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Only time will tell, but we will know by the middle of May if this article by the Seattle paper is just a pro-gay puff piece for Dammann or if it accurately portrays the denomination that I call home. We have our 4 year quadrenniel conference in late April/early May in Pittsburgh. I expect that denominational conference to STRONGLY support our orthodox position that homosexuality is a sin and that our ministers must not be homosexuals.

I say that this article's characterization of the denomination as split into "progressive" and "conservative" camps based in the north and south entirely misses the mark. I say the denomination is, instead, split into orthodox and ultra-liberal with only 2 western conferences and pieces of the northeast and north central supporting that ultra-liberal, non-Christian position. (Interestingly, the number of methodists in our western conferences is very low and nowhere near the number of our smaller conferences in the central and south.)

There is so much left out of this article that should be included. However, let me suggest that there are errors in this article.

She was raised Roman Catholic and from childhood had wanted to become a priest. She studied theology in college, earned a master's degree and began work in the campus ministry at Seattle University. She also served as a chaplain for the Army Reserves and worked for the archdiocese.

The above indicates that she was a "catholic" chaplain in the Army Reserves. I am a retired Army chaplain, and I know that to be an outright lie or an ignorant mistake.

There is ABSOLUTELY no such thing as a female Catholic priest, and there is ABSOLUTELY no Catholic chaplain who is not a fully ordained, Catholic priest. It is entirely in opposition to the standards of the Army Chaplaincy to have ANY chaplain who is not fully acceptable and ordained by the sending denomination. There is no way that the Catholics COULD "send" a female priest.

If this article will make this egregious kind of misrepresentation about this point, then what else will it misrepresent?

Finally, I have been told that "Dammann" is not this woman's original name, but is instead a name that she adopted. I will see if I can find a reference for that.

Dam Mann -- if true, it says a lot about what is going on here.

The followin is found here: Agape Press

Methodist Publisher Predicts Lesbian Pastor Will Be Found Guilty
-- Karen Dammann's Case Goes to Trial This Week on Charges of Violating Church Law

By Jim Brown and Jody Brown
March 15, 2004

(AgapePress) - A leading spokesman for renewal in the United Methodist Church is predicting the outcome of this week's church trial of lesbian minister Karen Dammann.

A complaint was filed against Dammann after she told her bishop in February 2001 that she was "living in a partnered, covenanted homosexual relationship." On Wednesday, the Ellensburg, Washington, pastor will go on trial for defying the UMC's Book of Discipline, which bars homosexuals from being ordained or serving as pastors. While church law states that homosexuals are people of sacred worth, it regards the practice of homosexuality as incompatible with Christian teachings.

Presiding over the trial will be Bishop William Boyd Grove of Charleston, West Virginia. According to United Methodist News Service, Grove presided over the 1999 clergy trial of Jimmy Creech, who was charged with violating church law by officiating at same-sex union services. Creech, who had already undergone a clergy trial in 1998 for similar charges, was found guilty in 1999 and lost his ministerial orders.

Jim Heidinger, president and publisher of Good News magazine, expects similar results in the Dammann trial. In fact, he says it ought to an "open and shut" case.

"[S]he has already admitted publicly to the bishop and his cabinet that she's in that relationship -- so it ought to be a given that they would find her guilty," the publisher says. "And then [after that] the trial court has to determine a punishment. So we think that they will come up with a [guilty] decision."

Although the UMC has been living as a "divided" denomination for some time now, Heidinger maintains the church's General Conference is not divided on the issue of homosexuality.

"The United Methodist Church has been very clear that we are strongly opposed to same-sex covenants," he says, "and we're not about to affirm homosexual practice in the [denomination] even though we have some groups making a great deal of noise and getting a good bit of publicity in the press."

A jury of 13 plus two alternates will be chosen from a pool of at least 35 Methodist pastors from the Pacific Northwest conference. Jury selection is slated to begin Wednesday morning at Bothell United Methodist Church in Bothell, Washington, where the trial will take place. The denomination's Judicial Council has indicated it will retain jurisdiction on the matter to make sure the church does not make a mockery of the case by disobeying church law.