Methodists Reverse Decision on Defrocked Lesbian Minister

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A Methodist appeals court on Friday (April 29) reversed a decision in the case of a defrocked lesbian pastor, restoring her clergy credentials because the church has not clearly defined its terms in banning homosexual ministers. In an 8-1 ruling, the nine-member regional appeals court of The United Methodist […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A Methodist appeals court on Friday (April 29) reversed a decision in the case of a defrocked lesbian pastor, restoring her clergy credentials because the church has not clearly defined its terms in banning homosexual ministers.

In an 8-1 ruling, the nine-member regional appeals court of The United Methodist Church rejected a Dec. 2 jury verdict that Irene Elizabeth Stroud was in violation of a church prohibition of “self avowed practicing homosexuals” in the ordained ministry.


The regional appeals court, which met in Baltimore, covers an Eastern region of the church from West Virginia up to New England.

It maintained “the evidence in support of the charge was overwhelming and would be sustained in the absence of legal error.” But the ruling went on to say that because church doctrine does not clearly define a “practicing homosexual” or what is meant by homosexual “status” it is “legal error to try, convict and deprive a member in full connection of her right to an appointment” based on these words.

Critics of the ruling said Stroud won on a technicality, and predicted an appeal to the church’s highest court.

At a news conference, Stroud said she felt relieved, even though the latest decision could also be overturned.

“This result gives me hope that the United Methodist Church has resources to do justice,” said Stroud, 36.

An associate pastor, Stroud revealed her sexual orientation two years ago to her congregation, Philadelphia’s First United Methodist Church of Germantown.

She was the second Methodist minister to be defrocked for her lesbian lifestyle. A New Hampshire church court ruled in 1987 against the Rev. Rose Mary Denman, who also publicly admitted a committed relationship with another woman.


The Rev. Fred Day, senior pastor at the Philadelphia church where Stroud served, was elated by Friday’s surprise decision.

“I don’t have much to say except reflecting our own joy and exuberance over all of this as a congregation,” Day said an hour after the court’s reversal, having already sent an e-mail to the congregation announcing the news. “You can be certain that Sunday is going to be a glorious day of celebration.”

Mark Tooley, director of United Methodist Action, a committee of the conservative, Washington-based Institute for Religion and Democracy, said the latest ruling disappointed him. But he predicted it would be appealed to the highest church court, the Judicial Council, giving the denomination an opportunity to define church law more definitively.

“In the short term it’s disturbing to those of us who are on the orthodox side,” Tooley said. “Unfortunately from our perspective, something negative has to happen before the Judicial Council has to speak.”

Two years ago, Stroud told her congregation that even though she knew it would probably mean an end to her time as minister, she could no longer keep her committed relationship with another woman from the church or her congregation.

“I know that by telling the truth about myself, I risk losing my credentials as an ordained United Methodist minister,” Stroud said in her sermon. “And that would be a huge loss for me. But I have realized that not telling the whole truth about myself has been holding me back in my faith.”


At the initial trial in Pughtown, Pa., the jury voted 12-1 against Stroud, and voted 7-6 to remove her from the ministry. The trial lasted for two days and the verdict stripped Stroud of her role as a clergywoman, though she maintained an active role in the church.

The United Methodist Church holds in its Book of Discipline that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with the teachings of Christ. However, it also calls homosexuals “individuals of sacred worth” and maintains that sexuality is “God’s good gift to all persons.”

The Rev. Riley Case, associate director of the Indianapolis-based Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church, a conservative group, called Friday’s ruling “another example of finding a legality to bypass the clear sense of the discipline, to negate what would be for most courts or juries a clear sense of what the church believes and teaches.”

While Day, Stroud’s former colleague, said he is overjoyed, he knows that the battle is not yet over.

“My intuition is that this will get pled to a higher court,” Day said. “I’m sure these are things the general church Judicial Council will love to get into if they’re given the opportunity to do that.”

Although the decision means Stroud could return to her old job, she has said she would not come back “until the (legal) process is concluded.”


MO/JL END RNS

Editors: Check the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for files photos of Stroud to accompany this story. Search by last name.

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