{"id":2413,"date":"2012-10-30T10:55:11","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T17:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2013-11-08T10:05:40","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T18:05:40","slug":"fall-2012-judicial-council-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/fall-2012-judicial-council-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall 2012 Judicial Council roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Judicial Council for 2012-16 took up a full docket during its Oct. 24-27 session in Elk Grove Village, Ill. From left: Belton Joyner, J. Kabamba Kiboko, N. Oswald Tweh Sr., and Kathi Austin Mahle. Standing from left: Ruben T. Reyes, Dennis Blackwell, Beth Capen, William B. Lawrence and Angela Brown. A UMNS photo by Kathleen Barry.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

By Neill Caldwell*<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. (UMNS) \u2014 A United Methodist bishop can be placed in involuntary retirement, the denomination\u2019s top court has ruled.<\/p>\n

The ruling could have implications for the forced early retirement of Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe, which the United Methodist Judicial Council will consider separately next month.That case was one of 18 considered by the denomination\u2019s top court during its Oct. 24-27 meeting<\/a>, the first regular session for the new court, which includes two new members elected by the 2012 General Conference.The Judicial Council did not have the requisite number of votes to declare unconstitutional Paragraph 408.3(a)<\/a> of the Book of Discipline, the denomination\u2019s law book. That church rule says that a jurisdictional episcopacy committee, by a two-thirds vote, can place a bishop \u201cin retired relation\u201d if the committee finds it \u201cto be in the best interests of the bishop and\/or the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision in Memorandum 1229<\/a> was a response to a request by the South Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops to rule on the paragraph, which the jurisdiction\u2019s committee on episcopacy cited in its decision in July to remove Bledsoe from active assignment<\/a>. The jurisdictional delegates affirmed the committee\u2019s decision.<\/a> Bledsoe will appeal that action at a special called session of the Judicial Council<\/a> on Nov. 9-11 in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

The Book of Discipline requires six Judicial Council member votes to rule a paragraph unconstitutional, a higher standard than a simple majority. The church court has nine members. In Decision 1210<\/a>, the council said that in reviewing acts of the General Conference for constitutionality \u2014 that is, compliance with the church\u2019s constitution \u2014 its first inclination is to save legislation, not destroy it.<\/p>\n

The college of bishops\u2019 request included four questions, but the council said it had jurisdiction on just the first question because the others were hypothetical and did not address a specific paragraph in the Book of Discipline.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a separate case, the Judicial Council did declare unconstitutional an action by the 2012 General Conference regarding Paragraph 602, dealing with the balance between clergy and lay members at annual conference.<\/p>\n

The General Conference added the language \u201cClergy who voluntarily indicate that they are unable to attend annual conference because of incapacity or advanced age shall not be counted in arriving at the balance between lay and clergy.\u201d In Decision 1212<\/a>, the Judicial Council said that \u201cmembers cannot be eliminated from the count for equalization,\u201d citing Paragraph 32, and added that \u201cthe principle of equalization stands and cannot be subverted under the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Issues related to homosexuality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several of the items before the council dealt with related to homosexuality<\/a>. The denomination\u2019s official position is that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. The church forbids the ordination of self-avowed practicing gays and lesbians, and it forbids the performance of same-gender union services in its sanctuaries and by its clergy. The church also holds that all people are of sacred worth.<\/p>\n

The Judicial Council affirmed four bishop\u2019s decisions of law that touched on the issue.<\/p>\n

It supported the bishop who ruled that a petition before the New York Annual Conference, \u201cThe Spiritual Crisis Caused by the Requirement to Discriminate,\u201d was aspirational in nature and did not violate provisions of the Book of Discipline. \u201cWe acknowledge that differences of opinion exist on this very difficult issue,\u201d Decision 1218<\/a> says.<\/p>\n

In a dissenting opinion, council member Oswald Tweh Sr., wrote that he felt \u201cthe resolution goes beyond a permissible statement of mere disagreement. The effect of the New York resolution is to negate and ignore the church\u2019s clearly stated position as reflected in current disciplinary language.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council agreed with Bishop Al Gwinn\u2019s decision<\/a> that a question to identify the meaning of the phrase \u201cpromote the acceptance of homosexuality\u201d was moot and hypothetical in the North Carolina Conference.<\/p>\n

And the council supported Bishop Linda Lee<\/a> in ruling that questions about a new \u201cClergy Covenant\u201d<\/a> were moot and hypothetical until the final document was presented to the 2013 session of the Wisconsin Annual Conference. This document was prepared by the Rev. Amy DeLong as part of the penalty assessed by a trial court after she was found guilty of performing a same gender couple\u2019s union ceremony<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The council modified a bishop\u2019s decision of law in the California-Pacific Annual Conference dealing with a \u201cResolution in Response to General Conference 2012.\u201d The ruling in Decision 1220<\/a> said \u201cA declaration by an annual conference to renounce a legislative act of the General Conference is not legal. But a declaration by an annual conference to express aspirations for full implementation of a legislative act by the General Conference is legal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bishop ruled that all the elements of the resolution were aspiration in nature. But, the Judicial Council said that the first statement, to \u201crenounce the statement that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings,\u201d was beyond the annual conference\u2019s authority because it had been enacted by another body, the General Conference.<\/p>\n

Other decisions<\/strong><\/p>\n

In other decisions, the Judicial Council rejected a ruling of law by Bishop John Schol<\/a> and voided a June 1 policy update by the Baltimore-Washington Conference on sexual misconduct, abuse or harassment.<\/p>\n

The policy contained sentences referring to \u201ca dating, romantic or sexual relationship\u201d involving church staff, lay or clergy, parishioners and ministry participants. During debate on the measure, Schol was asked for a decision of law on whether the words \u201csexual relationship\u201d in the policy conflicted with the Book of Discipline, and Schol ruled that there was no conflict. But the Judicial Council disagreed, saying the phrase conflicts with the disciplinary call for \u201ccelibacy in singleness\u201d for United Methodist clergy.<\/p>\n

A concurring opinion signed by seven members of the council strongly urged the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference to reconsider any policy that allows exceptions for consensual relations between church staff members and between staff and church members, saying such relationships are \u201cnever appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court ruled it had no jurisdiction in a question<\/a> from the North Alabama Conference on membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, saying the matter involved an agency of the general church, not the annual conference.<\/p>\n

A full summary of these and other decisions from the court\u2019s fall docket<\/a> , Decisions 1212-1229, can be found at the Judicial Council website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

*Caldwell is editor of the Virginia United Methodist Advocate.<\/em><\/p>\n

News media contact: Linda Bloom or Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., newsdesk@umcom.org<\/a> or (615) 742-5470.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Judicial Council for 2012-16 took up a full docket during its Oct. 24-27 session in Elk Grove Village, Ill. From left: Belton Joyner, J. Kabamba Kiboko, N. Oswald Tweh Sr., and Kathi Austin Mahle. Standing from left: Ruben T. Reyes, Dennis Blackwell, Beth Capen, William B. Lawrence and Angela Brown. A UMNS photo by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":2365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,3],"tags":[124,14,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-2413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-umns","9":"tag-judicial-council","10":"tag-sexuality","11":"tag-umns"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Unknown-1.jpeg?fit=628%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-CV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2413"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2416,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions\/2416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}