From opposing the Vietnam War and marching with MLK to facing defrocking for performing a same-sex wedding, the Rev. Bill McElvaney was at the forefront of social issues
standing for justice | The Rev. Bill McElvaney made national headlines — and faced the threat of being defrocked — when he officiated at the wedding of Jack Evans and George Harris earlier this year.
“I have, as is often said, flunked retirement several times,” the Rev. Bill McElvaney once said. McElvaney died on Aug. 24.
Since his retirement in 1993, McElvaney served as interim minister at Midway Hills Christian Church, worked part-time on Southern Methodist University’s chaplain staff and tirelessly championed issues close to his heart.
One of his more recent forays into social justice included protesting the eventually successful plans to locate the George W. Bush library on the SMU campus.
Not only did McElvaney serve as a part-time assistant chaplain at the school from 1993-97, he was the LeVan Professor Emeritus of Preaching and Worship at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. He had an undergraduate degree in banking and finance, an MBA and a master’s in divinity from the school, and a freshman dorm is named after his father.
In 1980, McElvaney received the school’s distinguished alumni award.
So keeping Bush’s right-wing policy institute as well as the papers from an administration that promoted war was very personal to him, Northaven United Methodist Church senior pastor Eric Folkerth said.
McElvaney’s opposition to the library got so much attention, Stephen Colbert mentioned him on The Colbert Report, referring to him and another protesting professor as “professors Marx and Lenin” and “Cheech and Chong.”
Folkerth said while McElvaney served his congregation as its senior pastor from 1967 to 1973, he was the first minister in Dallas to denounce the Vietnam War from the pulpit. That controversial stand solidified Northaven church as a leader in liberal issues.
When Martin Luther King marched in Dallas, McElvaney marched with him. Folkerth said McElvaney was probably the only white minister to march with King in this city.
In the early 70s, McElvaney protested in downtown Dallas against antiballistic missiles. Counter-protesters threw red paint on him to brand him a communist.
Despite his long history of activism, it was McElvaney’s last stance against homophobia in the Methodist church that garnered him national attention and wide adoration from the LGBT community.
In January, McElvaney announced at Northaven that he would perform a same-sex wedding, not long after the Rev. Frank Schaefer was defrocked for performing a wedding for his son and son-in-law.
The morning McElvaney made his announcement on the pulpit at Northaven and received a standing ovation from the congregation, Jack Evans and George Harris were celebrating their 53rd anniversary. They were also invited onto the pulpit and received a standing ovation.
McElvaney asked the couple if they would let him perform their marriage ceremony.
“Bill said, ‘Will you do it?’” Evans said.
Evans said he thought a number of couples would all participate in a mass wedding to really generate some attention. But gathering those couples would take awhile, and McElvaney said he didn’t want to wait that long.
So Evans and Harris planned their wedding in just a few weeks.
Because McElvaney didn’t want to jeopardize Folkerth’s position at Northaven, the ceremony was held at Midway Hills, while the reception took place at Northaven.
The week before the wedding, every local news outlet profiled Harris and Evans as well as the pastor who would defy his church. Methodist ministers from around the state came to the church to support McElvaney’s position and they filled an entire section of pews.
TV cameras from every station filmed the wedding from the choir loft overlooking the church’s sanctuary and that night, the story led the news. Stations around the country picked up the story of the 86-year-old minister undergoing chemotherapy marrying a couple that been together more than half a century.
“Why didn’t I do this sooner?” McElvaney said at the time.
Folkerth called the wedding and the reception that followed one of the most joyous days in the life of the church.
A week later, the Rev. Camille Gaston of Richardson filed a complaint with Bishop Michael McKee against McElvaney.
McElvaney asked supporters not to take any action.
Despite that request, Gaston’s complaint was followed by a petition with 22,000 signatures asking McKee not to put the 85-year-old pastor battling cancer on trial for marrying a couple that has been together so long.
McElvaney met with the bishop and they came to a “just resolution.” No other action was taken.
Early in August, McElvaney announced his cancer had spread and he would forego any additional treatment. He died on Sunday, Aug. 24.
He is survived by his wife Fran, son John, daughter Shannon, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Sept. 8 at Northaven United Methodist Church, 11211 Preston Road.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 29, 2014.
