in a phone interview on Monday. “Our discipline says that gay and lesbian people are people of sacred worth in the eyes of God.”

Yeakel refused to allow Stroud the opportunity to challenge the Book of Discipline on the grounds that it violates Christian principles of the Bible and the church’s Constitution. The court also blocked her from citing a March 2004 Methodist decision that found open lesbian minister Rev. Karen Dammann of Seattle not guilty of engaging in “practices incompatible with Christian teachings.”

While Stroud was initially concerned that an appeal might serve to further polarize members of the international Methodist community, she ultimately determined that the church as a whole needs to wrestle further with the issue of conscience.

“The UMC laws on homosexuality were adopted by majority vote in general conference,” she explained. “But how do we live together as a church community when a significant minority views the decision barring lesbian and gay men from ministry as morally wrong? How do you honor the minority and hold the church together?”

Stroud held off announcing her decision until after she spent a “wonderful, quiet Christmas” with her parents, her lesbian sister, and her sister’s pregnant partner. “We’re looking forward to watching the documentary with Chris’ parents and becoming aunts in a couple of months,” she proclaimed.

The weeks since the verdict have proven “very different and very hard” for Stroud. The first Sunday that she preached in street clothes and proceeded into the sanctuary without her vestments, she felt the pain of her “very significant loss.”

“I felt similar on Christmas eve,” she acknowledged. “Just before leading the service for children ages two to six, I was close to tears. But with the help of encouraging words from my colleague Rev. Fred Day, I was able to go forward.”

The case now goes to an appeals panel of the Northeastern Jurisdiction, which covers twelve states plus the District of Columbia. The hearing should begin within five months.

If the Northeastern Jurisdiction decides that the initial trial procedure that barred sympathetic jury members and refused to hear arguments concerning the Methodist Church Constitution was incorrect, it could either order a second Pennsylvania trial or refer questions on interpretation to the church’s national Judicial Council. Either way, the 1984 Methodist General Conference’s gay ban will become the subject of renewed intensive dialogue among Christians worldwide.

<snip>

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New PRESS ARTICLES

The Beth Stroud case: What would Jesus do?
Philadelphia Daily News (subscription) - Philadelphia,PA,USA
By MARY SHAW

I APPLAUD THE decision by the Rev. Beth Stroud of Germantown to appeal her recent defrocking as a minister of the United Methodist Church on the grounds that she is a practicing lesbian.

Isn't Christianity supposed to be about Jesus' message of tolerance, acceptance, loving thy neighbor and forgiving one's sins?

Some so-called Christians have defended Stroud's removal by quoting passages from the Bible that condemn homosexuality. Following that logic, however, we should still be keeping slaves, as endorsed in Leviticus 25:44, and executing anyone who works on the Sabbath, as dictated in Exodus 35:2.

<snip>

Consider, too, what it means to be a Christian. At least in theory, people identify themselves as Christians because they subscribe to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

This is the same Jesus who taught us to love our neighbors (not only the white, male, heterosexual, flag-waving, Christian ones), and that we should not judge others lest we be judged.

This is the same Jesus who made an example of himself by dining with sinners, befriending a prostitute, and identifying with "the least of these."

Who, therefore, can accept a policy of bigotry, intolerance and double standards, and still call himself a Christian?

A church certainly has every right to set its own internal standards and define the rules that will govern its members. However, this is the 21st century, and a church cannot remain strong in today's society, nor capture the imagination of the next generation, if it clings to repressive, outmoded customs, especially when those practices fly in the face of the true meaning of Christianity.

The fact that the decision to defrock Stroud resulted from a very close vote (7-6) suggests that the United Methodist Church may be ready to take a step forward towards greater tolerance, and to make it official.

<snip>

Mary Shaw is a local writer and activist. E-mail mary@maryshawonline.com.

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FUMC Germantown, PA

December 27, 2004 Tidings Newsletter:

A Pastoral Letter to First UMC of Germantown

following Beth Stroud’s Trial

December 8, 2004

Dear FUMCOG Church Family and Friends,

By now you have heard the news that a trial court of clergy peers found our Associate

Pastor Beth Stroud in violation of United Methodist Discipline for engaging in

“practices incompatible with Christian teaching.” Charges stemmed from Beth’s sermon

of April 27, 2003, when she told our congregation and Bishop Peter Weaver that

she was a lesbian living in a covenanted relationship with a same sex partner. The trial

court’s penalty was to revoke Beth’s ministerial credentials as an elder in the United

Methodist Church, December 2, 2004.

I wanted to write to you as our church lives into this disappointing verdict.

