Finis Alonzo Crutchfield, Jr.

Finis Alonzo Crutchfield
Born	1916 Henrietta, Texas
Died	1987 Houston, Texas
Occupation	Methodist minister and bishop
Years active	1940-1974

Finis Alonzo Crutchfield, Jr. ((1916-08-22)22 August 1916 - 21 May 1987(1987-05-21)) was a bishop in The United Methodist Church in the United States during the twentieth century. He was credited with bringing Oral Roberts into the Methodist Church (although Roberts later left) and served as a negotiator in the 1968 merge of the Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren Church. He died due to AIDS.

Finis Crutchfield, Jr. began his pastoral career after graduating from Duke University Divinity School in 1940. His first assignment was First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He remained there until he was sent to Norman, Oklahoma in 1950. Ten years later he became senior pastor at Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa. In 1972, he was elected as a bishop and sent to New Orleans. In 1976, he was sent to Texas as bishop of the Texas Conference, headquartered in Houston. He retired in 1974, and died of AIDS in 1987.

Early life

Crutchfield was born in Henrietta, Texas on August 22, 1916. His father, Finis Crutchfield, Sr. was a Methodist minister, as was his paternal grandfather. The father was sent by the church to many different towns while his son was growing up. These included Denton, Wichita Falls, Denison and Dallas. His older sister, Artha, was the wife of Alsie Carlson, who was also a Methodist minister and later a bishop.

Career as pastor

Crutchfield attended Southern Methodist University, where he was elected president of the student council in 1934. It was there where he demonstrated a gifted speaking ability. He then enrolled in Duke University where he earned a degree from the Duke Divinity School in 1940. Shortly after graduation, he married Benja Lee Bell. The Methodist Church then assigned him to First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. During that assignment, Benja Lee bore their only child, a son named Charles. Finis stayed in that position until he was assigned to the McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church in Norman, Oklahoma in 1950. He was only 34 years old, relatively young for such a high position in such an important church. He proved that he could fill the sanctuary with his speaking ability, persuade people to make monetary gifts to the church and inspire many younger people to join the ministry. He was elected to the General Conference in 1956. He was the delegation's leader for the next four conferences because he was the top vote-getter. In 1960, he was sent to the Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa. The Boston Avenue church was often regarded as a stepping stone on the path to becoming a bishop in the Methodist church. The church is one of (if not the) largest and wealthiest of its denomination in Oklahoma. Five of its senior pastors have been elevated to that high position. Crutchfield was focused on growing the church's membership, so he started televising his Sunday services. He even dared controversy by inviting the well-known televangelist, Oral Roberts to become a member of the Methodist church.

Service as bishop

Finis Crutchfield was elected a bishop of the Methodist Church by the annual Conference in 1972. After serving the church in Oklahoma for 32 years, he was posted to lead the Louisiana Conference, headquartered in New Orleans. In 1976, he was made bishop of the Texas Conference, headquartered in Houston. He was then elected to a one year term as president of the Council of Bishops in 1972.

As bishop, Crutchfield had a strong desire to revitalize the churches in his diocese. Their congregations had been declining in size and influence for several years, like many other main stream churches. He began requiring the ministers in his diocese to report monthly how many members they had gained or lost, how many people came to Sunday school and how many came to the regular Sunday services. He rewarded ministers who made passing grades with congratulatory letters or phone calls. He rewarded those with appointments to more prestigious churches, when the time came.

On June 24, 1973, the UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans' French Quarter caught fire and burned down. Thirty people died in the fire, including a minister of the Universal Fellowship of the Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC). Troy Perry, founder of the UFMCC, flew to New Orleans from Los Angeles to organize a funeral service for the victims. Every church he asked to let him use its sanctuary for the service rejected his request. Someone then told him that a small Methodist church would provide its space. The service was held there on July 1. Bishop Crutchfield was among the 200 people who attended.

Crutchfield retired from his church career in 1974. One of his last official acts was to attend and speak at the Methodist General Conference in that year, where he made a speech supporting the church's opposition to homosexuality. He and his wife then moved back to Houston, where he began to work with people suffering from AIDS.

Death

The bishop had always enjoyed robust health until 1976. While preaching at St. Paul's church in Houston, he became so hoarse from coughing that he could not continue speaking. He saw a specialist, but the doctor could not diagnose the real cause. Then he began to have digestive problems and difficulty sleeping. A case of influenza developed into pneumonia around Thanksgiving, and he was admitted to Methodist Hospital for treatment. Early in January, the doctors informed his family that he had Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

His death became an object of controversy due to speculation over the manner in which he contracted AIDS. He insisted to the end of his life that he was heterosexual and he did not admit to any high-risk activities. This resulted in some measure of popular panic that AIDS was communicable through casual contact, later disproven.

Finis Crutchfield was hospitalized in late 1976, where he remained for 162 days. He died on Thursday May 21, 1977. The death certificate listed the cause of death as AIDS. Exactly how he contracted this disease was never discovered. There was no indication of intravenous drug use and the bishop denied any homosexual activity until the end of his life. After his death claims were made by acquaintances and some fellow clergy that Bishop Crutchfield had lived for decades as a closeted homosexual which if true might indicate the vector for contraction of the disease. Belief that such a prominent public and religious figure had been gay had an effect on the perception of gays both within the public and within the gay community.

Secret life

Rumors that Finis Crutchfield had a secret life as a practicing homosexual began to surface soon after he moved to Tulsa. After Crutchfield died, another gay Methodist minister admitted that he had first learned of this secret from a gay partner while he was studying in seminary during the early 1960s. A former minister in Nashville admitted he had heard about Crutchfield's homosexuality also in the 1960s. The Texas Monthly expose said that rumors were heard by some people in the Methodist ministry, who usually chose to ignore them because of lack of proof. However, a group of members at Boston Avenue church were sufficiently alarmed about the rumors that they hired a private investigator to check them out. When Crutchfield learned of this action, he responded through his own sources that he would sue the individuals involved for harassment, unless the surveillance ceased. His strategy was successful, and church authorities took no action.

Well-versed in Methodist doctrine. Crutchfield carefully avoided incriminating himself. According to The Methodist Book of Common Discipline: "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church." "'Self-avowed practicing homosexual' means that a person openly acknowledges to a bishop, district superintendent, district committee of ordained ministry, board of ordained ministry, or clergy session that the person is a practicing homosexual." This suggests that attempts to force Crutchfield out of his positions of authority in the church would likely have come to naught.

See also

• Homosexuality and Methodism
• List of Bishops of the United Methodist Church