{"id":5589,"date":"2013-10-29T19:00:58","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T02:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=5589"},"modified":"2013-10-29T19:01:24","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T02:01:24","slug":"good-news-calls-for-accountability-following-same-sex-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/good-news-calls-for-accountability-following-same-sex-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Good News calls for accountability following same-sex union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retired Bishop Melvin Talbert preaching before a gathering of Western Jurisdictional Conference leaders in San Diego, CA. Photo by Patrick Scriven.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

A UMNS Report by Heather Hahn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calling\u00a0retired Bishop Melvin Talbert\u2019s\u00a0officiation of a same-sex wedding Oct. 26 \u201can egregious act of defiance\u201d of United Methodist law,\u00a0the Good News group has urged the church\u2019s\u00a0Council of Bishops to\u00a0hold Talbert accountable.<\/p>\n

Good News is an unofficial United Methodist group that advocates maintaining the denomination\u2019s current definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. The organization issued a statement Oct. 28 calling on the\u00a0Council of Bishops to hold Talbert accountable for performing a ceremony uniting two\u00a0men, Joe Openshaw and Bobby Prince\u00a0in Birmingham, Ala.<\/p>\n

The executive committee of the Council of Bishops and Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, leader of the North Alabama Annual (regional) Conference, asked Talbert not to preside over the service.<\/p>\n

The committee said, \u201cThe bishops of the church are bound together in a covenant and all ordained elders are committed to uphold the Book of Discipline. \u201cConducting ceremonies which celebrate homosexual unions; or performing same-sex wedding ceremonies\u201d are chargeable offenses in the United Methodist Church. (\u00b62702.1.b)\u201d<\/p>\n

The Book of Discipline states that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman, and it\u00a0forbids United Methodist clergy\u00a0from performing same-sex ceremonies. It also bars such services from being performed in United Methodist sanctuaries.\u00a0The Birmingham service was performed in a United Church of Christ sanctuary.<\/p>\n

After the wedding, Wallace-Padgett said, \u201cMy heart and prayers are with all of us as God leads us through this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good News said Talbert \u201cflagrantly violated the covenant that binds United Methodists together by officiating\u201d at the service. \u201cWe understand the emotional and sensitive nature of the sexuality debate within The United Methodist Church,\u201d the group said. \u201cAt the same time, same-sex marriage is not legal in the state of Alabama, nor is it permitted by the United Methodist\u00a0Discipline.\u00a0 Not only did Bishop Talbert defy church law, he ignored the urging of both Bishop Wallace-Padgett, bishop of Northern Alabama, and of the executive committee of the Council of Bishops not to preside over the service.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with United Methodist News Service before the wedding, Talbert said, \u201cI just believe deep in my heart that this (church policy) is wrong and someone needs to speak out. I am fully aware of the role of bishops in The United Methodist Church, but I am reminded that the role of a bishop is not only to do certain things for the church, it has the responsibility to do some things to the church.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have allowed ourselves to be subsumed to the law of the church no matter what it is, even when we know in our heart of hearts it is wrong. We have decided our loyalty is to obey the Book of Discipline rather than speak to the church about this wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

In calling upon the council to exercise discipline, Good News said that \u201cfailure to hold accountable Bishop Talbert and other clergy who are flaunting our church\u2019s policies will result in the unraveling of our church\u2019s covenant and order.\u00a0 Formal separation may not be far behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good News\u2019 full statement follows:<\/h2>\n

Good News Responds to Same-Sex Union Performed by Bishop Talbert<\/h3>\n

In an egregious act of defiance, Bishop Melvin Talbert has publicly and flagrantly violated the covenant that binds United Methodists together by officiating at a service of holy union between two men in Birmingham, Alabama.\u00a0 We understand the emotional and sensitive nature of the sexuality debate within The United Methodist Church.\u00a0 At the same time, same-sex marriage is not legal in the state of Alabama, nor is it permitted by the United Methodist\u00a0Discipline.\u00a0 Not only did Bishop Talbert defy church law, he ignored the urging of both Bishop Wallace-Padgett, bishop of Northern Alabama, and of the executive committee of the Council of Bishops not to preside over the service.\u00a0 Elected and sworn to an office of unity, Bishop Talbert has instead chosen to use his position to foment greater division within the UM Church.<\/p>\n

As Bishop Michael Coyner has recently stated, \u201cA bishop of the church, whether active or retired, has a special responsibility to teach the faith, to guard the church, and to order the administration and discipline of the church\u2026 I don\u2019t think we can be \u2018church\u2019 together without a commitment to such order.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good News calls upon the Council of Bishops to exercise discipline and hold Bishop Talbert accountable, as they have publicly promised to do on several occasions.\u00a0 A failure to hold accountable Bishop Talbert and other clergy who are flaunting our church\u2019s policies will result in the unraveling of our church\u2019s covenant and order.\u00a0 Formal separation may not be far behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retired Bishop Melvin Talbert preaching before a gathering of Western Jurisdictional Conference leaders in San Diego, CA. Photo by Patrick Scriven. A UMNS Report by Heather Hahn Calling\u00a0retired Bishop Melvin Talbert\u2019s\u00a0officiation of a same-sex wedding Oct. 26 \u201can egregious act of defiance\u201d of United Methodist law,\u00a0the Good News group has urged the church\u2019s\u00a0Council of Bishops […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":5420,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,3],"tags":[281,22,199,14,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-5589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-umns","9":"tag-accountability","10":"tag-bishops","11":"tag-good-news","12":"tag-sexuality","13":"tag-umns"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/20131023-072928.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-1s9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589","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=5589"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5592,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589\/revisions\/5592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}