The Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud 

The Rev. Irene Elizabeth (Beth) Stroud, 35, joined the First United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia as an associate pastor July 1, 1999. She oversees the youth programs and preaches; until she was stripped of her credentials in December 2004, she also offered communion and performed baptisms and wedding ceremonies. Previously, she served as associate pastor of West Chester United Methodist Church. She earned her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1991 and a master’s of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1996. Under the process in place at the time, she was ordained as a deacon in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church in1997 and became a full member of the conference in 2000. 

The process that led to the church charges against Stroud started April 27, 2003, when she told the congregation about her relationship with Chris Paige, 33, a consultant to small businesses and nonprofit organizations. They have lived together for almost five years. 

The Case

In April 2003, Stroud told the congregation in a letter and a sermon that she is a lesbian living in a committed relationship with Paige. 

In reaction to the announcement, the eastern Pennsylvania bishop started a process that led to a formal charge of engaging in “practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings.” A trial was held on Dec. 1-2 at Camp Innabah, a United Methodist camp and retreat center in Spring City, Pa., about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. The presiding judge, retired Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel of Smithsburg, Md., refused to allow Stroud’s team to argue that the law violated the church’s constitution, forcing the 13 ordained United Methodists serving as jurors to consider only whether she was a “practicing homosexual.”  The jurors voted 12-1 to convict Stroud; they voted 7-6 to strip her of her credentials. 

Stroud took the case to the United Methodist Church’s Northeast Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals, which held a hearing April 28 outside Baltimore. The appeals committee could examine only whether the charges and the circumstances of the case had violated church law, not whether prohibiting “practicing homosexuals” from serving as clergy represented a just law. The next day, the committee — composed of four ministers and five lay members — ruled 8-1 that grave errors existed in the case. The ruling overturned the conviction and required the church to reinstate Stroud’s credentials, though she has elected not to perform the sacraments before the final ruling this fall.

The committee’s logic (see www.umc.org for the full ruling) centered on two facets: The church’s failure to define two terms — “status” and “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” — and the phrase “because homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” The church appealed the ruling to the Judicial Council, the United Methodists’ rough equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Judicial Council will hear Stroud’s case Oct. 27 in Houston; a ruling is expected within days.

The case represents a rarity in the United Methodist Church. Since 1940, the Judicial Council has heard only 12 trial appeals.   

The Rev. Jim Hallam, minister at Lima United Methodist Church in Lima, Pa., and Alan Symonette, an attorney who serves as a lay leader at Stroud’s church, the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, will represent Stroud before the Judicial Council. The Rev. Tom Hall and attorney Robert Shoemaker Jr. will argue for the church. 

Church Law

The Book of Discipline, which outlines the laws of the United Methodist Church, says “because homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers or appointed to serve” as pastors. The church’s constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on “status.” 

As the appeals committee noted, the Judicial Council in previous cases has found the terms “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” and “status” vague and ordered the General Conference — the church’s rough equivalent to the U.S. Congress — to explicitly define the terms. The conference, which meets every four years, has failed for almost a decade to follow the council’s orders. This failure, the appeals committee said, robbed Stroud of due process in the case.

Stroud’s team argues that, according to accepted definitions, “status” refers to a condition beyond a person’s control, and homosexuality, according to all current medical research, fits the definition.

The second main point of church law in the case centers on the phrase “because homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” Stroud’s team argues, and the appeals committee agreed, that the phrase constitutes a doctrine under United Methodist law because it makes a pronouncement about the essence of Christian teaching. The United Methodist Church requires a constitutional amendment or an explicit declaration by the General Conference to add a new doctrine to church law. Neither has occurred. 

Stroud’s side also argues that the ban on homosexual clergy runs counter to other Methodist laws. The Book of Discipline says: “Inclusiveness means openness, acceptance and support that enable all persons to participate in the life of the church, the community and the world. Thus, inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination.” In addition, it says sexuality is “God’s good gift to all persons,” homosexuals are “individuals of sacred worth,” “God’s grace is available to all” and “certain basic human rights and civil liberties are due all persons.” 

In reaction to an acquittal in a similar case, the Judicial Council ruled a year ago, without addressing the doctrine controversy, that the church finds homosexuality incompatible with Christian teachings and reaffirmed the church’s ban on the ordination and appointment of gay and lesbian pastors. The council did not consider whether the prohibition on ordination of homosexuals violates the church constitution. 

The Precedent    

In March 2004, a jury acquitted the Rev. Karen Dammann of Ellensburg, Wash., of “practices incompatible with Christian teachings” for living with another woman in a committed relationship. In a statement, the jury said, “We searched the Discipline and did not find a declaration that ‘the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.’ ” Instead, the jury cited references in the Discipline to the “sacred worth” of homosexuals and the church’s abhorrence of discrimination. 

The Judicial Council ruling and the addition of the words “declared by the United Methodist Church” in the formal charge against Stroud precluded her from using the reasoning that led to Dammann’s acquittal.

The church has filed only one other case against a homosexual minister. The first United Methodist trial involving homosexual issues was held in 1987. The church convicted the Rev. Rose Mary Denman, a lesbian minister in New Hampshire; she later wrote a book about her struggles with the church. 

First United Methodist Church of Germantown

The 210-year-old First United Methodist Church of Germantown, which straddles one of Philadelphia’s wealthier areas and one of its poorer, attracts a diverse congregation of almost 1,000 members. Long known for social activism, the congregation belongs to the national United Methodist movement Reconciling Ministries Network, which advocates the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in church life. 

The church is part of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, which encompasses 498 churches with more than 138,000 members in 16 counties.

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church, which traces its founding to 1744, is the third largest denomination in the United States. The church claims 8.3 million members in the United States and about 1.5 million members in other countries. The controversy over homosexuals has divided the church for three decades. 

Links of note: 

First United Methodist Church of Germantown: www.fumcog.org
The Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud’s defense: www.bethstroud.info
Eastern Pennsylvania Conference: www.epaumc.org
United Methodist Church: www.umc.org
Reconciling Ministries Network: www.rmnetwork.org