NIC VOICE News Update 01-06-2005 Beth Stroud Case – Press & IRD Releases

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

· Pre-Trial Updates (posted at the NIC VOICE Forum at Faithful Christian Laity)

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

· 12-29-2004 Beth Stroud Case – Press, Appeal, Documentary

· 12-27-2004 Beth Stroud Case – Press & Appeal

· 12-10-2004 Beth Stroud Case – Press & Commentary

· 12-04-2004 Beth Stroud Trial Verdict, Penalty - Reports by UMNS & EPAC

· 12-04-2004 Beth Stroud Trial Verdict, Penalty - Press Articles

· 12-01-2004 PM Beth Stroud Case

· 12-01-2004 Beth Stroud Case

· 11-29-2004 Beth Stroud Case

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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Announcement of Grassroots Day of Solidarity with Beth Stroud Planned

By Reconciling Ministries Committee of New England Annual Conference

NORTHEASTERN JURISDICTION

EPISCOPAL AREA: BOSTON

Bishop: Peter D Weaver

Conferences Served: NEW ENGLAND ANNUAL CONFERENCE

New England Annual Conference Event Schedule

Saturday,

January 22 "Day of Solidarity" Bangor ME, Lexington MA, Springfield MA, East Providence RI
Saturday afternoon, January 22nd from 3-6pm (snow date: Sunday afternoon, January 30)
- Four simultaneous gatherings will respond to the Beth Stroud trial and verdict with prayer, conversation and plans for action. Hosting the four gatherings will be Hammond Street UCC, Bangor ME; Lexington UMC, Lexington MA; Trinity UMC, Springfield MA; and Haven UMC , East Providence RI.
There will be a common agenda for these gatherings includes worship, discussion of questions, a tele-conferencing sharing of action ideas; and enjoying casseroles and fellowship!
Directions to the church sites and more detailed information about the afternoon plans will follow.
Please pray that these events will be filled with the Spirit.
Contacts: Susan Morrison (sjm2323@cs.com)and Mary Ann Haxton (thyme@megalink.net), co-chairs of the Reconciling Ministries Committee, NEAC

CORNET News Release:

CORNET stands for COvenant Relationships NETwork. CORNET seeks to continue the tradition of hosting worship services that celebrate and witness to same-gender covenant relationships in United Methodist churches and resists actions that try to withdraw this means of grace from same-gender persons. It also seeks to educate people about this concern; therefore this web site includes links and some materials that do not agree with CORNET's views.

From: "umcornet" <umcornet@y...>

Date: Wed Jan 5, 2005 11:58 am

Subject: Grassroots Day of Solidarity with Beth Stroud Planned

Adapted from a message from the Reconciling Ministries Committee of
New England Annual Conference:

Grassroots Day of Solidarity with Beth Stroud Planned

Saturday, January 22 will be a Day of Solidarity with Beth Stroud.
Four sites have been named in the New England Annual Conference for
meeting places from 3 - 6 pm. Worship, prayer, conversation, and
action will be the afternoon's common agenda at all four sites.
Casseroles will be shared and teleconferencing will allow the four
groups to share their action ideas with one another.

For those outside of the New England Conference who are receiving
this for informational purposes, please make this action known and
possibly plan something in your conferences and especially be with us
in prayer that meaningful action may come out of this.

Please post and distribute widely.

------------
Grassroots Day of Solidarity Planned in United Methodist New England
Annual Conference in Response to Beth Stroud's Trial and
Verdict

Sponsored by the Reconciling Ministries Committee

WHEN: Saturday, January 22 (snow date Sunday January 30th)

TIME: 3:00 – 6:00 pm.

WHERE:
Hammond Street Congregational Church UCC 28 High Street Bangor, ME
Trinity United Methodist Church, 361 Sumner Av, Springfield, MA
Lexington UMC, 2600 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington MA
Haven United Methodist Church, 200 Taunton Av., East Providence, RI

BACKGROUND: On Dec. 2, 2004 The Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud was
stripped of her ordained ministry credentials because she told the
truth that she is in a committed lesbian relationship. She plans to
appeal the decision. See
http://www.bethstroud.info

COMMON AGENDA AT ALL SITES: Worship, prayer, conversation, action,
and a meal.

TELECONFERENCING: the four groups will share their action ideas.

Food: Please bring food to share. (see Beth Stroud's "Walking in the
Light" sermon http://www.bethstroud.info/outsermon.shtml – for
meaning of Casseroles)

This is our opportunity as people of God of all sexual orientations
and other diversities to join together in affirming the sacred worth
of every person.

