HOUSTON—The pastors of about a dozen major United Methodist churches in the Houston area say they and their congregations are outraged over the acquittal of a lesbian minister by a church court in Washington.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the Rev. Karen Dammann (a self-acknowledged lesbian) was acquitted on March 13 of charges she violated Methodist church law banning "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from the ministry. A church court of 13 pastors in the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference issued the acquittal.

"The congregation's e-mails and faxes and phone calls I have received are one of confusion," said the Rev. Martin Nicholas of First UMC in Sugar Land, Texas. "To see the verdict be in complete violation of church law has left my flock hurt, confused and afraid for the church's future."

The Rev. Stephen Wende of First United Methodist Church of Houston said his reaction to the verdict was "horror and grief."

Nicholas and Wende were among several Methodist pastors in the area who participated in conference calls last week to draft a statement to be read this past Sunday's services.

"The position of the United Methodist Church has not changed," the nine-paragraph statement read. "We continue to believe that the practice of homosexuality is not the expressed will of God for any of his children."

The pastors are sending the statement to the more than 700 United Methodist congregations in the Houston-based Texas Annual Conference, a grouping of churches stretching from Texarkana to the Gulf Coast.

"I think across the conference there will be a number of churches who will eagerly embrace this," said the Rev. Edmund Robb, pastor of The Woodlands United Methodist Church.

"Despite the fact that church law is clear, biblical and unequivocal on this matter ... those clergy charged with ruling on the case inexplicably and even astonishingly found her innocent of the charge," the Texas statement says.

"The overwhelming majority of United Methodists nationwide and worldwide don't agree with that," Wende said of the verdict.

The pastors said the verdict will likely be taken up at the denomination's national meeting next month in Pittsburgh.