Reactions to Oliveto Ruling Run from Rebuke to Rejoicing

UPDATED 11 p.m. Monday, May 1, 2017

United Methodists began reacting to the Judicial Council Decision 1354, ruling Bishop Karen Oliveto's consecration to be illegal, as soon as the decision was made public Friday evening. By Saturday morning, both informal comments on social media and formal reactions from church leaders and unofficial interest groups were being published far and wide.

Good News issues statement on Judicial Council rulings.

Wesleyan Covenant Association issues statement on Judicial Council rulings.

Bishop Bruce Ough, president of the Council of Bishops, issued a statement Friday evening urging calm and prayers for church unity in the wake of the ruling. Conversely, Reconciling Ministries Network executive director Matt Berryman published a scathing denunciation of the Judicial Council decision and a promise of open defiance from RMN members. Formal responses from Good News, the unofficial evangelical caucus, and the Wesleyan Covenant Association, another conservative group, had not be release by Saturday morning. Their reactions will be published by United Methodist Insight as soon as they are received.

Meanwhile, rank-and-file United Methodists had plenty to say about the ruling.

United Methodist Insight invited its 6,900 email, Facebook and Twitter followers to send and post their reactions to the ruling. By Saturday morning, close to 100 responses had been logged, with more arriving as this article was compiled. Following are some examples from readers' responses.

Via email:

Mike Thomas, University United Methodist Church, San Antonio, Texas: That is an awful, unChrist-like decision. The UMC Judicial Council should resign and leave this issue until the next General Council meeting in 2019. They had the opportunity to heal the church’s wounds and instead they have thrown gasoline on the fire. Shameful.

John G. McEllhenney, retired clergy, Cornwall, PA: Has Bishop Oliveto declared publicly that her relationship with her wife is sexual in nature? If not, then she is not a self-avowed PRACTICING homosexual. There are both heterosexual and homosexual marriages in which the partners are celibate. Two persons may vow to live together in a loving relationship that does not include a sexual relationship.

Richard Miller, former United Methodist clergy now in United Church of Canada: The UMC likes to use the slogan "Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors." But decisions like the Judicial Council one flies in the face of those words.  Maybe the word "Open" should be replaced with "Closed."

Jan Johnston: I have been a United Methodist since my confirmation in 1954. The church taught me to be open to all people and to honor Christ’s directive to “Love one another as I have loved you”. I have yet to find, in the Bible, that Christ discriminated against anyone. He told us that if we believed in him all would be well. How on earth can the church discriminate against homosexuals or any other group of people? How  can this church, founded by the Wesleys who represented and preached to common working people, question who we choose to love. The point is that we DO love and that we love God, Christ and each other. All other judgments are up to God in Christ. Therefore, consecrating Rev. Karen Oliveto as Bishop was the RIGHT thing to do. We need to get back on the right path — the love-each-other one that Christ taught us and teaches us today.

Gerald Munday: It is another sad day in United Methodist Church.  A sadder day if she is defrocked.  I am a 85-year-old retired UMC Elder.

Ralph Spoor: Appropriate decision. ...process leads us to clarification!

Larry Robertson: Just how will the Judicial Council enforce its decision if the Western Jurisdiction does not take any action?  They have judicial authority, but what power?

Rev. Ian Smith, Pointe-Claire, Québec, Canada: As an Ordained Minister in The United Church of Canada – and as a heterosexual person – I am deeply saddened by the ruling of the UMC's Judicial Council regarding Bishop Karen Oliveto's consecration as "illegal." The reason why this issue was even brought before your denomination is based on a cultural, historical bias that really HAS NO BASIS IN SCRIPTURE ... unless, of course, one wants to cherry-pick Scripture passages and take them out of their original context. The same travesty was in evidence in the "trial" of the Rev. Frank Schaefer a while back in Pennsylvania because he dared to let the love of Christ be the guiding "rule" in deciding to officiate at his gay son's wedding. I am afraid, my sisters and brothers in the UMC, that you are headed for a major schism. This kind of un-Christ-like activity totally betrays the UMC's media ads in recent years that proclaim the inclusive nature of your denomination. Again, I am deeply saddened, but I am praying that the Holy Spirit will open the UMC's heart and it's arms to all ... as God has created each one.

Mary Hundley: This is why I have left the church...the lack of acceptance of gay clergy and gay members.  I am a former Lay Leader and Youth Leader, and heterosexual. The lack of compassion and acceptance of those who do not fit the mold, just as Jesus did not fit the mold during his day, is why the church is failing to retain and gain membership. It s truly a sad commentary on the state of the church today. John Wesley is turning over in his grave.

Rev. Nanette de Andrade, Deacon, NC Conference: I understand their adherence to our current Discipline, but wish they could have stood with her and the Jurisdiction's consecration of her by writing their own dissension and confession of participation in sin by doing so.  This ruling shows the impossibility of not finding a way forward which respects many United Methodists who cannot in integrity and good conscience continue to support our Discipline's exclusionary and oppressive language and rules toward LGBTQ children of God.

