METHODIST JURY DEFROCKS LESBIAN MINISTER

In the follow-up to yesterday's action convicting lesbian United Methodist Minister Irene Elizabeth Stroud of breaking the ban on self-acknowledged homosexual clergy, a United Methodist jury today defrocked her, requiring her to give up her ordination credentials. See UPI story here.

The gist of the story:

The Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud was ordered to surrender her ministerial license Thursday for "engaging in practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings" because she is a practicing lesbian.

Her fellow clergy voted 7-6 to defrock Stroud, who had been associate minister at First United Methodist Church of Germantown.

An estimated two-thirds of the world's United Methodists support their denomination's ban on gay clergy, though there is an active, vocal dissident camp.

Stroud, who asked for and received a trial that was open to the public, brought on the proceeding when she used a sermon last year to disclose her "covenant relationship" with another woman.

Although the jury, composed of United Methodist fellow clergy, voted overwhelmingly yesterday 12-1 to convict her, the vote today to defrock her was narrow, only 7-6.

While this may only come from a reluctance to be harsh with a fellow cleric, it may also simply reflect the fact that United Methodist clergy tend to be much more liberal than most United Methodists. As the article noted, 2/3 of United Methodists support the denomination's ban on gay clergy. Yet these clergy barely voted, by only one vote, to enforce it.

This story describes another step in the ongoing struggle to work out, in the democratic way required by the rules of the denomination, the clash between the orthodox, traditionalist beliefs of a majority of United Methodists and those of a minority, mostly liberal clergy and hierarchy, which still dominates the daily affairs of the United Methodist Church.