First, you need to know that Beth reported to work the Saturday after the trial fulfilling

her role as Minister of Education and Youth for our church. The next day at worship,

she spoke to the congregation about her experience of the trial, verdict and penalty, then

participated in the Sunday worship service. This week she is preparing to preach the

sermon Sunday December 12, in addition to her regular staff responsibilities performed,

as always, with grace, effectiveness and excellence.

For all that seems the same, things will be different -- most notably Beth’s presiding at

the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, officiating at weddings and wearing

clerical stoles in worship. This is not only a serious loss for Beth but also for us.

These changes bring up many painful hurts. We are upset for Beth, for FUMCOG and

with the entire United Methodist Church for removing one of its finest elders. We are

disappointed, some of us to the point of great frustration, at the homophobic spirits loose

in our denomination. We had hoped the trial court would determine sexuality and covenant

relationship with a same sex partner NOT to be the determining factor for the sacred

trust of ordained ministry. The United Methodist Church, long known as a church

of ever widening circles of grace and acceptance, now appears a church of ever tightening

regulations and rigidity. How can this be in the church of “Open Hearts, Open

Minds, Open Doors?”

In spite of all this we are not defeated. In the wake of last week’s loss, let us not forget

what has been won: another opportunity to give public witness to a daughter of God

called to ordained ministry, displaying the abundant gifts of the Spirit for that sacred

trust, another occasion to point to the pain, struggle, restlessness and exclusion within a

denomination so clearly divided on this issue, another time to say and display that the

church is gay and straight together, another opening for coming together, pressing-on

with the vision of a church fully open and welcoming to all God’s people.

We are also hopeful and proud in just knowing Beth and in the ways she offered herself

in a teachable moment about God’s love – a love as gracious and hospitable as casse-

roles shared by friends and strangers together,

persistent until new life overtakes

death, hope rises above despair and

change comes to life through challenges,

as unconditional and victorious until all

are welcome and none are turned away.

We are hopeful because of the love and

faithfulness we see in Beth and Chris together,

the strength and gifts they bring to

one another; hopeful because of FUMCOG’s

surrounding love and untiring

support and hopeful because even the

wider church senses the winds of change

when the trial’s presiding bishop speaks

of a day when the United Methodist

Church will apologize to Beth for the

events of last week. God, hasten that day!

It has been an inspiration and a high privilege

for me to serve as Beth’s colleague

and your pastor through this time and in

the days and months ahead. Melody joins

me in saying this.

For now, know that Beth’s position here

at FUMCOG is secure. The Staff Parish

Relations Committee acted this week to

solidify her job here at no loss in wages.

Beth is prayerfully discerning her right to

an appeal. So, keep praying for her. We

will fully support whatever her choice

will be.

I have enclosed a few of the expressions

of support and friendship FUMCOG has

received. Cherish and be inspired by them

as we journey forward with Beth and one

another.

Among them is this quote: “Each time [a

person] stands up for an ideal, or acts to

improve the lot of others, or strikes out

against injustice, [she] sends forth a tiny

ripple of hope, and crossing each other

from a million different centers of energy

and daring those ripples build a current

which can sweep down the mightiest

walls of oppression and resistance.”

(Robert F. Kennedy to the University of

Capetown, South Africa, June, 6, 1966.)

Thank you all for past and present prayers

and gestures of support. God use us to be

part of just such a rising current of change

in the United Methodist Church.

SHALOM,

Fred Day

Rev. Alfred T. Day III

Senior Pastor

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FUMC Germantown, PA

Letter from Beth to the congregation regarding her appeal December 28, 2004

Dear FUMCOG family,

Thank you so much for all you have done for me and Chris during these past several months, especially during my trial and in this Christmas season. Emotionally, it hasn't always been easy to keep on doing ministry without my official credentials, but your loving support gives me courage and makes it possible.

Early this morning I announced my decision to file an appeal. I've already received messages from some of you who heard the news on the radio. It wasn't an easy or automatic decision, but after a lot of thought and prayer, I felt it was a worthwhile step that could help keep an important discussion alive in The United Methodist Church.

We will keep you posted about the appeal process as it unfolds. In the meantime, I'd like to ask for your help and prayers as I try to stay focused on ministry. Some administrative tasks may take me a little longer to complete these days, but please don't let my case keep you from calling on me if you need pastoral care or just a listening ear. Please keep telling me what is going on in your lives and how you are doing spiritually. One of the best gifts you can give me is simply allowing me to be in ministry with you, and giving me a space in which I don't have to talk about my case all the time.

Also, please pay attention to visitors at church. We've noticed a number of visitors who have discovered FUMCOG because we are in the news. Keep an eye out for them, and help them to feel welcome. Share a little of your own story with them, so that they know what a difference this faith community can make in their lives and in the world.

