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 The Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church heard oral arguments in cases from its fall docket, Oct. 27, in Houston, Texas. One case the council heard concerned the validity of two decisions of law made by Virginia Bishop Charlene Kammerer relating to a pastor who was suspended for one year after he denied church membership to a gay man. The first decision of law under review related to the question of whether the matter was beyond the disciplinary purview of the Conference Relations Committee of the Board of Ordained Ministry and failed to afford the accused with fair process rights. The second decision concerned whether a pastor has the right and responsibility to exercise responsible pastoral judgment in determining who may be received into local church membership. In United Methodism,  authority is given to the judicial council to make ultimate decisions about interpretation of points of church law. In Decision 1031, the judicial council reversed a decision made by the Virginia Conference Board of Ministry and the Clergy Session at its June 13 meeting. That decision was to place Rev. Ed Johnson on involuntary leave of absence for "unwillingness to perform ministerial duties" (an administrative complaint as outlined in the Book of Discipline). However, the judicial council ruled that the reasons given by the Board of Ordained Ministry for the involuntary leave of absence were "disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church" (a judicial complaint as outlined in the Book of Discipline). The Book of Discipline handles administrative and judicial complaints differently. Therefore, they ruled that the Clergy Session’s action to place the Rev. Johnson on involuntary leave of absence was null and void.