c. 1996 Religion News Service
(RNS)-Declaring that it is”time to break the silence,”15 United Methodist bishops have called on their 8.6 million-member denomination to allow the church to ordain homosexuals to the ministry.
But the dissenting bishops pledged they would not commit ecclesiastical disobedience by ordaining gays to the clergy and affirmed they would uphold current church law.
That law declares active homosexuality”incompatible with Christian teaching”and bars self-avowed, practicing gays from the ranks of the clergy. It also bans the giving of church money to any”gay caucus or group”and forbids church money to be used to”promote the acceptance of homosexuality.” In the secular arena, however, the United Methodist Church has supported laws aimed at protecting gays’ civil and human rights.
The statement, signed by 11 active and four retired bishops, was issued late Thursday (April 18), the third day of the denomination’s General Conference. The General Conference is the church’s top policy-making body and meets every four years.
Homosexuality issues-in the church and in secular society-have dogged and divided the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination since 1972. Division over the issue almost caused the denomination to cancel Denver as the meeting place for the General Conference because in 1992 Colorado voters approved an initiative overturning local ordinances protecting gay civil rights.
In Denver, the 996 voting delegates at the General Conference face a host of conflicting petitions and resolutions on the issue. Among them are a proposal to drop the bar on gay ordinations and a measure that would reaffirm church teaching that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.
Bishops cannot vote at General Conference.
In the most recent incident to roil the denomination, one of the top executives of the church’s ecumenical agency, the Rev. Jeanne Audrey Powers, announced she is a lesbian. The disclosure prompted calls from conservatives in the denomination that she be fired on the grounds her employment violated church rules.”We believe it is time to break the silence and state where we are on this issue that is hurting and silencing countless faithful Christians,”Thursday’s statement by the 15 bishops said.”We will continue our responsibility to the order and discipline of the church but urge United Methodist churches to open the doors in gracious hospitality to all brothers and sisters in the faith,”it added.
The bishops said they affirmed”the commitment made at our consecration to the vows to uphold the `Discipline’ (church law) of our church.”However, we must confess the pain we feel over our personal convictions that are contradicted by proscriptions in the `Discipline’ against gay and lesbian persons within our church and within our ordained and diaconal ministers.” Signers of the statement included 11 of the church’s 50 active bishops in the United States and Puerto Rico, including the Council of Bishops’ president-designate, Bishop Roy Sano of the Los Angeles Area, and Council Secretary, Bishop Melvin Talbert of the San Francisco Area. Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of the host Denver Area, also signed the statement as did Bishop Judith Craig of the West Ohio Area, the bishop who delivered this year’s”Episcopal Address”on behalf of the bishops’ council.
Other active bishops signing the statement were: William W. Dew Jr., of Portland, Ore.; Calvin D. McConnell of Seattle; Susan M. Morrison of Philadelphia; Fritz Mutti of Kansas; Donald A. Ott of Michigan; Sharon Zimmerman Rader of Wisconsin; and Joseph H. Yeakel of Washington, D.C.
The four retired bishops signing the statement were: C. Dale White, Newport, R.I.; Jesse DeWitt, Naperville, Ill.; Leontine T.C. Kelly, San Mateo, Calif.; and Melvin G. Wheatley Jr., Laguna Hills, Calif.
MJP END ANDERSON
