Key points:
- The United Methodist Church’s top court ruled that a congregation’s trustees cannot prevent their pastor from using church facilities to perform a same-sex wedding.
- The Judicial Council decision comes almost exactly a year after General Conference removed denomination-wide bans against officiating at same-sex weddings.
- The decision, released April 29, clarifies a narrow ruling issued at the end of last year’s General Conference that dealt with the role of trustees.
A congregation’s trustees cannot declare church facilities off limits if their pastor chooses to officiate a same-sex wedding, The United Methodist Church’s top court has ruled.
The Judicial Council said in Decision 1516 that “a pastor has discretion in deciding whether to perform or not to perform any marriage ceremony.”
“The local church board of trustees cannot prevent or interfere with the pastor’s use of the local church facilities ‘for religious services or other proper meetings… ,’” the church court added, quoting Paragraph 2533.1 in the denomination’s Book of Discipline.
Bottom line: Whether a same-sex wedding occurs in a church is up to that church’s pastor.
The Judicial Council completed deliberations on its two-item spring docket in a small conference room in the United Methodist Building, which stands across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The church court released Decision 1516 almost exactly a year after General Conference — the international denomination’s top legislative assembly — removed the Discipline’s longstanding restrictions related to LGBTQ people. The assembly’s actions included lifting denomination-wide bans on “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy and same-sex weddings.
On May 3, the final day of General Conference last year, delegates eliminated the wedding prohibition and added this provision to the Discipline’s Paragraph 340.2: “No clergy at any time may be required to provide for or compelled to perform, or prohibited from performing, any marriage, union, or blessing. All clergy have the right to exercise and preserve their conscience when requested to perform any marriage, union, or blessing.”
Also during General Conference’s waning hours last year, the delegates asked the Judicial Council to rule on a number of questions under church law. One of those questions was whether Paragraph 2533.1 — which deals with the role of trustees — prevents churches from creating policies that would prohibit pastors from conducting same-sex weddings on their premises.
In Decision 1503, issued shortly after that question, the Judicial Council said nothing in that particular paragraph prevents such policies.
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The newly released Decision 1516, responding to a request from the Arkansas Annual Conference, clarifies that earlier, narrow ruling.
In the new ruling, the Judicial Council notes that Paragraph 2533.1 gives authority to a local church board of trustees for the supervision of that church’s property. However, the church court said, the trustees’ authority has limits.
Specifically, Paragraph 2533.1 says trustees must “not prevent or interfere with the pastor in the use of any of the said property for religious services or other proper meetings or purposes recognized by the law, usages, and customs of The United Methodist Church.” The provision also says trustees must not “permit the use of said property for religious or other meetings without the consent of the pastor.”
Given that services for marriage are included in both the United Methodist Hymnal and Book of Worship, the Judicial Council concluded that a marriage ceremony is a religious service.
In Paragraphs 340.2 and 341.3, the Book of Discipline also assures that a pastor has discretion not to perform a wedding between any couple regardless of views on same-sex marriage.
“Although hopefully rare, there are situations that could lead a pastor to refuse to perform a marriage ceremony,” Decision 1516 said. “In that instance, the facilities of the local church would also be closed to that marriage ceremony, unless the pastor consents to let some other qualified person perform the service.”
Local church policy also cannot bar a pastor from using the church facilities for a marriage service nor make their use a requirement, the decision said.
“Therefore, the board of trustees of a local church may exercise its powers and duties in accordance with ¶2533, provided that this clergy right is preserved, and pastors can freely conduct religious services, including same-sex marriage ceremonies, within the context of their appointment,” the Judicial Council said.
Molly Hlekani Mwayera and the Revs. Øyvind Helliesen and Jonathan Ulanday were absent. The Rev. Tim Bruster, first clergy alternate, participated in this decision.
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