Scott Campbell: For a brilliant, principled and restrained statement of what should have happened, be sure to see the dissent at the end of the document written by Judicial Council President Oswald Tweh and Deannel Reece Tacha. The Judicial Council had no authority to separate consecration out as a flimsy hook upon which to hang its convoluted decision. It should have rejected jurisdiction in the matter. The petition from the South Central Jurisdiction did not address any matter that was relevant to its own work – only a matter they claimed related to the whole church. Jurisdictions have no authority to bring such matters to the Judicial Council. Only the Council of Bishops or the General Conference can raise such questions. The majority ruling also usurps the role of the General Conference by categorically stating that being in a same-gender marriage constitutes a declaration that one is a self-avowed practicing homosexual and places the burden of proving otherwise on a person being accused. Previous Judicial Councils were careful to say only that such relationships subject the clergyperson's ministerial office to review. There is no mention in the Disciplinary definition of "self-avowed practicing" (see the footnote to paragraph 304.3) that being married to a person of the same gender meets the test. Such definitions are legislative matters. The Judicial Council has over-reached in this profoundly troubling, activist decision in a way that harms us all. We have not been well served by the substitution of particular perspectives for the established processes of the church.

Hartley R. Gaston: God made both straight and gay. What was written 2000 to 5000 years ago in a different culture does not always apply today. At that time they had polygamy and slavery. Are to assume that is OK today because it was presented as OK in the Bible? How many clergy / Bishops are divorced? That was stated as a sin by Jesus. ... But the Church has accepted that. You can't pick and choose sins.

Bob Granger: So sad, so troubling, so painful to hear about. Our sexual identity is far more complicated that most of us have been led to believe, beginning with intersex discovery at birth. Beyond that, however, it is our willingness to be lovers of the least and the lowly in Christ's name that we should be judged fit for the office of bishop, not our bedroom companions.  

[Editor's note: A previously published comment from Michael S. Curry was removed at his request]. 

Via Twitter:

Via Facebook:

Karyn L. Wiseman: Damn, damn, damn. I left the UMC because of this and will NEVER come back. I was an ordained Elder in the UMC and am now UCC. I am so angry and sad. I am mourning for my beloved queer UMC brothers and sisters.

LJ Stevens: To me, the Judicial Council ruling on Bishop Karen Oliveto is the triumph of Law over Grace that confirms our "Open Doors, Hearts, and Minds" motto is merely pretty words that trip prettily off our tongues, and fall devoid of meaning upon the ears of those seeking a place to experience God's unconditional love..Not only does the motto NOT reflect our genuine core values, it does not even qualify for aspirational values, which are the values we claim to have and are actively working toward attaining. For we are not willing to go through the tough process of making the changes necessary to internalize them enough to actually act upon them when necessary..Thus, the motto is merely a statement of espoused values. Which are the things we say to sound good to ourselves and others, all the while knowing that they do NOT even come close to expressing what our genuine core and aspirational values are..In short, we talk about unconditional Love and Grace, but practice rigid adherence to Law. And the ruling reflects that.

Tim Good: Although it deeply saddens me, I can understand it in relationship to the current exclusive language in the Book of Discipline. We must change the Book of Discipline to be compatible to the ministry of Christ.

[Editor's Note: Ricky Lee's previously published comment was removed at his request].

Jodi Gill: I am giving very serious consideration to leaving UMC. I am heartbroken and feel betrayed by the church. Love is love. Period.

Betty Sayner: While they said her consecration is a violation of (IMO unjust) church law, she remains in good standing until there is an administrative or judicial process. That sends it back to the Western Jurisdiction where she has overwhelming support. I would have preferred she had been affirmed as the beloved child of God that she is, but it seems we still have reason to hope.

Julie A. Arms Meeks: I'm sick. Soul sick, heart sick, sick to my stomach.

Judith A. Gould: I was at the Judicial Council meeting when Rev. Keith Boyette made his presentation. Every time he stated, "Marriage is between one man and one woman," which was frequently, it felt like Maxwell's silver hammer, banging down upon my head. I felt objectified as this crazed, evil, sexualized, less than human being. So the Judicial Council's ruling was no surprise, but a huge disappointment nevertheless. The church has lost its soul to the relentless pharisiacal legalism of the IRD (Institute on Religion and Democracy).

Charlie McNeil: 1) “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 2) It is sadly ironic how the UMC puts so much time an energy into "Vital Congregations," while there is a cancer underneath the surface of prejudice, bias, bigotry, and injustice. How can a church be vital and so very, very sick?

Kevin Higgs: It seems like I have walked this journey from the beginning. I was on the original "denominational study committee" decades ago. I am sick to death of this Polite Hate and ignorance. You can dress it up all you want; any further "study" "trial" or any other event is just bigotry and ignorance refashioned. What would Jesus do? He would turn over the tables and say "STOP! This is a house of prayer for all people, and you have turned it into a den of thieves! You rob people of their humanity, their dignity, their beauty with every vile statement!" The longer this excrement continues the less integrity the UMC has. Why would any person want to be a part of this kind of hate? Why do Millennials exit the UMC as if it were burning down? Because this kind of ignorance and hate is a Deal Breaker. They want no part of it. You destroy yourself with your hate.

David Barton: The United Methodist Church (in the US of A) reflects the larger society we live in, where truth and reason live side by side with ignorance and fear. The UMC will change or it will disappear. Then again, it might change and disappear anyway. Keep the faith.

William G Pyatt: Major waste of time and resources. Each Jurisdiction is free to elect a bishop who is a clergy in "good standing." There is no need or justification for another Jurisdiction to have input on another's choice. I'm an Elder in the Illinois Great River Conference. Clergy Member since 1978.

Becca Girrell: The Judicial Council overreached. In ruling about the consecration of Bishop Oliveto, they also decided to act where they had not been asked to, and changed the definition of "self avowed and practicing," and legislated that civil same sex marriages are prohibited, a matter upon which the Discipline has been silent. I think the greater harm-- intended or not-- will come from those changes to church law. I'm not hurt or surprised. I'm pretty angry. My overwhelming feeling, however, is determination.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor and Founder of United Methodist Insight.