Western Jurisdiction Elects Karen Oliveto Bishop

[ComplineSanFran]

Congratulations to The Rev Dr Karen Oliveto, elected today to serve as Bishop in the United Methodist Church. She is from San Francisco, and has served since 2008 at the famous Glide Memorial Church.

I have attended services at Glide many times and she is a remarkable pastor, preacher, scholar, and witness to Christ.

Since 2008, Oliveto has served as the senior pastor of Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco. CA. Glide is the Western Jurisdiction’s largest membership congregation, and one of the top 100 largest membership congregations in the denomination…

During his Episcopal Address on Wednesday, Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr. of the San Francisco Episcopal Area reminded the body of the Jurisdiction’s vision to “be a home for all God’s people, gathered around a table of reconciliation and transformation.” The jurisdiction is multicultural and inclusive, engaged in the life of its communities with confident, effective, lay and clergy leadership in diverse ministry settings forming disciples who live out the Good News of Jesus as global citizens.

She is the first openly lesbian to be elected Bishop in the United Methodist Church. As more and more LGBT clergy advance in their parishes and jurisdictions, the best of the best are coming forward. It is a good witness on many levels. Dr Oliveto certainly deserves this opportunity to be Christ’s steward in her Church.

westernjurisdictionumc.org/western-jurisdiction-elects-karen-oliveto-bishop/

 

[Mintaka]

Of course it’s not a Catholic’s business to say anything about the actions of another denomination. It’s doubly not our business when the denomination doesn’t have much in the way of apostolic descent of bishops, and when it has invalid women’s ordination going.

But seeing as it’s my dad’s home denomination that’s slowly disintegrating itself, I find it sad.

A bishop is supposed to be an example of holy life and of all the virtues, but particularly of chastity and wisdom. A bishop is supposed to oversee the congregation and keep the rules, not break every founding principle of a denomination and count it a victory.

But it’s more basic than that. Karen Oliveto calls for same sex marriages, when Jesus clearly teaches that “from the beginning” in Eden, marriage was the joining of one man to one woman. So she doesn’t believe in Jesus’ own Gospel words. Why is she calling herself a Christian, then? How can she set herself up as a Christian teacher? So she’s basically taking this church’s salary money under false pretences.

As it says in 2 Maccabees 6:4-9 –

“For the Temple was full of the riot and revellings of the Gentiles… And women thrust themselves of their own accord into the holy places, and brought in things that were not lawful. The altar also was filled with unlawful things, which were forbidden by the laws… when the feast of Bacchus was kept, they were compelled to go about crowned with ivy in honour of Bacchus… whoever would not conform themselves to the ways of the Gentiles should be put to death. Then was misery to be seen.”

And as it says in Romans 1:21-29, apparently there’s something very wrong with the Christianity of the people in charge of the UMC –

"Because, when they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks. But they became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened; for professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

"… So God gave them up to the desires of their heart, to uncleanness, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator…

“For this cause, God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into what is against nature; and in like manner, the men also have burned in their lusts toward each other, leaving the natural use of women, men with men doing that which is filthy…”

Now, of course Paul goes on to point out that all our other sins also come from not truly knowing and loving God, and therefore none of us sinners can say much. All sins are idol worship of ourselves and our bad desires; all sins are abominations committed in the temples of our baptized bodies.

But if we can’t call a sin a sin, or even point out sinful inclinations as something to be fought, we are cutting people off from asking God for forgiveness of those sins, or from trying to amend their lives and become virtuous. To call good evil and evil good, when we all know better, is the ultimate blasphemy.

So yeah, it’s a fairly low point in the history of the United Methodist Church; but if you want to rejoice over the misfortunes of your UMC neighbors, I guess that’s your business.

 

[zamyrabyrd]

al.com/news/beaches/index.ssf/2016/07/1st_openly_gay_methodist_bisho.html

*SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — The Western district of the Methodist church has elected an openly gay bishop despite the denomination’s ban on same-sex relationships.

The Rev. Karen Oliveto was elected late Friday night at a meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, of the church’s Western Jurisdiction. Oliveto is pastor of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. She is the first openly gay bishop in the 12.7 million-member denomination.

The United Methodist Church is deeply divided over LGBT rights. Church law says same-gender relationships are “incompatible with Christian teaching.” But several regional districts are openly defying the prohibition by appointing gay clergy and allowing same-sex weddings in churches. Some instances have led to trials under the church legal system.*

 

[commenter]

al.com/news/beaches/index.ssf/2016/07/1st_openly_gay_methodist_bisho.html

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — The Western district of the Methodist church has elected an openly gay bishop despite the denomination’s ban on same-sex relationships.

The Rev. Karen Oliveto was elected late Friday night at a meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, of the church’s Western Jurisdiction. Oliveto is pastor of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. She is the first openly gay bishop in the 12.7 million-member denomination.

The United Methodist Church is deeply divided over LGBT rights. Church law says same-gender relationships are “incompatible with Christian teaching.” But several regional districts are openly defying the prohibition by appointing gay clergy and allowing same-sex weddings in churches. Some instances have led to trials under the church legal system.

This is what happens when a denomination does not have the Magisterium. “Truth” is defined by - captive to - the dominant trends of the secular culture. There have been other threads pointing out that, overall, the majority of United Methodists, especially in Africa or the American South, are closer to traditional Christianity. But in the long run, whichever individuals or groups that the secular media likes, will get their POV expressed, to all.

The minister who is traditional gets labelled as “rigid” and “dogmatic”; and mostly ignored. The minister who is glued to CNN and daily newspaper gets tagged as “pastoral”, “compassionate” and “inclusive” - a bridge builder who can unite all persons. When people get together to choose a bishop, this is the person they have heard a lot about, so they rise to the top of the list for promotion to bishop, seminary president, etc. This is the person whose books you might find in major chain bookstores, who gets called for quotes by the daily newspaper; someone deemed “important” by the media.

 

[ltwin]

This is what happens when a denomination does not have the Magisterium. “Truth” is defined by - captive to - the dominant trends of the secular culture. There have been other threads pointing out that, overall, the majority of United Methodists, especially in Africa or the American South, are closer to traditional Christianity. But in the long run, whichever individuals or groups that the secular media likes, will get their POV expressed, to all.

The problem with the UMC is that, while the General Conference in theory has full legislative power for the church, it is a body that only meets every 4 years and is made up of at least 600 people who show up to vote and when Conference ends have no power to see that Conference decisions are enforced. Add this to the over-representation of liberals on the denomination’s agencies, boards, and commissions plus the disproportionate influences that the small but liberal Western Jurisdiction has in important bodies such as the Connectional Table. What you get is a theological and cultural gap between what most United Methodists believe and what “those in charge” believe. The irony is that the UMC claims to function according to representative democracy.

It’s even more frustrating to more conservative United Methodists in regions such as the Southeast because they are underrepresented yet their money is going to prop up the Western Jurisdiction, which is no longer able to support itself.