Following the recent defrocking of Reverend Frank Schaefer and demands for reconsideration
of church doctrine by some leaders, the United Methodist Church has
charged yet another member of its clergy, Reverend Thomas Ogletree, for
officiating at his own son's same-sex wedding. The act violates church
law, which does not approve of same-sex marriage. Ogletree, a retired
member of the church's New York district and former Dean of Yale's
Divinity School, was informed of the charge via mail last week. He
refused, like Schaefer before him, to promise never to officiate at a
same-sex wedding again, and as such his trial, which will take place on
March 10th, is moving forward.
The Associated Press reports:
"It is a shame that the church is
choosing to prosecute me for this act of love, which is entirely in
keeping with my ordination vows to 'seek peace, justice, and freedom for
all people' and with Methodism's historic commitment to inclusive
ministry embodied in its slogan 'open hearts, open minds, open doors,'"
Ogletree said in a statement...
Bishop Martin McLee, who leads the New
York Annual Conference, asked for prayers for all involved and noted
church procedures allow for a negotiated settlement even after a trial
starts. "It is my hope and prayer that a just resolution can be arrived
at and a trial can be avoided," McLee said in a statement.
The Rev. Randall Paige of Christ Church
UMC in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., who led the clergy who filed the
complaint, said, "we take no joy" in the charges against Ogletree.
Unlike other congregations, like the Evangelical Lutheran and
Episcopal churches, the United Methodist Church has continually refused
to alter church law regarding same-sex marriages. In the face of rapidly
changing marriage laws throughout the United States, the church may
need to rule on its own doctrine sooner rather than later.
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