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I’m personally heart broken,” said Patricia Miller, ex ecutive director of the Confessing Movement, a conservative move ment within the United Methodist Church. “I think the issue is, a part of the jurisdiction has broken covenant with the rest of the church and has decided to go the way of the world, as opposed to being faithful to and abiding by church law.” The conservative renewal movement, which claims more than 600,000 members, was formed 10 years ago. Miller said she could not predict how the tensions with , in the denomination will play out. “We’re just praying about what is the proper response to what has occurred,” she said. Church law prohibits the ordi nation of open homosexuals and the church’s Book of Discipline de clares homosexuality to be “in compatible to Christian teach ings.” However, the denomina tion’s social principles support gay rights and liberties. Dammann, 47, declared her sex ual preference in February 2001, when she sought a new church ap pointment. She and her partner of nine years, Meredith Savage, mar ried earlier this month in Oregon. They have a 5-year-old son. Dammann said she and Savage 5 planned to stay out of the public eye for a few days rather than join her congregation, but said she hopes to return to Ellensburg as pastor. She’s been on family leave for more than two years, caring for her son, who has a respiratory illness. At Sunday’s service, attended by about 60 people, the Rev. Ron Hines, superintendent of the Pacific Northwest Conference’s Seven Rivers District, read a let ter from Bishop Elias Galvan. “This decision will not resolve the conflict within the United Methodist Church, nor within the congregations of this conference,” Galvan wrote. “As long as this is sue is important to society, the church must continue to reflect the ologically and biblically and lead in ministries of justice and peace.” Dammann said she realizes the church has a difficult time ahead of it. “For the church it means the beginning of another stage of the struggle,” she said Saturday. “I’m mindful of that. This is going to be painful.” Since the late 1980s, Pacific Northwest Methodist leaders have petitioned for eased policies on ho mosexuality at each of the denom ination’s General Conferences, held every four years. During past international General Conferences, most attendees have Opposed change. The n,ext General Conference begins next month. PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Firemen go through remains of a local train’s carriage. Investigators in Madrid focus on bomb assembly BY ANDREW SELSKY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MADRID, SPAIN — Investigators searched Sunday for the place used to assemble the backpack bombs that blew apart four train cars during morning rush hour earlier this month, killing 202 peo ple and wounding more than 1,400. Spain still grieves after the March 11 attacks. Thousands of people, including Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, crowded the platform of El Pozo train sta tion — where one train was bombed—for a funeral Mass. The Rev. Jose Manuel Peco urged mourners to “reflect upon what we are going through, and reflect upon our capacity for for giveness and reconciliation,” the news agency Efe reported. With seven Moroccans, two Indians and a Spaniard in cus tody, investigators focused on where the bombs were assembled. An estimated 220 pounds of explo sives were used for the bombs, which were stuffed into bags and detonated by cell phones. Ten bombs exploded, and four others failed to detonate. One was taken apart and provided clues that led police to suspects. “We’re now looking for the place where the bombs were put together,” an Interior Ministry spokesman told The Associated Press. The attacks, three days before national elections, also shook Europe. Spy chiefs from France, Britain,-Germany, Italy and Spain planned to meet in Madrid on Monday to review the attacks and discuss improving cross-border cooperation. Spanish Prime Minister-desig nate Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called for “much greater coopera tion between intelligence services." In an interview published Sunday in the daily newspaper El Pais, Zapatero also said “the focal points that produce fanaticism and violence” must be addressed, and ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was “absolutely neces sary.’ I_I