Methodist church violated own rules in naming lesbian bishop
Defiance, deception, deceit and dishonesty: All actions or words to describe what seems to go on in the secular world today. Now these actions have infected or infiltrated the religious world — the CHURCH.
On July 15, in the United Methodist Church, the second largest Protestant denomination in America (12 million people), an openly lesbian clergy was illegally elected to the position of bishop in the Western Jurisdictional Conference. This was in complete defiance of the Book of Discipline, the governing document of the United Methodist Church. Since 1972 the Book of Discipline has asserted, “all people are of sacred worth but, the church considers the practice of homosexuality ‘incompatible with Christian teaching.’” The Book of Discipline bans the ordination of “self-avowed, practicing” gay clergy and bans pastors from officiating at same-gender weddings.
Many people of the church learned of this after the election had taken place and had no voice in the matter.
Strangely, the gay community had the information that we lacked and was able to celebrate the event as it occurred. While Karen Oliveto’s election is up for review, she is, at present, still presiding as bishop until April or May when the review will be finalized. It is disconcerting that Karen Oliveto has proceeded all the way from pastor to bishop when she never should have been ordained a pastor in the United Methodist Church. We can’t help but wonder why the governing rules of the church have been ignored and blatantly disobeyed! Who should be held accountable?
Karen Oliveto has been married to a woman for more than two years and made headlines by officiating at a number of same-sex “marriage” ceremonies. When a bishop is asked at their consecration ceremony, “Will you guard the faith, order, liturgy, doctrine, and Discipline of the Church?”, how did Karen Oliveto respond? We were told that she was the highest qualified candidate for bishop. Why, then, did she say, in one of her speeches, that only parts of the Bible are acceptable in our culture? Who might be the godly individual who makes the decision on what should be relevant or deleted?
Are the days when church leaders represented God and biblical principles gone? It seems the terms to describe these people’s character can no longer be honor, honesty, integrity or trust.
Yet, these are but a few who represent the United Methodist Church. The majority remain committed to the vows they undertook and remain faithful to spreading scriptural holiness over the land.
—Rena Hagen, Kalispell