According to a ruling made by the United Methodist Judicial Council on April 28, the United Methodist Church (UMC) has not changed its stance on homosexuality.
The 6–3 decision means the UMC Western Jurisdiction’s 2016 election of Karen Oliveto to the position of bishop violates Church law, according to The Christian Post. Oliveto may be removed from her position pending further proceedings, although she “remains in good standing.”
The council’s decision read in part, “It is not lawful for the college of bishops of any jurisdictional or central conference to consecrate a self-avowed practicing homosexual bishop. … Under the long-standing principle of legality, no individual member or entity may violate, ignore or negate Church law.”
Special session
The Western Jurisdiction elected Oliveto, the first openly gay candidate, in July 2016 to the position of bishop over the UMC Mountain Sky Area, which has about 400 congregations across Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and one in Idaho.
The Judicial Council heard arguments on both sides of the case April 25 at the beginning of its spring meeting in Newark, New Jersey. Following the decision, the council also announced its plan to hold a special session on whether the Church will amend its official position on homosexuality at its General Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, in February 2019, the Post reported.
The council also decided in separate rulings that the New York and Illinois regions must ask candidates about their sexuality and rule out those who are gay or “in any other way violating the Church’s standards on marriage and sexuality,” The New York Times reported.
UMC developed the original policy on homosexuality in 1972 when it declared that “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” may not be ordained because “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
This policy has triggered a fear of division within UMC, according to news sources, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay “marriage” in 2016.
Abiding by UMC law
David W. Graves, bishop in residence for the Alabama-West Florida Conference, released a statement April 30 saying the topic of gay bishops has been a topic of discussion for months in local meetings and that “some … are pleased with the (recent council) decision and others are not.”
“However, the United Methodist Church polity and doctrine have not changed,” Graves wrote, noting that only the General Conference can change the “Book of Discipline,” UMC’s resource of the denomination’s law and doctrine.
“Again my counsel to you is this: we must stay focused on the mission and ministry of making disciples,” Graves said.
He added that the Alabama-West Florida Conference “will abide by the ‘Book of Discipline’” and asked that Methodists join him “as we win people to Christ, see the unseen, transform lives and change this corner of the world.”
Debra Wallace-Padgett, bishop over the North Alabama Conference, said in an April 29 statement that UMC, like today’s culture itself, is “not of one mind about this decision.”
She urged those in the denomination to be “gracious in our conversations and actions” and “respectful of perspectives different than our own.”
“In the midst of our current denominational climate, I urge all United Methodists to stay the course, confident that Jesus Christ is Head of the Church,” she said. “Keep focusing on making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” (TAB)
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