Methodist Network Forms to Support Same-Sex Unions
United Methodist News Service

An "action group" has been formed to support the right of United Methodist clergy to celebrate same-sex covenant relationships. Called the Covenant Relationships Network (CORNET), the group was organized this summer by Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns.

Network participants will continue to collect signatures for a statement, "A Matter of Conscience," which protests the 1996 addition to the denomination's Social Principles forbidding pastors and churches from holding ceremonies celebrating homosexual unions. Recently the Rev. Jimmy Creech, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Omaha, Neb., became the subject of a complaint after he conducted a covenant service for a lesbian couple. CORNET plans to develop strategies and theological resources against attempts to block United Methodists from being "in ministry for and with all persons," according to the Rev. Jeanne Knepper, Affirmation co-spokesperson.