by Linda Bloom
United Methodist News Source 
MIKE DUBOSE/UMNS | | Chris Paige, right, and Elizabeth 'Beth' Stroud, left, speak at a press conference at Stroud's church trial last December. Stroud was tried on a charge that she violated church law by being a 'self-avowed practicing homosexual,' in her relationship with Paige. Stroud's appeal of the verdict is scheduled for April 28. |
An April 28 hearing date has been set for the appeal of a former United Methodist clergywoman who lost her credentials after a church trial. The hearing for Irene Elizabeth Stroud will be from 9 a.m. to noon at the Sheraton International Hotel on the grounds of Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Stroud, who was serving as associate pastor of First UMC of Germantown in Philadelphia, was found guilty Dec. 2 of violating the denomination's prohibition of 'self-avowed practicing homosexuals' in the ordained ministry. Since losing her clergy credentials, she has remained on staff at that church as a lay member. The December trial was conducted by the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, which is a part of the denomination's Northeastern Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction's Committee on Appeals will hear the appeal. The committee will meet in private on April 27 to consider questions for the hearing, said William 'Scott' Campbell, committee chair and pastor of Harvard-Epworth UMC in Cambridge, Mass. Committee members already will have received briefs from Stroud and the conference as well as transcripts of the trial, he said. Stroud has requested the hearing be open to the public, Campbell said. After the hearing, the Committee on Appeals will begin its deliberations, which could continue into the next day if needed. The committee's decision will be announced at the hearing site, but no time has been set. According to the Discipline ? 2715.7, 'the appellate body shall determine two questions only: (a) Does the weight of the evidence sustain the charge or charges? (b) Were there such errors of Church law as to vitiate the verdict and/or the penalty?' Substitutions have been made for two of the standing members of the appeals committee because those who come from the same episcopal area as Stroud - which includes the Eastern Pennsylvania and the Peninsula-Delaware conferences - are not eligible to participate in the hearing. The committee's clergy members hearing the appeal will be Campbell; LaGretta Bjorn of Spring Valley, N.Y.; Ronald McCauley of Buckhannon, W.Va.; and John Topolewski of Owego, N.Y. Lay members will be Joy Wilcox of Etters, Pa., diaconal minister; Dale Dobbs of McVeytown, Pa., full-time local pastor; Julius Archibald of Plattsburgh, N.Y.; Sharon Bassett of Cicero, N.Y.; and N. Sharon Leatherman of Williamsport, Md. | 
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