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PUGHTOWN, Pa. (Dec. 2) - A jury made up of United Methodist Church clergy convicted a lesbian minister Thursday of violating church law by openly living with her partner in a committed relationship.
The Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud could be defrocked as a result of the ruling, which came on the second day of her church trial. The same 13-member jury was set to meet Thursday afternoon to decide her penalty.
Methodist law bars ‘‘self-avowed, practicing homosexuals’’ from ministry. Nine votes were necessary for a conviction and the jury voted 12-1 to find Stroud guilty.
The last time the 8.3 million-member denomination convicted an openly gay cleric was in 1987, when a New Hampshire church court defrocked the Rev. Rose Mary Denman.
Last March, a Methodist court in Washington state acquitted the Rev. Karen Dammann, who lives with a same-sex partner, citing an ambiguity in church law that the Methodist supreme court has since eliminated.
Before the jury returned, Stroud, 34, told reporters that whatever the verdict, ‘‘this case has shown how divided we are’’ over the role of gays in the church. She had expected to be convicted.
Stroud, associate pastor at Philadelphia’s First United Methodist Church of Germantown, set the case in motion last year when she announced to her bishop and congregation that she was living in a committed relationship with her partner, Chris Paige.
At her trial, Stroud’s defense was dealt a blow when the presiding judge Joseph Yeakel, the retired bishop of Washington, D.C., excluded expert testimony from six defense witnesses who believe the church’s gay clergy ban violates its own legal principles.
The senior pastor of Stroud’s church, the Rev. Alfred Day III, attempted to raise a similar issue when he took the stand, saying ‘‘I believe that even the testimony of Scripture is far from clear on this subject.’’
‘‘We have more muddle than clarity,’’ he said. But the prosecuting attorney, the Rev. Thomas Hall of Exton, Pa., asked Yeakel to strike Day’s statement and the judge instructed the jury that ‘‘constitutional issues are not before this court.’’
Stroud’s defense counsel, the Rev. J. Dennis Williams, said in closing arguments that ‘‘the heart of the issue is whether all United Methodists, regardless of status, are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.’’
‘‘I only wish you could hear the full testimony we wished to present,’’ Williams said.
But Hall told jurors they had a duty to ‘‘hold a good pastor accountable to the standard with which we all live’’ under the Methodist Book of Discipline.
The basic facts in the case were never in dispute, since Stroud had declared she was gay.
The only two defense witnesses to be called were Day and the senior pastor who supervised her in West Chester, Pa. Both lavishly praised her performance in preaching, teaching and pastoral work. Hall agreed with that assessment.
Stroud’s supportive Philadelphia congregation has already agreed that she can continue doing her work as a lay employee without clergy status. However, she will be unable to celebrate baptism or Communion.
PUGHTOWN, Pa. (Dec. 2) - A jury made up of United Methodist Church clergy convicted a lesbian minister Thursday of violating church law by openly living with her partner in a committed relationship.
The Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud could be defrocked as a result of the ruling, which came on the second day of her church trial. The same 13-member jury was set to meet Thursday afternoon to decide her penalty.
Methodist law bars ‘‘self-avowed, practicing homosexuals’’ from ministry. Nine votes were necessary for a conviction and the jury voted 12-1 to find Stroud guilty.
The last time the 8.3 million-member denomination convicted an openly gay cleric was in 1987, when a New Hampshire church court defrocked the Rev. Rose Mary Denman.
Last March, a Methodist court in Washington state acquitted the Rev. Karen Dammann, who lives with a same-sex partner, citing an ambiguity in church law that the Methodist supreme court has since eliminated.
Before the jury returned, Stroud, 34, told reporters that whatever the verdict, ‘‘this case has shown how divided we are’’ over the role of gays in the church. She had expected to be convicted.
Stroud, associate pastor at Philadelphia’s First United Methodist Church of Germantown, set the case in motion last year when she announced to her bishop and congregation that she was living in a committed relationship with her partner, Chris Paige.
At her trial, Stroud’s defense was dealt a blow when the presiding judge Joseph Yeakel, the retired bishop of Washington, D.C., excluded expert testimony from six defense witnesses who believe the church’s gay clergy ban violates its own legal principles.
The senior pastor of Stroud’s church, the Rev. Alfred Day III, attempted to raise a similar issue when he took the stand, saying ‘‘I believe that even the testimony of Scripture is far from clear on this subject.’’
‘‘We have more muddle than clarity,’’ he said. But the prosecuting attorney, the Rev. Thomas Hall of Exton, Pa., asked Yeakel to strike Day’s statement and the judge instructed the jury that ‘‘constitutional issues are not before this court.’’
Stroud’s defense counsel, the Rev. J. Dennis Williams, said in closing arguments that ‘‘the heart of the issue is whether all United Methodists, regardless of status, are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.’’
‘‘I only wish you could hear the full testimony we wished to present,’’ Williams said.
But Hall told jurors they had a duty to ‘‘hold a good pastor accountable to the standard with which we all live’’ under the Methodist Book of Discipline.
The basic facts in the case were never in dispute, since Stroud had declared she was gay.
The only two defense witnesses to be called were Day and the senior pastor who supervised her in West Chester, Pa. Both lavishly praised her performance in preaching, teaching and pastoral work. Hall agreed with that assessment.
Stroud’s supportive Philadelphia congregation has already agreed that she can continue doing her work as a lay employee without clergy status. However, she will be unable to celebrate baptism or Communion.
