Homosexual Pastor Third in Succession for UMC Church in Seattle

by Jim Brown
June 15, 2004

(AgapePress) - Thanks to a vote of confidence from her bishop, yet another homosexual pastor has been named to lead a Seattle United Methodist Church.

Bishop Elias Galvan of the Pacific Northwest Conference is appointing Katie Ladd, an openly homosexual minister, to head Seattle's Woodland Park United Methodist Church. Three years ago Ladd publicly announced she was homosexual, but refrained from saying she was a practicing lesbian.

Conservative activist Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy says Ladd and Galvan are showing disdain for church law and for Bible teaching on homosexuality.

"Even though Katie Ladd has not said she is a 'practicing' lesbian, still she has publicly announced her [sexual] orientation and apparently has affirmed that as a gift of God," Tooley says. "So clearly she did not affirm United Methodist beliefs."

A spokeswoman for the Pacific Northwest Conference told The Seattle Times that Galvan and his cabinet are "not aware of any reason that Katie Ladd is not fully appointable [sic] within the church" -- and that during the selection process, Ladd's sexual orientation was never "the topic of conversation." And one Woodland Park parishioner told the Times that Ladd's sexual orientation is "simply a non-issue" for the congregation.

But Tooley has concerns about Ladd's sermon material. "Her preaching likely will not be centered on the gospel, but will be focused on other causes," he predicts. "So that alone should be sufficient reason for her not being given a church pulpit."

Last month the United Methodist Church's Judicial Council ruled that local bishops cannot appoint someone found by a church trial court to be a "self-avowed, practicing homosexual." However, Tooley says the bishop and the lesbian pastor are exploiting a loophole in church law.

"Since Methodist Church law in general requires that a homosexual pastor profess themselves publicly to be self-avowed practicing, Bishop Galvan is using that as his reason for not taking any kind of action against [Ladd] and going ahead and appointing her to a church," the Methodist activist explains.

Ladd is the third openly homosexual pastor to serve at Woodland Park. She is scheduled to begin her new position on July 1.