By Renee K. Gadoua (RNS) In a surprising reversal, a Pennsylvania pastor who was defrocked last year for violating United Methodist law after he officiated at his son’s same-sex wedding has been reinstated. The Rev. Frank Schaefer learned Tuesday (June 24) his ministerial credentials will be restored after the church’s Northeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Appeals…
By Good News LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. – Following the action of a retired bishop to conduct a same-gender ceremony in violation of church law, the United Methodist Council of Bishops took a series of actions to address the issue during their annual meeting this week in Lake Junaluska, N.C. The Council requested that Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, president…
By John Lomperis While my colleague, Alex Griswold, ably reported on the convocation of the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) “ChurchQuake” convocation held over Labor Day weekend, large parts of the gathering apparently had plenty of goings-on about which organizers did not want IRD (and by extension, the general UMC public) to know. But thanks to…
Book review by Carmen Fowler LaBerge (corrected on 8/26/13) Have you always wished that the Bible said something other than it says? A self-elected group of 19 have done just that. Led by a member of the Jesus Seminar, ordained members of Christian denominations including Episcopal (TEC), Presbyterian (PCUSA), Roman Catholic, United Methodist, United Church…