Forced from ministry, gay foster mother still preaches

KNIGHT RIDDER PHOTO/SCOTT S. HAMRICK Elizabeth 'Beth' Stroud of Philadelphia was stripped of her ministerial credentials.

By KRISTIN HOLMES
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

Some things about the life of Irene Elizabeth ‘‘Beth’’ Stroud remain the same since she came out as a lesbian and was stripped of her ministerial credentials.

Stroud still stands in the pulpit and preaches Sunday sermons at Philadelphia’s First United Methodist Church of Germantown. She still visits the sick and leads the youth group.

She does all those things, however, without the title of ‘‘the Reverend’’ next to her name. Her robes and colorful stoles hang in a closet. And she no longer presides when sacraments such as Communion and baptism are observed.

Stroud, 36, is fashioning a new role in between. It is one that includes a growing list of speaking engagements, thoughts of writing about her experiences - and motherhood. Stroud and her partner, Chris Paige, became the parents of a baby foster daughter within a month of the final decision in Stroud’s case.

‘‘It’s just so rich,’’ Stroud says of parenting.

Her new role as a mother to a baby with special medical needs leaves Stroud little time for anger over the denomination ruling. For the most part, she says, ‘‘I just don’t have the time or energy for it.’

‘‘I want to be focused on what God is calling me to do next, and the baby is just so delightful.’’

Stroud is currently the associate lay minister at First United Methodist Church of Germantown, known as FUMCOG. She was stripped of her credentials last October for violating the denomination’s ban on non-celibate gay clergy. She will soon be replaced by a full-time ordained associate, but the church is currently trying to develop a part-time lay ministry post for her.

As she copes with an evolving new role, the larger church is still grappling with the issue of gay clergy and the inclusion of gay members in the church.

Last month, 75 United Methodist Church (UMC) ministers declared that they were gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered in a letter released by the Chicago-based Reconciling Ministries Network, an organization that advocates the full participation of homosexuals in the church. The letter mentions Stroud’s case.

The ministers ‘‘came out’’ anonymously, declaring their orientation, but afraid to release their names. The only person who has the names is the group’s attorney, and the number has since jumped to 89 UMC clergy.

‘‘We hope the effect will be to continue to unmask the very real oppression that (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) clergy face and how they continue to serve faithfully at great risk,’’ said the Rev. Troy Plummer, the group’s executive director.

Stroud is coping with her new circumstances, believing that change will come, albeit slowly. Her congregation is coping as well.

In the meantime, Stroud prefers to work part-time now that she is a parent.

‘‘I think it’s a little hard for all of us that I’m in this kind of in-between space,’’ Stroud said. ‘‘People are accustomed to me as a pastor and they treat me and respond to me as a pastor, but I’m a layperson, and there are things I can’t do.’’

She can’t baptize members, a void she felt keenly during Holy Week when two women she had prepared for the sacrament were baptized. Stroud also prepared two of church co-lay leader Alan Symonette’s sons for confirmation. She’s doing the same for Symonette’s third son, but not as a pastor.

‘‘I hope the lesson to my sons is that no institution is perfect, and the journey to perfection is indeed that, a journey,’’ said Symonette, who acted as Stroud’s counsel during the denomination proceedings.

If it had been up to many church members, the congregation would have been on the picket lines in support of Stroud. Stroud didn’t want that. Her calm demeanor inspired the church in other ways.

‘‘Beth’s approach was very conciliatory,’’ said Faye Ross, a co-lay leader at FUMCOG. ‘‘One of the reasons I think Beth got people to really think about their positions is because she modeled such a quiet, thoughtful and reflective activism. It challenged us to a new kind of activism.’’

FUMCOG has since formed a new group that lobbies other area churches to join together and work to change the national church’s policies.

Stroud is still coping with the emotional effects of the process, her feelings stirred by moments such as seeing a glimpse of her robes hanging in the closet.

‘‘Beth is quiet and introspective, and it’s nothing for her to run off to Chestnut Hill College for a night, just to be away from the distractions and reflect,’’ Paige said.

Stroud’s parents, William and Jamie, have watched their daughter fight through the exhaustion and pressure with a strength that even they were surprised that she had.

William Stroud still attends a United Methodist church, but Jamie Stroud has been so disillusioned about whether her daughter would be welcomed by some in church leadership positions that she no longer attends.

Beth Stroud plans to stay. She will remain in the United Methodist Church for now.

‘‘My faith says God doesn’t cause bad things to happen, but God can work with them,’’ Stroud said. ‘‘I believe God used the trial to help people think about families and theologies in ways they hadn’t before. I think good things have come out of it and will continue to.’’

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