METHODIST CLERIC FOUND GUILTY IN BLESSING GAY UNION

METHODIST CLERIC FOUND GUILTY IN BLESSING GAY UNION

By Steve Kloehn, Tribune Religion Writer.
Published: Saturday, March 27, 1999
Section: NEWS

The United Methodist Church effectively defrocked a Chicago minister Friday for blessing a homosexual union, in a historic ruling that will have repercussions throughout Protestant Christianity.

A jury of Chicago-area ministers declared by a 10-3 vote on Friday afternoon that Rev. Gregory Dell was guilty of violating church law. The jury then retired for another 2 1/2 hours to deliberate on a penalty. Shortly after 11 p.m. Friday the jury announced its decision to suspend Dell from ordained ministry until he either agrees in writing not to perform homosexual unions in the future or until the church repeals the law.

Dell responded by saying he would stick by his principles.

" I will never sign such a pledge," Dell said after the punishment was announced. "That would be a violation of what I believe the spirit of God and all these people signify."

Whether he is an active minister or not, Dell said he plans to remain a member of the church and to continue working for gay rights in the church.

Dell's bishop and friend, C. Joseph Sprague, will have to enforce the decision, but he expressed anguish over it nonetheless. Citing the time, energy and nearly $100,000 spent on the trial, Sprague said he would have to think twice in the future about filing similar complaints against other pastors.

"I have an idea that God isn't smiling tonight," Sprague said.

The sentencing, which concluded the marathon two-day church trial at the First United Methodist Church of Downers Grove, will take effect July 5.

Methodists, like other mainline Protestant denominations, have fought for decades over the church's stance toward marriage-type vows between homosexual partners, as well as over the question of ordaining gays and lesbians.

But by forcing Dell from his post as pastor of the Broadway United Methodist Church on Chicago's North Side, where he performed the union ceremony last September, the United Methodist Church may have ushered in a new era in which clergy will face suspension for deviating from church doctrine.

Hundreds of Methodist clergy have signed petitions pledging their support for homosexual unions, and 69 ministers in California face a formal complaint for jointly performing a lesbian union service in January.

"Don't start the dynamic of denominational cleansing tonight, sisters and brothers," Dell urged the jury Friday evening. "It isn't worthy of you or our covenant.

"I suggest that we call a truce. Penalize me with a reprimand. Enter a letter of censure in my permanent record of ministerial service . . . Decide that our denomination can and even must live with such disobedience until May of 2000, when we meet in General Conference.

"Let me and the hundreds of other clergy, and the thousands of laity, many of whom are represented here, who support this kind of ministry--minority though we may be--stay in the family."

But church counsel Rev. Stephen Williams asked the jury to bring justice to Dell, choking back sobs as he argued that it had no option but to ban Dell from ordained ministry.

"Significant damage and confusion has been inflicted on this branch of the body of Christ," Williams said. "I do not believe Greg Dell wants to destroy the temple of God, but I do believe his acts are destructive."

Williams called Dell a brother, a friend and a superior pastor in many ways. "If Greg would promise me, promise you, that he wouldn't violate the covenant again . . . I would be the first to say, `Thank you, go home,' " Williams said. "But he won't."

Dell, who never denied conducting the union, based his defense on the assertion that the prohibition of homosexual unions conflicted with his obligation to minister to all people, including the third of his flock at Broadway United Methodist Church on Chicago's North Side that is gay and lesbian.

Earlier Friday, Dell made an eloquent and passionate plea to the jury, asking the 13 pastors sitting in judgment to see the blessing of homosexual unions as a necessary part of his ministry.

"If I can't be a pastor in full, you don't want me as a pastor," he said, tears welling in his eyes. "You really don't."

He stopped to compose himself again when he recounted the kinds of services he feels obliged to perform for his parishioners at Broadway United Methodist Church, from baptisms to burials.

"And when they bring to you a relationship that is filled with love and commitment, that understands the mystery of God in that love and commitment, and when they say to you . . . `We want the blessing of God on that relationship,' you do that as a privilege," Dell said.

On cross-examination, Williams asked Dell why, feeling as he did about the Methodist stance toward homosexuality, he has not left the church for a denomination that permits gay unions.

"This is my family," Dell answered. "This is my church. I grew up in this church just as the people on the other side of this issue did.

"I don't leave my family just because we're in disagreement," he continued. "In family, we stay together until the relationship becomes abusive."

Closing statements in the trial were brief, with defense counsel Rev. Larry Pickens speaking for less than five minutes. He urged the jurors to preserve Dell's "unique and incredibly effective ministry."

"If the church cannot enforce this binding provision, then the General Conference is stripped of its full legislative authority. The Judicial Council is stripped of its judicial authority," Williams said. "And 8 1/2 million Methodists are stripped of their right, through the General Conference, to determine what may or may not be done in the name of the church."

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