For local supporters, trial a chance to stand publicly behind minister

by JAMES STURDIVANT

Neither bad weather nor the harsh exposure of national media attention could prevent local residents and parishioners from coming out to show their support for Beth Stroud during her church trial near Pottstown last week.

Among the colorful group of demonstrators that held signs, sang songs and talked to reporters during the two-day trial were members of the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, wearing buttons reading "...and Beth is my pastor," and of the Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church.

Germantown residents and FUMCOG members Deb Clarke and Cheryl Bruttomesso made the hour drive to Camp Innabah in Northwestern Chester County Wednesday morning with their two young daughters to show their support for someone they consider a pillar of their faith community.

"For us as a family, Beth is our pastor. To deny her that just because of her sexual orientation doesn't make sense," Clarke said. "We felt it was needed to come as a total family -- days off from work, days off from school, the whole bit."

Prompted by Bruttomesso, 6-year old Samantha Bruttomesso-Clarke repeated something she had said earlier to her parents: "Well, the church is just not being nice."

Holding a wind-whipped rainbow banner, Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church co-pastor Linda Noonan decried the "structural decrees" that prevent practicing homosexuals from serving as ministers in the church.

"It is a really important issue for our congregation," she said. "We have a lot of gay and bisexual members -- it's a safe place for them, and a lot of churches aren't safe."

Noonan said she agreed with the message of a national group, Soulforce, demonstrating nearby with placards reading, "stop spiritual violence."

"It's violence against your soul if you're told that God loves everyone except you," she said. She called the "love the sinner, hate the sin" doctrine espoused by some church groups "hypocrisy."

"Jesus' message was one of radical love. He embraced all people, and the church should also do that," Noonan said.

Both CHUMC and FUMCOG are Reconciling Congregations, part of a movement within the Methodist Church seeking to promote openness to gays and lesbians and full participation by homosexuals in the life of the church.

Chestnut Hill United Methodist released a statement in support of Stroud just before the trial began. "As a Reconciling Congregation, our congregation is outraged at the attempts of the larger United Methodist denomination to silence and negate the leadership of Rev. Beth Stroud ... We will work as long as it takes, at the regional and national levels, to heal the brokenness within the United Methodist Church that denies the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people," it reads in part.

Emerging to talk to reporters Wednesday after a difficult morning of jury selection, Bill and Jamie Stroud, Beth Stroud's parents and owners of Penguin Photo on Germantown Avenue, expressed thanks for the support they have received from the community.

"I feel really good about the support. A lot of people have been coming into the shop, and her church has been enormously supportive," Bill Stroud said.

Asked about his daughter's chances of being acquitted, he noted that the jury had been selected based on their willingness to uphold the church's discipline, "but we could be surprised."

"We would love to be surprised," Jamie Stroud added.

In the end, the jury would vote to defrock Stroud for violating the Methodist Book of Discipline, which bars "self avowed, practicing homosexuals" from the ministry. Thursday afternoon's verdict, while not unexpected, prompted a strong reaction from local church members.

"I'm so ashamed of my church," retired Methodist pastor and FUMCOG member Robert Longenecker said of the guilty verdict. "Sexual orientation is a private matter. It's not affecting anyone else. The church has always had a hang-up about sex. They find it easier to sweep it under the rug and say it's not their problem.

"Would I join a church like this today? No. I don't want to be a part of that narrow-mindedness."

Peggy Chittick, a member of the Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church, said that she was "disappointed and angry."

"This is discrimination. They're defining a person exclusively by their sexuality," she said. "The jury had no choice. They had to vote on the narrow basis of church law. There was no room for conscientious objections. I think that's stacking it."

"I'm saddened, not shocked," FUMCOG member Ann Perrone said of the verdict. "The church has the very narrow view of 'Is she or isn't she? End of story.'"

Perrone called the trial "part of the ongoing journey of our church." Recalling the long discussions among congregation members just before FUMCOG became a Reconciling Congregation, Perrone said many came to support the stance after deciding that the Methodist Church's current view means exclusion. "Until people encounter an outstanding gay person they don't realize the damage this causes," she said.

Both Bill and Jamie Stroud said Wednesday that their daughter was holding up very well under pressure.

"She strongly believes in what she's doing. She's doing amazing," Bill Stroud said.

Jamie Stroud said that understanding how her daughter was able to go through the trauma of a nationally-publicized trial was difficult until she read a comment Beth made to the Inquirer last week about being a witness to one's beliefs.

"When I read that, I thought, 'Oh, OK.' I understand better how she is able to be as strong as she is."

Seeing a daughter and sister go through the trial ordeal has, however, been tough on this close-knit family.

"It sort of messed up Thanksgiving," Jamie Stroud confessed. Brought close to tears at several points during the morning's media interviews, she nevertheless revealed her own measure of strength as the sun finally broke through the clouds above the wooded hills surrounding the Methodist camp.

"I've got the sun with me," she said, referring ostensibly to the blue sky and clouds printed on the inside of her umbrella. "I've got blue skies wherever I go."

Reporter Michael J. Mishak contributed to this article.