Methodist minister won’t face church trial

Seattle — A ruling by an appeals committee within the United Methodist Church will allow a lesbian pastor to avoid a church trial and pave the way for her return to ministry.

The Western Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals upheld a decision by a regional board to dismiss a complaint against the Rev. Karen Dammann. She was accused of violating church law that bars gays who are sexually active from being ordained.

“We’re very happy with the decision,” said the 46-year-old Dammann.

The ruling came in a 4-3 vote Jan. 30.

The Rev. Jeff Procter-Murphy of Phoenix, a member of the appeals committee, said church law on gays encouraged duplicity and was “morally and theologically untenable.”

He said that Dammann was open with her superiors about her relationship and shouldn’t be punished for that.

“The church has long ordained and been well-served by gays, and more recently, lesbians,” Procter-Murphy said. “Rev. Karen Dammann should not be punished but commended for her courage and honesty.”

Pope: artificial procreation needs to be regulated

Vatican City — Pope John Paul II, expressing concern about people who desire to have children “at all costs,” urged nations to enact ethically sound laws regulating artificial procreation.

“A certain commercial logic, allying itself with modern technologies, can sometimes take advantage of human desires, in themselves good, such as becoming a mother or father, to push them to want a child at any cost,” John Paul told pilgrims and tourists gathered Sunday in St. Peter’s Square for his traditional weekly blessing.

“In reality, human life can never become an object — from conception to natural death, the human being is entitled to inviolable rights, in the face of which freedom must know where to draw the line,” the pontiff said.

“It is thus indispensable,” he said, “that nations give, in such complex subject matter, systematic and clear laws, founded on solid ethical bases, to safeguard the invaluable worth of human life.”

The Roman Catholic Church opposes in vitro fertilization, partly because it dissociates sex from procreation. The church also condemns human cloning.

Son succeeds father as Grace Bible president

Grand Rapids, Mich. — Ken Kemper has been chosen to succeed his father Bruce as president of Grace Bible College.

The younger Kemper took over leadership of the evangelical Christian school on Jan. 30.

Bruce Kemper, 65, who has led the college since 1991, is retiring to Arizona with his wife, Judi, and plans to return to parish ministry.

Ken Kemper, 40, has spent the past 16 years doing mission work overseas.