Bishop Rules Deacon's Candidacy Revocation "Moot"

July 2, 2013

2:20 PM

Photo Courtesy of Mary Ann Kaiser/UMNS

Mary Ann Kaiser

Mary Ann Kaiser, a self-acknowledged lesbian whose candidacy as a deacon was revoked last month by the Southwest Texas Conference board of ordained ministry, remains rejected for ministry in a ruling by Bishop Jim Dorff of the San Antonio Area.

A ruling of law on Ms. Kaiser's candidacy revocation was requested the 2013 session of the Southwest Texas conference. Ms. Kaiser had been recommended for commissioning as an ordained deacon by the charge conference of University UMC in Austin, TX, where she serves as youth minister, and by her district board of ordained ministry.

However, her candidacy was revoked by vote of the conference board of ordained ministry just before the Southwest Texas clergy session voted on ordinands. The United Methodist Book of Discipline prohibits the ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals." The conference board of ordained ministry did not interview Ms. Kaiser before voting to revoke her deacon candidacy.

In his July 2 decision that the requested ruling involved a "moot" question, Bishop Dorff stated: "I have come to believe that some persons expected my ruling on this request to somehow change the requirements for ordination in the United Methodist Church. I do not have such authority. The position of the Church cannot be changed by any committee, board, annual conference, or Bishop. Only the General Conference can make such changes. It meets again in 2016."

The bishop's ruling will be reviewed by the United Methodist Judicial Council on its fall docket. The full text of Bishop Dorff's statement is posted on the Southwest Texas Conference website.

At about 2:30 p.m. July 2, Mary Ann Kaiser's response was distributed via the Reconciling Ministries Network:

"Bishop Dorff has clearly renounced his responsibility to “guard the Discipline of the Church (par. 403.1)” by refusing to hold an official body of the annual conference accountable to carry out clear mandates of the Discipline. There is nothing “moot” or “hypothetical” about my case at all. I was recommended as a certified candidate by my district committee on ordained ministry. The Board of Ordained Ministry refused to interview or examine me in violation of the above cited paragraphs. The bishop has chosen to ignore this neglect of responsibility and disregard for a relational process by simply washing his hands of the matter."

Comments (2)

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call

What exactly is her call to be a United Methodist deacon as a lesbian who is in a relationship? What is she claiming that God is calling her to do? Anyone with basic reading comprehension knows that gays in a relationship are not eligible to be commissioned, ordained or appointed and have not been for almost thirty years (anyone who is not married cannot be in a relationship and legally married people are only supposed to be in a relationship with their spouse--people who have violated that have lost their credentials). So, unless the "call" is to be a test case then what is the point? My discernment would doubt the validity of a claim that Yahweh called her to do that. Her DCOM should never have moved her forward as a candidate. The Discipline is clear that the DCOMs are subcommittees of the BOOM. So, it stands to reason that the BOOM is the final decision-maker. There is no requirement for an interview or some other meeting before removing a candidate. The members of the Austin DCOM that voted to move her forward should resign if their conscience prevents them from acting according to the Discipline. If she was interested in serving a church, then there are other denominations that would ordain her. But, I still get the suspicion that all of this is really about allowing gay clergy who lied during their ordination vows and have violated the Discipline every day since to both serve openly and not lose any of the material benefits in The UMC including job security, job availability and pension and health benefits. With all respect, there is nothing "holy" or in a "call" for that.

Creed Pogue more than 11 years ago

What do you think

...makes LGBT people so different from you and I? Her calling is no different from anyone else's. the call to change this oppressive policy is a holy one as are all efforts to oppose bigotry and oppression.

I do have some more secularly oriented friends who regard such things as eye-rolling, because to them for an LGBT person to seek to serve the church is not unlike a slave serving his or her master. They are especially dubious about groups like Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a Pentecostal denomination which reaches out to LGBT folks. We were at a meeting when an MCC pastor who fit a sterotype of a "butch" lesbian quite well announced she was leaving because God was calling her to go to Mississippi. My heathen friend sitting next to me whispered, "Surely God has better sense than to do that." I grinned, but in retrospect, who were we to question her comminication with diety on such matters? And who are you to question this former candidate for UMC ministry? Much as one might think sending a pastor of an oppressed group to a place where she would be especially vulnerable is a horrible thing, after all, God called Jonah to Nineveh. You lack the standing to judge this former ministerial candidate and the committee which recommended her. Rather you should look in the mirror than out the window.

George N. Shuler, LCSW more than 11 years ago