Contacts:
Maine: Becky Bell Rmb2425@a...
Springfield: Devon Bakum trinumc@a...
Boston: Janis Roihl jroi@r...
Providence: Holt Hughes holtiv@j...

For complete information and a flyer in WORD format about these
meetings see:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StroudSolidarity/

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Press Articles (click links to read full articles, excerpts follow)

Defrocked Minister Challenges Church
Windy city Media Group - Chicago,IL,USA
by Jason Victor Serinus

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 greater Constitution of the United Methodist Church. “I believe that the provisions of the Discipline that were citied in the charge are superseded 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 post-decision phone interview. “Our discipline says that gay and lesbian people are people of sacred worth in the eyes of God.”

<snip>

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 150 days.

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.

Local Methodists decry 'injustice of the church'

Methodist minister is defrocked, but says change is coming

By Laura Kiritsy

Published: Thursday, December 9, 2004

<snip>

When Stroud's congregation underwent the process 15 years ago, she said, leaders went slowly, taking pains to involve every member of the large and diverse congregation. "As a result", she said, "some who weren't sure if homosexuality was compatible with scripture have changed their minds. Some of my strongest supporters now are people who 15 years ago had a different view."

Steinwert suspects that one way to change the rules is to break them. "I suggest that clergy need to start coming out of the closet," she said, meaning not only the many gay clergy, but also the straight clergy who support them, clergy who quietly perform same-sex blessings in violation of church law and pastors who recommend candidates who they know to be gay for ordination - something that Harding said he has done in the past.

Steinwert is cognizant that openly gay clergy are the most vulnerable of the bunch, hence her suggestion that straight allies also need to make their voices heard. "But wouldn't it be great if there were more Beth Strouds of the world who said, I'm going to be honest about who I am and the church is going to have to show how ugly it is when they get rid of me?" she added.

Steinwert cites an authoritative role model for breaking the rules. "Jesus broke the rules over and over and over again. They said you know, don't heal on the Sabbath. He said, that's unjust, I'm going to heal on the Sabbath. They said, don't do work on the Sabbath. He said, people have to eat, I'm going to do work on the Sabbath." Throughout the trial she was fond of quoting a particular Bible verse: "Jesus says, 'Woe to you who give tribute to the law but neglect justice and love of God,'" said Steinwert.

<snip>

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New from Institute on Religion and Democracy on Beth Stroud Case

New Bishop Mourns Defrocking of Lesbian Minister

John Lomperis

January 5, 2005

John Schol, the newly elected bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, was the featured preacher at a worship service on Wednesday, December 8 in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill. Schol used the occasion to lament the recent defrocking of a lesbian United Methodist minister in Pennsylvania.

The service was one of the “20 minutes for God” series that the denomination’s General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) hosts on Wednesdays at noon. About three dozen people, including many GBCS staffers and Bishops Sharon Rader and Roy Sano, participated this day.

Schol’s sermon was entitled “God, we know you are in charge; can you make it more obvious?” He began by noting his pleasure at working in the United Methodist Building, which houses the GBCS as well as the political lobbying offices for other liberal-led mainline denominations. He offered his unqualified praise for the “justice” work of the “crowd of witnesses” who work in the building.

In the substance of his message, Schol admitted, “I HATE waiting for God.” He noted that “some of us are discouraged because of the recent elections,” in which President Bush was re-elected and Republican control of Congress was strengthened. He added that “some of us in the United Methodist Church are discouraged by the recent trial” that resulted in the defrocking of “a faithful pastor.”

The bishop was referring to the recent United Methodist church trial in which a jury of 13 clergy upheld the denomination’s Book of Discipline by revoking the ordination of Irene “Beth” Stroud, an open, practicing lesbian. Schol testified at the trial on Stroud’s behalf, praising her work as associate pastor at a congregation where he was the senior pastor. He indicated at the trial that he knew at the time of her lesbianism.

Using biblical language about lions and lambs peacefully lying together, Schol noted that the former posed a great threat to the latter. He went on to assert that “Beth was one of the lambs that we lost,” a sad example of the great “injustices of the world.”

The bishop then cited the famous dictum of Martin Luther King, Jr., that “the moral arc of the universe is large, but it always bends towards justice.” He recalled realizing that impatiently waiting for the day when injustices would be made right amounted to wishing half of his life away. Schol closed by expressing his hope that “like little children,” his audience could approach the universe’s moral arc and “jump up and grab it like a tree branch and bend it down towards justice!”

In his benediction, Schol exalted Stroud’s perseverance as an inspiring example of how one can “capture, even in the midst of the darkest times, joy.”