Grace and peace,

Beth Stroud

Eastern Pennsylvania Conference website

Link for the May 2000 ruling -- #887

Link for the October 2003 ruling -- #980

PDF full text version of Beth’s April 2003 sermon can be found here

Annotated version of Beth's April 2003 sermon - here

Background materials can be found at www.bethstroud.info

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COMMENTARY:

December 9, 2004
Clayton D. Harriger
Elder in full connection
Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference
The United Methodist Church
and presently pastor of
Gipsy Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Gipsy, Pennsylvania

Lesbianism Is OK for United Methodist Church Laity BUT Not for the Pastors!

December 2, 2004 -- another infamous date in a growing list of the same in the United Methodist Church.

On that date a jury of 13 United Methodist Church pastors voted 12 to 1 to convict lesbian U.M. pastor Beth Stroud of violating the UMC Book of discipline concerning the prohibition of practicing a homosexual lifestyle by United Methodist pastors. Beth had preached a sermon at Germantown UMC in Philadelphia in which she revealed that she was living in a committed relationship with another woman. Beth was serving as an associate pastor at the Germantown Church at the time of her "coming out" sermon.

A complaint was eventually filed against Beth Stroud. A formal investigation into the complaint was conducted which resulted eventually in the trial which took place in the opening days of December 2004.

The penalty phase did not result in the same ratio of voting as was the case of the guilty verdict. The penalty was to revoke Beth Stroud's ministerial credentials by a vote of 7 to 6.

Now here is where a most interesting situation has been created as only it can be done within the United Methodist Church.

Beth Stroud will not lose her membership in the UMC. She will be considered an enrolled member in "good standing" and free to be involved in the life and ministry of the UMC as a lay person.

It has already been suggested that she will remain at Germantown UMC and will likely become part of the paid staff. Possibilities are virtually unlimited, including speaking from the pulpit and teaching!

The sodomite/lesbian connection has been highly critical of the United Methodist Church and has stated that the denomination is guilty of hypocrisy among other things.

Certainly this charge made by them is quite true, unfortunately. If anything, the UMC has only been consistent in its inconsistency!

In March 2004 Karen Dammann of the Pacific Northwest Conference was put on trial and found not guilty in spite of the fact that she was living in an open lesbian relationship in the very same manner as was Beth Stroud.

In December 2004 Beth Stroud is found guilty of the same thing as that for which Karen Dammann was acquitted. As a result Beth's ministerial credentials were revoked while Karen is still an ordained elder in the UMC.

Further, the message sounded out from the UMC after the Beth mess is this -- you can't be a practicing lesbian and be a United Methodist pastor at the same time, but as a lesbian who is in a committed relationship with another female it is quite acceptable to be an active and involved lay member of the UMC -- which means you can serve on committees in any capacity, including serving as a chairperson! And as previously mentioned, Beth Stroud will likely be a paid staff member at Germantown United Methodist Church.

If you can figure that one out, you have accomplished something that the vast majority of people cannot do -- most come to the conclusion that the UMC has a long road to travel before it becomes consistent in its dealings with the issue of sodomy and lesbianism.

With increased numbers being drawn into the "dialog" trap, there is no reason to believe that the UMC will become consistent any time soon. We will be reminded constantly by United Methodist "leadership" that we need to "respect" one another's views and continue discussion as we move through this "painful" time in the life of the church. It is not outside the realm of possibility that a beginning stage of resolving our "differences" will be the rephrasing of the Book of Discipline so that it will basically say that "Christians" do not agree on the issue of homosexuality, but do agree that we are all "children of God" and we need to work together, etc. All the while it will become even more obvious that something seems to be wrong somewhere as the lament over declining membership will continue without letup!

Those attempting to plainly and truthfully point out the reasons for the decline will be written off as a bunch of bigoted fanatics who have not yet learned to "respect" all differing points of view and to engage in "dialog" so that we better understand each other!

Come to think of it -- what do you suppose would have happened if God had sat down with the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah upon their invitation to "dialog" about the situation -- would they have insisted that He "respect" their views of sexual morality and quit taking a "judgmental" and "self-righteous" position? If it had really happened, maybe Sodom and Gomorrah would still exist today! After all, the "dialog" strategy is working effectively to bring us all to the point that certain sexual practices are OK and some of us have been wrong to suggest that they are not. And if it's OK for United Methodist laity to engage in them, why is it not OK for United Methodist pastors as well?

Stay tuned -- more chapters in the UMC adventures on human sexuality are yet to be written!

"I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turned to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle. Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the LORD. How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; so what wisdom do they have?"

Jeremiah 8:6-9 NKJV

It is time for You to act, O LORD, for they have regarded Your law as void. Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold! Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way.

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

Psalm 119:126-128; Matthew 10:24-28 NKJV

End of Commentary

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Beth Stround Trial Updates