After an afternoon of testimony, the United Methodist Church today rested its case against Rev. Gregory Dell, the minister accused of violating church law by performing a “holy union” ceremony for a gay couple.
And, perhaps fittingly for a church trial that so far has been without acrimony, the testimony ended with all the participants singing the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
The defense now begins its case, with opening remarks this evening.
Dell — who performed the “holy union” service in September at Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood — could be banned from the ministry he has practiced for 29 years if convicted. But even a witness for the prosecution was holding out hope that such a sanction could be avoided.
“I hope that we don’t necessarily need that action,” said Bishop George W. Bashore of Pittsburgh, an expert witness on church law. “We need to reach out and build bridges.”
Still, Bashore, a retired bishop and president of the church’s 50-member Council of Bishops, left no doubt in his testimony that he believed same-sex marriages violated a 1996 church law.
“I think it’s difficult to find an ambiguity” in that law, he said, testifying in the Downers Grove church where the trial is being held.
Dell himself was called to testify by the prosecution. But for the most part, he simply gave one-word answers to questions of fact about his ministry — and that he realized that performing the same-sex union violated the 1996 rule.
Dell was questioned by Rev. Stephen Williams, the minister assigned to defend the church’s side in the case and who, in his opening remarks, call Dell’s actions “nothing less than a threat to the church’s very existence.”
At one point, Williams noted that Dell had protested the law before it was approved, but that the church had not agreed with him.
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“You fought the good fight?” he asked rhetorically. “Well, you always fight the good fight.”
“Thank you,” Dell responded.
“And you lost?” Williams said.
“We lost,” Dell answered.
Dell does not deny that his actions are in conflict with the new rules. He simply argues that his conscience will not allow him to abide by those rules.
The third and last prosecution witness was Bishop C. Joseph Sprague of Chicago, who filed the charges against Dell.
Sprague himself had supported homosexual unions before the 1996 rules change. Unlike Dell, however, Sprague stopped performing such ceremonies after the change.
Sprague, who became a bishop in 1996, also acknowledged that the new leadership role demanded that he abide by church law. “I differ very strongly on my role as a bishop over and against my role as a pastor,” he testified.
When he was under consideration to become a bishop, Sprague said, he made public and private promises that he would uphold this law.
The trial began this morning when local ministers were selected to serve on a 13-member “trial court,” which acts as a jury and is allowed to question witnesses. Nine votes will be needed to convict, said Linda Rhodes, spokeswoman for the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Retired Bishop Jack Tuell of Des Moines, Wash., is presiding over the trial at First United Methodist Church in Downers Grove. Rev. Larry Pickens, pastor of Maple Park United Methodist Church in Chicago, is acting as Dell’s counsel. Williams, the church’s counsel, is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Franklin Park.
Last year, Rev. Jimmy Creech was acquitted on the same charge in a three-day Kearney, Neb., church trial, but the verdict hinged on a loophole in church law that has since been closed. A mass trial is pending for 69 Methodist ministers who took part in a lesbian wedding service in Sacramento.
Creech, who has taken a voluntary leave of absence and now lives in North Carolina, attended today’s trial.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think Greg can lose,” Creech said after the afternoon testimony. “Whatever the verdict is, I don’t think Greg can lose. Only the church can lose if it pushes Greg away.”