JCM 1182

http://archives.umc.org/interior_judicial.asp?mid=263&JDID=1303&JDMOD=VWD&SN=1100&EN=1189

Reconsideration of JCD 1149 was denied.

That is what the Council usually does when it is asked to reconsider. No explanation, no legal grounds, no indication that the request had merit or was frivolous, no nothing.

JCD 1149 was the decision where the Council ruled a sentence which implied that all central conference bishops world-wide were the supervisory body of a central conference bishop unconstitutional. Practically speaking, it does not seem there are any grounds for reconsidering. I was not consulted with respect to this request so I cannot tell you what was at issue.

I do know that the respondent Philippines bishop was seeking any legal support he could get against the College of Bishops of the Philippine Central Conference. It was trying to remove him from office any way it could. His argument could have been that the Council answered the wrong question or that the Council over-stepped its authority by declaring a passage unconstitutional that was not at issue in the original request.

But we do not know and the Council’s terse ruling clarifies nothing except that JCD 1149 stands. See the comment on JCM 1183 below.