SUGGESTED PENALTY FOR APPOINTING HOMOSEXUALS
At the Western Jurisdictional Conference, a resolution was
passed which said that if any bishop appointed a homosexual pastor was tried
and convicted of violating the Discipline by doing so, that the penalty “would
be” suspension for 24 hours. A
person rose to ask what was the force in law of that resolution. That question was done in writing but
contained several typographical errors.
The presiding bishop chose to lean on those errors and say the question
was moot because it was flawed.
The Council disagreed and said the typos were easily
correctable just from the context of the situation and that the bishop had
thirty days to rule on the question and that the Council retained jurisdiction,
which means they will rule on the bishop’s decision when they meet in
November.
It must be noted that the Council has held special sessions
and may have done a number of its decisions by electronic exchange and
conference calls in order to save time at their twice-a-year meetings. They may feel free to hand down a ruling
on the bishop’s response at any time.
It will be interesting to see if they choose to do that.
Here’s a hint:
if the resolution is aspirational (see JCDs 426, 1044, 1053, 1111, 1120,
1163, 1218, and 1220) and not binding, then it stands.
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