A campus minister at the University of Iowa is facing possible censure from United Methodist leadership for officiating a same-sex ceremony for another female clergy member. Anna Blaedel, the executive director of the university’s Wesley Student Center, presided over the ceremony in Oklahoma on April 4, despite knowledge that doing so is forbidden by the United Methodist Book of Discipline. “I knew that officiating at this wedding could cost me my credentials, could cost me

my job, could cost me my health insurance and could cost me my income,” she told the Press-Citizen. “But I also knew that saying ‘no’ to one of my best friends would cost me my integrity and my soul.” The Appointive Cabinet of the Iowa Conference consequently filed a unanimous complaint against Blaedel last month for engaging in a practice that is “incompatible with Christian teaching.” READ MORE


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