ACTION: -Visit the website of the General Board of Church and Society and evaluate for yourself its stewardship of its share of the offering plate money of all United Methodists: http://www.umc-gbcs.org

The Institute on Religion and Democracy

1110 Vermont Avenue, NW

Suite 1180

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202-969-8430

Fax: 202-969-8429

Methodist Lesbian Minister Appeals Her Defrocking; PBS Broadcast Features Her Story on Wednesday

Source: UMAction
December 28, 2004

Defrocked United Methodist minister Beth Stroud is appealing her conviction to a higher church court, she announced this week. She lost her ministerial credentials from the 8.3. million member U.S. church last month after a church trial outside Philadelphia. Stroud had publicly announced last year she was in a sexual relationship with another woman.

Meanwhile, PBS will begin airing a documentary called “The Congregation” on December 29 that features Stroud’s story as part of a larger look at her liberal Philadelphia congregation. The producer has explained that his film responds to the lack of media coverage of American religion. “You don’t really see a…depiction of ordinary religious life that often,” producer Alan Raymond has said.

“In fact, there is little that is ‘ordinary’ about Beth Stroud’s story or the story of her Germantown United Methodist Church,” responded Mark Tooley, IRD’s United Methodist spokesman. “She and her local church represent the fringe of American and global Christianity. Doubtless her appeals process, like her trial, 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.”

Tooley also observed that Stroud’s legal appeal is making two very troubling claims: Church courts should overturn church laws that have been repeatedly ratified by the United Methodism’s democratic process. And the church’s opposition to discrimination based on “status” should include protection not only for clergy with homosexual desires but should also affirm the ostensible “right” of clergy to act on their sexual desires.

The United Methodist Church has regularly reaffirmed since 1972 the historic Christian, ecumenically universal, and scriptural stance that homosexual practice is incompatible with Christian teaching. All clergy are expected to be monogamous if married and celibate if single.

Stroud’s defense is asking a church court to ignore the denomination’s official Book of Discipline in favor of a larger principle of protection against “discrimination.” The church trial judge, himself a retired bishop who favors ordination of practicing homosexuals, did not permit Stroud’s defense to make these arguments at the trial. He said the court was not empowered to judge church law. Stroud’s appeal will go to an appeals committee for the Northeast Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church.

In the arguments that Stroud’s defense wanted to present at the trial, which were distributed to the media, her witnesses argued that not only sexual orientation but also sexual practice is immutable and morally neutral. Requiring persons with homosexual desires to be celibate is like requiring blue-eyed people not to see, one Stroud witness was prepared to argue.

“The Christian Church has taught for 2,000 years that sex is for marriage between a man and woman,” Tooley commented. “This remains the official teaching of all but a small handful of declining denominations across the globe. Stroud’s supporters want to replace the Gospel, which emphasizes self-denial and love of others, with a secularized and Westernized pseudo-Gospel of self-affirmation. As appealing as self-worship might seem, demographic trends around the world show that actual church goers prefer to worship Someone higher and greater than themselves.”

The PBS series will cover Stroud’s “coming out” along with other stories at the politically active, liberal congregation. Stroud’s appeal is not likely to restore her ordination. United Methodism’s Judicial Council ruled earlier this year that any clergy found by a church court to be a practicing homosexual cannot be appointed by a bishop. Meanwhile, Stroud continues to work for Germantown United Methodist Church as a lay pastor while cohabitating with her same-sex companion.

The Institute on Religion and Democracy

1110 Vermont Avenue, NW

Suite 1180

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202-969-8430

Fax: 202-969-8429

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NIC VOICE does not report all news that may of interest to United Methodists. Following are links for other sources of news:

For ongoing, updated news of interest about the UMC:

Click on “News” at: The UnOfficial Confessing Movement Page . This website is "unofficial" and in no way represents the views or opinions of "official movements." Its purpose is to provide timely information regarding movements of spiritual, biblical, and traditional Wesleyan Methodist renewal and concern in the Churches called Methodist.

Renewal/Reform of UMC (evangelical/orthodox/traditional):

UCMPage.org
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Confessing Movement
Institute for Religion and Democracy, UM Action
RENEW, a network for Christian Women of the UMC
Concerned Methodists

UMC News and Information:

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Newscope - Online
Interpreter Online

UMC Independent News:
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Additionally, for up-to-date news, you can set news alerts by topic at Google News Alerts:

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Some potential topics:

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Beth Stround Trial Updates

Local Methodists decry 'injustice of the church'

Methodist minister is defrocked, but says change is coming