Lesbian Methodist Pastor to Face Trial Next Week
Methodists pay close attention to the trial of Rev. Beth Shroud, a ''self-avowed practicing homosexual,'' because of its possible implication's for the denomination's future laws
As the blue and red halves of the nation struggle over the contentious issue of legalized homosexual “marriage,” Methodists are facing their own challenges as they anticipate the verdict of a case that could decide whether homosexuals may or may not minister in the United Methodist Churches (UMC).
A trial date has been set for the Rev. Beth Shroud, a ''self-avowed practicing homosexual.'' Her actions have been deemed incompatible with Christian teachings and in violation of UMC’s 2000 Book of Discipline. Bishop Joseph Yeakel was appointed by the Eastern Judicial Council of Pennsylvania to oversee the trial. Although it is not the first of its kind, observers are paying close attention to this trial because of its potential to act as a precedent for the future.
Stroud’s trial will begin on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 at Camp Innabah, one of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s camps, located in Pughtown, PA, and is expected to last at most three days.
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Jury selection will begin at 9 a.m. The trial is to be open to the public and the press, and will start after the trial court has been chosen, probably around 10 a.m. (UMNS).
The 13 members and two alternates will be chosen from a pool of at least 35 Eastern Pennsylvania clergy. The bishop’s cabinet, the district superintendents, chooses the pool. Consideration is given to ensure that the pool is diverse in race, ethnicity and gender. The alternates will sit as observers and will be prepared to serve if one or two of the original jurors are unable to sit.
Nine votes are needed to convict, but seven votes by the trial court are necessary to set the penalty, which could mean the removal of ministerial order.
The Rev. Irene Elizabeth (Beth) Stroud was appointed as associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown in 1999. And in 2003, she announced her relationship with a lesbian in a letter to her congregation, writing that she is “a lesbian living in a committed relationship with a partner.” A few days later, she preached this information in a sermon, “Walking in Light.”
In her sermon, Shroud admits to her congregation, “I know that, by telling the truth about myself, I risk losing my credentials as an ordained United Methodist minister. And that would be a huge loss for me.” Before she even “came-out” to her congregation, she told the presiding bishop, Peter D. Weaver, of her decision to tell the congregation. Bishop Weaver then filed a complaint against her according to the 2000 Book of Discipline. The first step was a series of supervisory meetings, but when a conclusion could not be achieved, Bishop Weaver initiated the judicial complaint process on March 31, 2004.
Thereafter, a hearing was held on July 23, 2004 by the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Committee on Investigation, chaired by the Rev. Kent Kroehler, to review the complaint. They voted 5 to 3 that reasonable grounds exist for a church trial as provided in the Book of Discipline.
The Committee then appointed Peter Yeakel as the presiding officer or judge, and he ordered a new hearing, charging the committee for being at fault for allowing laypersons to vote as members of the committee. At that point, the committee lacked an official quorum in which to take action. Church law states that seven clergy persons constitute a quorum.
Bishop Yeakel went one step further and reprimanded Rev. Kroehler stating that members “unwilling to uphold the Discipline for reasons of conscience…[must] step aside,” and asked him to “inventory the present members of the Committee on Investigation on their willingness to serve, meeting the requirements of the Discipline in conformance with the Judicial Council’s ruling. If that inventory reduces the number of members below what is necessary for a quorum, then additional members should be appointed.”
On October 11, 2004, in contrast to the previous vote of 5 to 3, the new committee voted unanimously that reasonable grounds exist for a church trial as provided in the Book of Discipline.
Although Church law allows bishops to suspend persons facing disciplinary charges, Bishop Weaver and Bishop Matthews have chosen to continue to appoint Rev. Stroud to serve at First United Methodist Church of Germantown, believing it important to complete the disciplinary process before making any decisions.
In UMC system, bishops appoint pastors annually. However, pastors must meet qualifications outlined in church law, and that law prohibits the ordination and appointment of self-avowed, practicing homosexuals as pastors. It also forbids the celebration of same-sex unions by its clergy and in its sanctuaries.
Clearly, Shroud does not meet those conditions. The charge against Rev. Stroud was filed under a 2000 church law that was in effect in April 2003. Changes in church law made by 2004 General Conference will not be considered.
Although UMC is committed to ministry to all persons, including those with sexual practices that are incompatible with the Bible, the church’s highest legislative body, the General Conference, has declared that self-avowed, practicing homosexuals cannot be ordained or appointed to serve as ministers.
However, The Rev. Fred Day, the church’s senior pastor, said the 1,000-member congregation supports her ministry there.
The Bible states, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another… Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion” (Romans 1:21-27).
