The Methodist Church’s highest court ruled Friday that the denomination’s first openly gay bishop is in violation of a church law barring the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals,” but it did not remove her as bishop, instead sending the issue back to the jurisdiction that chose her.
The 6-3 vote means the Rev. Karen Oliveto could face suspension or a trial to decide her fate.
“Under the long-standing principle of legality, no individual member or entity may violate, ignore or negate church law,” said the decision, reported by the church’s news service. “It is not lawful for the college of bishops of any jurisdictional or central conference to consecrate a self-avowed practicing homosexual bishop.”
It’s up to the college of bishops for the church’s Western Jurisdiction — the same jurisdiction that elected Oliveto — to hold a trial. Oliveto’s four fellow Western Jurisdiction bishops could choose to suspend her before a trial, although experts said that is unlikely.
“Myself and my church, we are going to resist on Sunday morning,” said Angie Heesacker, a student at Iliff School of Theology in Denver who is gay and planning to become a Methodist minister. “We are not going anywhere. And she is not going anywhere.”
Oliveto on Friday said she was still processing the decision and would comment later.
Jurors for the trial would be selected from clergy throughout the Western Jurisdiction. If the jurisdiction’s college of bishops does not follow through with a trial, they could face repercussions from the church’s 45 bishops around the globe.
“It’s clearly messy enough,” said Cathie Kelsey, Iliff’s dean of chapel and spiritual formation. “We thought we were going to get some clarity out of today, and we don’t more have more clarity.”
The Rev. Kent Ingram, pastor of the United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs, said he was disappointed with the decision but grateful Oliveto was not removed from her position. He said he is cautiously optimistic that Oliveto will remain the bishop.
“I think in the short term, it is sad that the judicial council stuck to a very punitive and, I think, discriminatory interpretation of the discipline,” Ingram said. “There’s still a glimmer of hope in the fact that they did not remove her from the office.”
Ingram urged LGBTQ members of the church to remain patient, saying, “The right way will eventually prevail.”
Ingram said he probably won’t spend a lot of time talking about the decision this Sunday, instead finding other venues to talk about the politics and issues of the church. He noted that people within his church have differing opinions on issues regarding LGBTQ people.
Iliff School of Theology president Thomas Wolfe described the bishop, who is on the school’s board of trustees, as “a role model of faithfulness in a time of great stress in the world and among peoples of faith.”
He added: “Our United Methodist faculty, staff and students welcome her role as their episcopal leader.”
Oliveto, married to her partner of 17 years, was chosen in July by the church’s Western Jurisdiction as bishop of the Mountain Sky region, which includes 400 churches in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and Idaho.
Oliveto was elected unanimously. Within hours, her election was contested by the South Central Jurisdiction, which includes Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and five other states. South Central leadership said Oliveto’s election is not valid because Methodist law bars leaders who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”
The United Methodist Church’s highest court, meeting in New Jersey, heard arguments Tuesday in the case.
In a dissenting opinion, two judicial council members said the council did not have jurisdiction over the matter. “Our difference with the majority revolves simply around which are the proper body or bodies for making these decisions,” the opinion said.
The judicial council’s decision is expected to have long-term effects on the Methodist church, which has been debating the issue of gay clergy for at least 45 years. In 1972, Methodist delegates adopted language saying homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching” and barred “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from ordination. The language has meant that gay ministers can serve only if they are celibate.
Later, delegates further clarified that churches could not hold same-sex weddings and that Methodist pastors could not conduct them. Oliveto, a minister in San Francisco before her election as bishop, has married numerous same-sex couples. She and her wife, Robin Ridenour, married in 2014.
Factions have formed in the United Methodist Church over the matter of gay leadership, within the U.S. and beyond. The church recently created a commission with 32 members from around the world to attempt to resolve the issue. Other Protestant denominations, including some Presbyterian and Evangelical churches, allow gay clergy.
The expectation is that the denomination may divide, perhaps splitting into two or even three parts, Iliff’s Kelsey said. Methodists in the Southern jurisdictions are predominantly conservative, and those in the Western areas are more progressive. The Midwest region of the church is split nearly down the middle.
The last time the Methodist church split was in 1844, dividing North and South over the issue of slavery. The church merged in 1939, although institutionalized racial division within the denomination was not resolved until the 1980s.
