It's Saturday and as a break from my homework (already) I thought I'd share this piece regarding the Judicial Council decision #1032. which I spoke about in my first post. The following is an excerpt from a news article done by Neill Caldwell for the United Methodist News Service (UMNS) and reprinted in the Reconciling Ministries email newsletter:
Bishop Charlene P. Kammerer, who leads the Richmond (VA) Area, and theVirginia Annual (regional) Conference Board of Ordained Ministry [BOOM] have separately filed motions for reconsideration of Decisions 1031 and1032. Both rulings relate to the Rev. Ed Johnson, senior pastor at SouthHill (Va.) United Methodist Church, who was placed on involuntary leavelast summer by the clergy executive session of the Virginia Conferencefor refusing to admit a practicing gay man into membership at thechurch.
At its Oct. 26-29 meeting in Houston, the Judicial Council ruled infavor of Johnson, reinstating him with all salary and benefits. As a result, Kammerer reappointed Johnson to South Hill Church. Council President James Holsinger has placed the motions for reconsideration on the non-docket agenda for the court's spring session, set for April 26-28 in Kansas City, Mo. That means that at least five members must agree to reconsider the decisions. (emphasis mine)
I don't really know what we can do, but if there is any way I can be present, protest, hear the conversation, anything, I want to be there! Saint Paul has yet to have another conversation regarding any official response to the ruling (which is now more than 3 months old), but the Social Justice Committee is working on that, with some help from the Dean. At this point, I'm not sure I can/should expect the seminary to do anything. It seems there have been enough other responses from throughout the church that things are in progress anyway. Now we just have to wait...
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