Take action to help support a candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church. In breaking news, Mary Ann Kaiser was removed from the ordination process by the Southwest Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church because of her sexual orientation.
She was a certified candidate for ordained ministry in The United Methodist Church. Her home district committee voted to certify her earlier this year. Her ordination journey was halted abruptly yesterday when The Southwest Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry recommended to the clergy of the conference to revoke her certification because Mary Ann identifies as a lesbian.
Proper procedures in the UMC’s own rule book, The Book of Discipline, were ignored by the conference. Mary Ann was treated inhumanely in the voting process. Furthermore, simply identifying as a lesbian is not grounds to remove someone from the ordination process.
According to Reconciling Ministries Network, "Legal council is working with Mary Ann to make a case to her bishop that the Southwest Texas Annual Conference broke their own rules in the way that they removed Mary Ann from the ordination process, specific to three different paragraphs in The UMC Discipline."
In response, Reconciling Ministries Network is creating a Stand with Mary Ann campaign to make sure her case is heard. They are calling for a Twitter blast starting now.
Take Action
Tweet one of the following tweets now and help the voice of the entire movement be heard.
#SWTXAC clergy voted to remove @ladygadfly from the ordination process because of her sexual orientation. #StandWithMaryAnn
#OutOfOrderSWTX #UMC Stand with @ladygadfly. Her #UMC conference did harm by removing her from ordination track bc of her orientation. #StandWithMaryAnn
Be sure to use hashtag #SWTXAC and one of the following #StandWithMaryAnn #OutOfOrderSWTX #UMC in your tweet!
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