A lesbian Methodist minister faces a church trial for telling her congregation she's in a gay relationship, a United Methodist Church official said.
The Rev. Irene E. "Beth" Stroud, associate pastor at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, spoke about the relationship in an April 2003 sermon, according to a statement from the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church.
In March, the Rev. Karen Dammann faced a similar trial in Bothell, Wash., and was acquitted by a jury of 13 pastors. Church officials said that trial was the first against a homosexual Methodist pastor since 1987, when the credentials of the Rev. Rose Mary Denman of New Hampshire were revoked.
In a sermon posted on her church's Web site, Stroud said she realized she was a lesbian while a student at Bryn Mawr College and has lived with a woman for 2 1/2 years.
"I know that, by telling the truth about myself, I risk losing my credentials as an ordained United Methodist minister," Stroud said, according to the transcript. "But I have realized that not telling the whole truth about myself has been holding me back in my faith."
Church law says self-avowed, practicing homosexuals may not serve as clergy.
A trial date will be set after Bishop Peter D. Weaver selects a retired bishop to preside, said the Rev. Michele Wright Bartlow, the conference's East District superintendent.
No one answered the phone Monday evening at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown. There were no listed phone numbers for Stroud or the church pastor, the Rev. Fred Day.