Church court has light docket for spring session

United Methodist News Service
The top United Methodist judicial body has a light five-case docket for its spring meeting but will be “on call” to handle questions of law that rise from the floor of the 2008 General Conference.
The nine-member Judicial Council meets twice a year, but during a General Conference year, its spring session coincides with the legislative gathering.
The council acts as the church’s supreme court and often is asked to make rulings during General Conference, which meets every four years.
The closing of General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative meeting, marks the beginning of new eight-year terms for council members re-elected or elected during the April 23-May 2 assembly in Fort Worth.
Four members—James Holsinger, Mary A. Daffin, the Rev. Keith D. Boyette and Rudolfo C. Beltran—were elected in 2000. Also ending his term this year is the Rev. Paul Shamwange, who replaced the Rev. Larry Pickens in 2004 when Pickens became chief executive of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.
Council members may serve two consecutive eight-year terms before they rotate off, according to Paragraph 2602.1 of The Book of Discipline.
General Conference is to elect three clergy and two laity members to the council, which will be made up of five clerics and four laypeople through 2016.
Since 2000, the council has had four clergy and five laity members.
The conference also is to elect six laity and six clergy alternates for four-year terms.
Any new members join the council at the end of the 2008 General Conference and serve through the end of the 2016 session. The alternates serve through the end of the 2012 General Conference.
The five-item spring Judicial Council docket includes several cases continued from previous meetings:
> Continuation of review of a bishop’s decision of law in the Western North Carolina Conference concerning application of Paragraph 612.19 of The Book of Discipline 2004 to the 2007 conference budget, as required by Decision 1081. That action remanded the case to the conference for continued investigation. The case involves the alleged use of conference money to “promote the acceptance of homosexuality.”
> Continuation of review of a bishop’s decision of law in the California-Nevada Conference concerning involuntary clergy leave of absence, administrative and judicial process, and voluntary or involuntary retirement as required by Decision 1088. That decision continued the item until the spring session because the Judicial Council didn’t have minutes of the conference’s clergy executive session.
> A request for declaratory decision from the Committee on Nominations of the 2004 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference on Paragraphs 27.5, 705, 706 and 805 of The Book of Discipline. At issue are the actions of the secretary of General Conference regarding central conference representation and proportional jurisdictional representation, the concordant agreement between The United Methodist Church and the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, and the allocation of membership of the general boards and agencies of The United Methodist Church.
> A request for declaratory decision from the Tennessee Conference with respect to Paragraph 642.3(o) of The Book of Discipline in regard to the role of the Commission on Religion and Race as an investigatory body following the filing of a complaint against a clergy member or layperson.
> The appeal of Wesley Kendall, a former pastor in the Rocky Mountain Conference. He underwent a church trial after facing several charges. Kendall was found guilty of many of counts. The church trial court terminated his conference membership and revoked his credentials of ordination.