Church drops case against NY pastor who performed son's gay wedding

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Church drops case against NY pastor who performed son's gay wedding

BY VICTORIA CAVALIERE
NEW YORK Mon Mar 10, 2014 2:56pm EDT

(Reuters) - The United Methodist Church announced on Monday it was dropping its case against a New York clergyman accused of defying church policy by officiating at his son's same-sex wedding.

The church said a trial over the actions of the Rev. Thomas Ogletree, a former dean at Yale University's divinity school, could cause "harmful polarization" during the ongoing debate over the church's stance on gay unions.

The move came three months after a Pennsylvania pastor was defrocked after a church judicial proceeding found him guilty of officiating at his son's same-sex wedding. Instead of facing trial, Ogletree will participate in a series of conversations about the church's policy toward homosexual unions, a church official said.

"Church trials produce no winners," Bishop Martin McLee, the leader of the church's New York Annual Conference, said in a statement.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/10/us-usa-church-trial-idUSBREA291FP20140310

[hrmjustin]

1. Good! I yhink they realize there might be a split and they don't want that.

[tosh]

2. I'm VERY glad to see that the church that I grew up as a part of

has decided to honor its motto: Open Hearts, Open Minds.

They had me worried for a while.

[cbayer]

3. Excellent decision on their part.

[Iggo]

4. "Church trials produce no winners."

Oh, I beg to disagree.