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Kevin and Darren live in Portland Oregon and are a gay, committed couple. We believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all...regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, nationality, financial status, and being. Erase man-made borders and "they" become "we". New Site: HERE.Saturday, September 18
Methodist ruling gives gay pastor new hearing
[DAVID O'REILLY]
Citing legal errors, a United Methodist jurist has ordered a new hearing to decide whether the Rev. Elizabeth Stroud must face a church trial. Retired Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel, who is overseeing the case for the United Methodist Church's Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, declared last week that a special church committee's indictment of Stroud - a Philadelphia minister in a relationship with another woman - was "null and void." Yeakel called for a new hearing to decide whether Stroud should face a trial that could expel her from the ministry in the United Methodist Church. The denomination bars the ordination of "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals."
Stroud has served as an associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown for the past five years. No date has been set for a new hearing. Yeakel informed the conference last week that its specially appointed investigation committee was improperly constituted when it voted 5-3 on July 23 to send Stroud's case to trial. The committee included two laypeople, whereas church law requires all members to be clergy, Yeakel noted in his Sept. 9 letter. With only six valid members, the committee lacked a quorum and its decisions were not valid, he said. LINK
Citing legal errors, a United Methodist jurist has ordered a new hearing to decide whether the Rev. Elizabeth Stroud must face a church trial. Retired Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel, who is overseeing the case for the United Methodist Church's Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, declared last week that a special church committee's indictment of Stroud - a Philadelphia minister in a relationship with another woman - was "null and void." Yeakel called for a new hearing to decide whether Stroud should face a trial that could expel her from the ministry in the United Methodist Church. The denomination bars the ordination of "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals."
Stroud has served as an associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown for the past five years. No date has been set for a new hearing. Yeakel informed the conference last week that its specially appointed investigation committee was improperly constituted when it voted 5-3 on July 23 to send Stroud's case to trial. The committee included two laypeople, whereas church law requires all members to be clergy, Yeakel noted in his Sept. 9 letter. With only six valid members, the committee lacked a quorum and its decisions were not valid, he said. LINK
posted by jikido # 1:49 PM 
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