Gay minister is barred as pastor, but congregation rallies round him
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The Rev. Mark Edwards Williams, the Seattle minister who recently revealed he is gay, will no longer be able to serve as pastor of Woodland Park United Methodist Church, church officials said yesterday.
During services yesterday at the annual conference of the Pacific Northwest United Methodists in Tacoma, Bishop Elias Galvan announced that Williams would not get an appointment to a church because of the denomination's rules barring homosexuals from serving in the pulpit. Williams had disclosed his homosexuality to the conference just two days earlier.
Galvan announced that the Rev. Karen Dammann, Williams' predecessor at Woodland Park, who had earlier this year revealed to the church that she is a lesbian, will also not get an appointment.
Another former pastor, Katie Ladd, also announced her homosexuality at the conference. She has been on disability leave since April from the University Temple United Methodist Church and will remain on paid disability leave despite requesting an appointment. Kathleen Deakins, spokeswoman for Galvan, said she is not sure how closely Galvan has reviewed Ladd's situation.
In making the decision, Galvan weighed two apparently conflicting church positions. The Book of Discipline states that any ordained elder in good standing must be appointed. But elsewhere, it also states that "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" are not to be appointed to serve in the church.
"They are good friends. My heart goes to them at this point. I looked very hard trying to find ways to keep them in their appointment. But that's not possible," Galvan told KING-TV.
Although they cannot be pastors in the church, they are still members in good standing, said Deakins. Both Dammann and Williams will work in other positions within the church until the Judicial Council resolves the conflict in church rules, Deakins said. The Judicial Council meets again in October.
During the service, most of the clergy receiving appointments symbolically removed their stoles and placed them on a cross in support of Dammann, Williams and Ladd, according to a press release from Galvan's office.
Yesterday morning, before they got word of Galvan's decision, parishioners at Woodland Park showed their support for their pastor.
They ignored the man who stood out on the sidewalk with a Bible, a clerical collar and a sign reading "Repent, Pervert." The parishioners had their own signs, which read, "My Pastor is a Person of Sacred Worth," with the name and picture of the Williams.
Some in the congregation distributed rainbow ribbons at the front doors and spoke in support of Williams.
"He's wonderful," said Linda Southall. "Very warm and open. He's done a lot to pull this congregation together in the last few years."
Suzette Birrell said the children in the congregation love the young and energetic pastor, who enjoys snowboarding and whose sermons usually center on acceptance and standing up for people.
Williams said in a recent letter said it was a struggle to keep secret from them his intention to come out at the annual conference.
"I chose to do this in order to live with more integrity," Williams wrote. "I chose to come out in order to bring more honesty and openness in my relationship with the Church that has nurtured me throughout my life."
Williams has been pastor at Woodland Park since 1999.
Delegates to the national Methodist conference last year voted to reaffirm the ban against ordaining homosexuals. But several local Methodist leaders have called on their church to end the prohibition.
Outside yesterday, the man on the sidewalk in front of Woodland Park shouted, "I'm going to read out of the Bible. You know, the book we're supposed to go by as Christians?" The man railed against the church for allowing "dogs and sinners" behind the pulpit.
"Aren't we all sinners?" asked Southall.
The Rev. Arthur Campbell, a retired Methodist minister who was conducting services in place of Williams yesterday, went out on the sidewalk and asked the man to please read the 13th chapter of Corinthians, in which Paul extols love and charity.
Then Campbell went inside and sang, "What a Wonderful World," with the congregation, asking that everyone pray for the man on the sidewalk. The man left.
Inside, Campbell talked about the courage it took for Williams to come out.
"It was probably not a joyous time," Campbell said, "except for the freedom which he can now experience. But if it wasn't a party on Friday, it was certainly not a funeral. Unless it was something that died that needs to change."
There will be a church meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday. But most people say they're in solidarity with their pastor. "I don't know that we'll go quietly," said Cindy Rattray, the lay leader of the church. "I don't know that we'll say, 'Bye, Mark, nice knowing you.' "