我困擾的地方在於英文翻成中文，有些句子很容易變得太長，閱讀起來似乎會痛苦？
然後有些地方看起來有點生硬或不達意。
我把感覺可能有問題的英文段落上色
請問有沒有什麼改善的好建議？
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衛理宗主教欲結束對主持同志婚禮牧師的裁定
Methodist Bishop to End Trials for Ministers Who Perform Gay Weddings
紐約時報 (2014年3月10日)
http://ppt.cc/Mt~D
The head bishop of the United Methodist Church in New York on Monday committed
to ending church trials in his region for ministers who perform same sex-marr
iages, essentially freeing them to conduct a ceremony still prohibited under
his denomination’s laws.
As the first sitting United Methodist bishop to publicly make such a pledge,
Bishop Martin D. McLee instantly became a leading figure in a decades-old
movement within the United Methodist Church, the country’s second-largest
Protestant denomination, to extend equal recognition and rights to gay and
lesbian members. Though Bishop McLee said that he hoped his approach would
heal the church’s deep divisions over homosexuality, more conservative
Methodists warned that his actions would push the denomination closer to an
irrevocable split.
聯合衛理公會紐約教區主教，星期一宣佈要結束在他教區內，對主持同志婚禮牧師的教會
裁定。基本給予他們在教派法規禁止下仍能主持同志婚禮的自由。身為第一位公開如
此聲明的衛理宗主教，Martin D. McLee立刻成為美國第二大抗議教派衛理宗內，持續數十
年之久的同志平等權利與認可運動的風雲人物。雖然McLee主教說他希望他的作法能癒合教
會在同性戀議題的分歧，較為保守的衛理信徒則警告他的行動會將教派推向不可逆轉的分
裂。
Bishop McLee’s pledge came as part of a resolution announced Monday with the
Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree, a Methodist minister and retired dean of Yale
Divinity School who had faced a church trial after he officiated the wedding
of his gay son in 2012. The trial had been scheduled to begin on Monday.
Instead, Bishop McLee, who oversees about 460 churches in lower New York State
and Connecticut, agreed to drop all charges against Dr. Ogletree; in exchange,
he asked only that Dr. Ogletree participate in a dialogue about the church and
its stance on matters of sexuality. Promoting dialogue, the bishop said, could
be a model for other United Methodist bishops to follow.
"While many insist on the trial procedure for many reasons, I offer that trials
are not the way forward,” Bishop McLee said in a statement attached to the
resolution of Dr. Ogletree’s case. “Church trials result in harmful polarizat
ion and continue the harm brought upon our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.”
McLee主教的保證，部份作為在星期一對Thomas W. Ogletree（一名衛理宗牧師以及耶魯大
學神學院退休院長）於2012年為他的同志兒子主持婚禮，而面臨教會裁決的解套協議。該
裁決原預定於星期一召開。然而監管下紐約州與與康乃狄克州超過四百六十座教堂的McLee
主教，同意撤銷對於Dr. Ogletree的所有控訴。作為交換，他只要求Dr. Ogletree參加一
場關於教會與其在情慾議題立場的對談會。主教說經由發起對談可作為其他聯合衛理公會
主教跟隨的示範對象。McLee主教在附帶對Dr. Ogletree案子解套協議的聲明中說「雖然很
多人為了很多原因而堅持繼續裁決程序，我主張裁定不是向前看的方向。教會的裁定導致
有害的分化並且繼續為同志弟兄姊妹們帶來傷害」
The two ministers whose complaint had prompted the church legal process against
Dr. Ogletree, however, disagreed and sharply criticized the settlement.
“The impact of this settlement today will be that faithful United Methodists
who support the church’s teachings will be ignored,” the Rev. Randall C.
Paige and the Rev. Roy E. Jacobsen said in a statement. “Far from avoiding
schism, today’s settlement increases the probability that schism will take
place.”
In October 2012, Dr. Ogletree, 80, presided over the wedding of his son,
Thomas Rimbey Ogletree, to Nicholas Haddad. After their wedding announcement
appeared in The New York Times, Mr. Paige, pastor of Christ Church in Port
Jefferson Station, and Mr. Jacobsen, a retired New York pastor, filed a formal
complaint against Dr. Ogletree for breaking church rules, sparking a legal
proceeding against him.
