Methodists suspend funds for Church Women United
United Methodist News, December 21, 2000
NEW YORK – United Methodist Women is temporarily suspending funding to Church Women United (CWU) because of questions raised over the recent firing of program staff.
Joyce Sohl, chief executive for the Women’s Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, told United Methodist News Service she was concerned that proper procedures were not followed when three CWU officers abruptly dismissed five top staff members and two part-time seminary students Dec. 11. “It appears that the policies of the organization also were not followed,” she added.
In a Dec. 19 letter addressed to the Rev. Jerrye Gray Champion, CWU national president, Sohl said the 2001 contribution from United Methodist Women would not be made “until there is a clear direction set for the national organization and the justice issues regarding the firing of seven staff is resolved.”
As the administrative arm of United Methodist Women, the Women’s Division has made annual contributions of $32,525 in the past few years. Sohl said that amount represents the ecumenical organization’s largest contribution from a single denomination.
Founded in 1941, CWU is a movement of Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and other women, organized into more than 1,400 local and state units in the United States and Puerto Rico. Ongoing programs include World Day of Prayer, May Fellowship Day and World Community Day.
Kathleen Hurty, CWU’s top staff executive, was among those dismissed. In a Dec. 12 letter to 100-plus members of the organization’s common council, she reported that she had resigned under duress and at the request of the officers and has since withdrawn that resignation. “It was in reality not a resignation but a termination,” she wrote.
Others asked to resign or be fired were Jeannie Lee, program manager for ecumenical development and global advocacy; Ascension (Inday) Day, program manager for leadership development; Mary Stamp, program manager for communications, and Jeanette Zaragoza De Leon, program manager for ecumenical celebrations.
Also fired were Aaron Agne and Jennifer Peterson, two Union Seminary students serving as part-time staff.
Hurty contends that the actions taken Dec. 11 violated provisions in the organization’s constitution and bylaws and “constitute wrongful termination.” Attempts by UMNS to reach Champion were unsuccessful.
Dorothy Rose of Baldwinsville, N.Y., a member of CWU’s Board of Directors, believes the constitution, bylaws and personnel policy were violated by the actions of the three officers. In a Dec. 12 letter to “sister” board members, she said she had been contacted by telephone the evening before the firings. “I went on record as opposing such an action without a legally constituted board meeting, noting that polling the board by phone was not a legal board meeting,” she wrote.
Rose, a member of the board’s personnel committee, also noted that no meeting was called of that committee to discuss the terminations.
Ellen Frost, senior associate for the Disciples Women, a part of Homeland Ministries for the Disciples of Christ, serves as convener of the denominational executives group for CWU, a position that places her on the board of directors. Yet, she said, she was never notified about the firings and remains “extremely distressed” over the actions of the officers.
Also concerned is Carol Sutton of the American Baptist Women’s Ministries. Both women told United Methodist News Service that funds from their denominations would be withheld until their concerns are addressed.
The Rev. Lois Powell and Deborah Bailey, executives with the United Church of Christ, sent a letter to CWU’s national president on Dec. 18, with copies to the board of directors and common council, expressing “our shock and dismay.” The letter requested answers to questions about the basis of the action and the way it was conducted.
“The credibility of the CWU Board of Directors has been seriously compromised and the relationships that Kathleen Hurty had been rebuilding with the denominations in a very positive way is also threatened,” the letter said. “The programmatic work of CWU which evolved in a collaborative manner is jeopardized. The credibility of the organization itself now comes under close scrutiny.”