Methodist High Court Rejects First Openly Gay Bishop’s Consecration By Laurie Goodstein April 28, 2017 The United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled that the consecration of its first openly gay bishop violated church law, compounding a bitter rift over homosexuality that has brought the 13-million-member denomination to the brink of schism. In a 6-to-3 vote made public on Friday, the church’s Judicial Council found that a married lesbian bishop and those who consecrated her were in violation of their “commitment to abide by and uphold the church’s definition of marriage and stance on homosexuality.” Still, the court ruled that the bishop, Karen P. Oliveto of Denver, “remains in good standing” pending further proceedings, offering her supporters a glimmer of hope. But it also raised the prospect of a suspension or forced retirement. “Under the longstanding principle of legality, no individual member or entity may violate, ignore or negate church law,” the council ruled. “It is not lawful for the College of Bishops of any jurisdictional or central conference to consecrate a self-avowed practicing homosexual bishop.” The Judicial Council also decided, in separate rulings, that the New York and Illinois regions must ask candidates for the ministry about their sexuality and rule out those who are gay “or in any other way violating the church’s standards on marriage and sexuality.” The boards of ordained ministry in those regions announced last year that they would not discriminate against candidates based on sexuality or gender, but the Judicial Council ordered them to drop that practice. “We won’t run back into the closet, and we won’t leave the church,” said the Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, who is openly gay and serves as senior pastor at New Milford United Methodist Church in Connecticut, part of the New York region. “The only way that I will leave this denomination is if I am dragged out.” Click here for the rest of the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/...t-rejects-first-gay-bishops-consecration.html
I didn't know that the Methodists have an episcopate. In British Isles, only Anglicans and Catholics have bishops
They have bishops for sure here in America, but the issue is that they are disconnected from the historic episcopate and aren't in the line of apostolic succession. Wesley "ordained" bishops to send to America after the revolution because of the lack of bishops in general there, not to mention the lack of Methodist bishops (up to this point, Methodists were a party in the Church of England). He was only a priest, so that doesn't really work. John didn't care, but Charles was really mad IIRC.
According to many methodists, Wesley was consecrated a bishop by a sympathetic Orthodox bishop who was visiting England prior to his ordaining ministers bound for the US, thereby including American Methodist bishops and elders in the apostolic line.
Whether they have a valid line of apostolic succession or not, my conversations with Methodists have tended to reveal a rather more Lutheran view of the historic episcopate. That is to say, they are prone to tell you it is a good method of church government or perhaps a pious tradition but they don't usually see the Bishop as a successor to the apostles. This leads to a de facto congregationalism in much of the denomination. In fact, I think most Methodists could not articulate to an enquirer why they have a bishop.
Not to mention some of the stuff where Wesley railed on Lutherans wanting "only" justification and not sanctification. I personally think Wesley was a little "out there" myself but I still side with the Arminian camp over the Calvin camp by a mile. Peace.
I stand with the Church Father over Calvin or Arminius...I think Luther did too, though perhaps not perfectly.