Lesbian Methodist pastor defends her call to ministry

PUGHTOWN, PA. — Facing the possible loss of her Methodist clergy credentials, the Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud freely told a church court Wednesday that she lives with her lesbian partner but refused to plead guilty to violating the denomination's ban on gay clerics.

"For me to plead guilty would be to say I violated the sacred trust of an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church," Stroud said. "I believe I have not violated that trust."

Stroud, an associate pastor in Philadelphia, is being tried for violating the Methodists' law against "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" in the ministry. Two other lesbian ministers have been tried under that rule: One was defrocked, the other acquitted.

The Rev. Thomas Hall of Exton, Pa., prosecutor in the case, told the court Stroud's pastoral abilities and personal qualities have never been in dispute. Nor, he said, is there any disagreement about the fact that she's a lesbian.

Bishop Peter Weaver, formerly of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, then testified that a celibate lesbian can remain in the ministry but someone in a relationship would be violating Methodist law.

Under questioning by Hall, Stroud spoke of her relationship with partner Chris Paige, who listened nearby. "One aspect of our relationship is that we express our love for each other sexually and with our bodies," Stroud said.

Stroud's defense attorney, the Rev. J. Dennis Williams of Cornwall, Pa., asked why Stroud insisted on a career with the Methodists. "I felt I was called to go home. This is the church I grew up in," she said.

Stroud said in an interview that while at Union Theological Seminary in New York City she considered ministry with the Episcopal Church or United Church of Christ, which have more liberal practices but only briefly.

Hall said in his opening statement to the 13-member jury that "this may well be one of the most painful days of my life," but the church has a duty to require clergy "accountability" to its standards.

Williams countered that the case might seem "a slam dunk" because church law is specific. But he noted that Methodist founder John Wesley decided women should preach "if they are under an extraordinary impulse of the Spirit" — despite New Testament passages that appear to forbid them from doing so.

Williams will present the defense case Thursday this morning. But his maneuvering room is strictly limited due to a ruling by the presiding judge, retired Bishop Joseph Yeakel of Washington, D.C., hours before the trial opened.