然而投訴Dr. Ogletree並將之交付教會訴訟程序的兩位牧師，不同意該協議並對此提出了
尖銳的批評。Randall C. Paige和Roy E. Jacobsen在聲明中說道：「今天這項協議的影響
將會意謂著支持教會教導的忠實衛理宗信徒受到忽視。今天的協議遠遠不會避免分裂，反
而增加分裂發生的可能」。2012年10月， 80歲的Dr. Ogletree為其兒子Thomas Rimbey
Ogletree主持與Nicholas Haddad的婚禮。在他們的婚禮公開於紐約時報之後，位於傑佛遜
港站的基督教堂牧師 Paige先生與退休的紐約市牧師Jacobsen先生提交對於 Dr. Ogletree
的正式投訴，控告他破壞教會規則，點燃一場訴訟程序之火。
Clergy in the United Methodist Church pledge to follow the church’s laws as
contained in its rule book, the Book of Discipline. Among those laws is a
prohibition on clergy officiating same-sex unions, in keeping with the book’s
declaration that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian
teaching."
A liberal wing of the church has been pushing to change those rules since
they began to be implemented in 1972, bringing up the issue for votes at each
of the international denomination’s quadrennial conferences. In 2012, one
retired bishop, Melvin Talbert, sparked a civil disobedience campaign by
calling on members to act against what he felt were immoral and discriminatory
rules.
Since then, about 1,500 United Methodist ministers around the country have
pledged to officiate same-sex unions in defiance of the rules, including 217
clergy in the New York Annual Conference. Bishop McLee’s move, said Dorothee
Benz, who leads a pro-gay rights group, Methodists in New Directions, shows
that “the bishops are starting to catch the same drift.”
衛理聯合教會的神職人員宣誓遵從記載於其法規手冊紀律書的教會規定。當中的法規禁止
神職人員主持同性婚禮，以與該書中實踐同性情慾與基督教導不容的主張保持一致。從
1972年這些規則開始陸續被增添之後，教會中的自由派一直在推動對這些規則的改變，在
每四年一次的國際教派會議中提議投票表決。在2012年，Melvin Talbert召集成員以公民
不服從運動對抗他覺得不道德和歧視性的規則。從那時起，從各地有大約1500位衛理宗神
職人員主持同性婚禮來挑戰那些規則，其中就包含紐約年度會議的217位牧師。領導衛理宗
內同志權利團體新方向的Dorothee Benz說McLee的行動顯示「主教們正開始往同個水流的
潮向前進。」
Bishop McLee was able to drop the charges against Dr. Ogletree because once
his case was referred to the church prosecutor, there was no need to get the
agreement of the original complainants to resolve the matter.
The resolution sparked a strong negative reaction among more conservative
Methodists.
“We are really disappointed in the decision that was made to drop the trial
completely because there was no penalty or consequence for an act of
disobedience,” said the Rev. Thomas A. Lambrecht, the vice president of
Good News, a traditionalist Methodist group. “And it’s very troubling that
the bishop has made a commitment to cease trials, because it indicates that
there will be no accountability in the future in New York to the Book of
Discipline.”
McLee主教能撤銷對於Dr. Ogletree的控訴，因為一旦他的案子轉介給教會起訴官就沒必要
讓原先的投訴者以協商方式解決爭議。該協議在較為保守的衛理信徒間引發強烈的負面回
應。傳統派衛理團體好消息的副總裁Thomas A. Lambrecht說：「我們對於裁定完全被徹下
的決定感到很失望，違紀行為沒有了處罰或後果。主教致力於結束裁決的宣佈也令人煩心
，這表明未來在紐約紀律書將沒有效力。」
For Dr. Ogletree, Monday was a day of triumph. His wife, son, and son-in-law
joined him at the news conference, as did about 50 Methodist gay-rights
supporters from around the country. “We need to have a framework where people
begin to talk to one another,” he said. “I think it’s going to be one that
we will see other bishops follow, and I am very happy about that.”
至於Dr. Ogletree，星期一對他而言是勝利的一天。他的太太、兒子、子婿和他一起加入
這場記者會，連同來自各地50位支持同志權利的衛理宗信徒在場。他說：「我們要有個讓
來自各地的人們能彼此對話的平台。我認為這將是我們看到其他主教跟進的開始，而我樂
於見到此事發生。」