Rick Dean
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http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0304/18methodist.html
Church tries lesbian pastor
Methodists laud her service, still may punish her
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
New York Times
Published on: 03/18/04
BOTHELL, Wash. -- The Rev. Karen Dammann, a United Methodist minister, went on trial in a church here Wednesday for admitting that she is in a lesbian relationship.
The judge is a retired bishop, the jurors 13 of her fellow ministers. She is charged with violating church law by living in a homosexual relationship, which United Methodist Church law says is "incompatible wi
h Christian teachings."
But this is a church at war with itself, enforcing a law that many of its own clergy and members here say they find immoral and un-Christian. Dammann's defense will
use
Scripture and the church's own Book of Discipline to argue that her prosecution
is at odds with Christian teaching.
When a grim Dammann arrived at the church Wednesday with her partner and their young son at her side, she was hugged by supportive clergy, praised by the bishop who had pressed the charges against her and hailed as a hero by dozens of hymn-singing protesters who blocked the door of the church to prevent the trial from going forward.
Thirty-three protesters were politely arrested and put on a bus while two men shouted that homosexuality is a sin that God will punish.
"She is a respected member of our conference and has done good ministry, and so this is a painful experience for all of us, including me," said Bishop Elias Galvan, who is in charge of t
he Pacific Northwest region and brought the initial charges against Dammann, for which he portrayed himself as a regretful participant. "My role as bishop is to make sure that the Book of Disciplin
e, the chur
ch law, is applied."
Just as the battle over gay marriage in the civilian world has moved to t
he courts, so too has the Methodist Church resorted to ecclesiastical trials to enforce church law and to discipline clergy who perform same-sex unions.
The trial poses a dilemma for the Methodist Church in the Pacific Northwest, which has a more liberal stance on homosexuality than many other regions of the church. Two times in the last four years, clergy panels decided to dismiss the charges against Dammann.
This trial is going ahead only on the insistence of the church's Judicial Council, the equivalent of its Supreme Court.
The jurors were chosen in a closed session Wednesday. Nine votes are needed to convict. If she is found guilty, the same jury will decide
the penalty. It could be as lenient as putting a disciplinary letter in her personnel file, or as severe as ordering that she be defrocked or even excommunicated.
Church tries lesbian pastor
Methodists laud her service, still may punish her
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
New York Times
Published on: 03/18/04
BOTHELL, Wash. -- The Rev. Karen Dammann, a United Methodist minister, went on trial in a church here Wednesday for admitting that she is in a lesbian relationship.
The judge is a retired bishop, the jurors 13 of her fellow ministers. She is charged with violating church law by living in a homosexual relationship, which United Methodist Church law says is "incompatible wi
h Christian teachings."
But this is a church at war with itself, enforcing a law that many of its own clergy and members here say they find immoral and un-Christian. Dammann's defense will
use
Scripture and the church's own Book of Discipline to argue that her prosecution
is at odds with Christian teaching.
When a grim Dammann arrived at the church Wednesday with her partner and their young son at her side, she was hugged by supportive clergy, praised by the bishop who had pressed the charges against her and hailed as a hero by dozens of hymn-singing protesters who blocked the door of the church to prevent the trial from going forward.
Thirty-three protesters were politely arrested and put on a bus while two men shouted that homosexuality is a sin that God will punish.
"She is a respected member of our conference and has done good ministry, and so this is a painful experience for all of us, including me," said Bishop Elias Galvan, who is in charge of t
he Pacific Northwest region and brought the initial charges against Dammann, for which he portrayed himself as a regretful participant. "My role as bishop is to make sure that the Book of Disciplin
e, the chur
ch law, is applied."
Just as the battle over gay marriage in the civilian world has moved to t
he courts, so too has the Methodist Church resorted to ecclesiastical trials to enforce church law and to discipline clergy who perform same-sex unions.
The trial poses a dilemma for the Methodist Church in the Pacific Northwest, which has a more liberal stance on homosexuality than many other regions of the church. Two times in the last four years, clergy panels decided to dismiss the charges against Dammann.
This trial is going ahead only on the insistence of the church's Judicial Council, the equivalent of its Supreme Court.
The jurors were chosen in a closed session Wednesday. Nine votes are needed to convict. If she is found guilty, the same jury will decide
the penalty. It could be as lenient as putting a disciplinary letter in her personnel file, or as severe as ordering that she be defrocked or even excommunicated.