Pastor defrocked over gay wedding is reinstated

0

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Pennsylvania pastor who broke
church law by presiding over his son’s same-sex wedding ceremony and
then became an outspoken activist for gay rights can return to the
pulpit after a United Methodist Church appeals panel on Tuesday
overturned a decision to defrock him.
The nine-person panel
ordered the church to restore Frank Schaefer’s pastoral credentials,
saying the jury that convicted him last year erred when fashioning his
punishment. He was then transferred to the California conference of the
church, effective July 1.
"I’ve devoted my life to this church, to
serving this church, and to be restored and to be able to call myself a
reverend again and to speak with this voice means so much to me," an
exultant Schaefer told The Associated Press, adding he intends to work
for gay rights "with an even stronger voice from within the United
Methodist Church."
The church suspended Schaefer, of Lebanon,
Pennsylvania, for officiating his son’s 2007 wedding, then defrocked him
when he refused to promise to uphold the Methodist law book "in its
entirety," including its ban on clergy performing same-sex marriages.
Schaefer appealed, arguing the decision was wrong because it was based on an assumption he would break
church law in the future.
The
appeals panel, which met in Linthicum, Maryland, last week to hear the
case, upheld a 30-day suspension that Schaefer has already served and
said he should get back pay dating to when the suspension ended in
December.
Bishop Peggy Johnson of the church’s eastern
Pennsylvania conference said Tuesday she would abide by the panel’s
decision and return him to active service.
The ruling can be
appealed to the Methodist church’s highest court. The pastor who
prosecuted Schaefer, the Rev. Christopher Fisher, said he has not made a
decision about an appeal.
"I’m still in prayerful consideration about that," said Fisher, calling Tuesday’s decision
"not entirely unexpected."
At
his request, Schaefer accepted a transfer to the California-Pacific
Annual Conference, said Bishop Minerva G. Carcano, who said he would
appoint the pastor to the Isla Vista Student Ministry in Santa Barbara.
The
issue of gay marriage has long roiled the United Methodist Church, the
nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination. Hundreds of Methodist
ministers have publicly rejected church policies that allow gay members
but ban "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from becoming clergy and
forbid ministers from performing same-sex marriages.
Traditionalists
say clergy have no right to break church law just because they disagree
with it. Some conservative pastors are calling for a breakup of the
denomination, which has 12 million members worldwide, saying the split
over gay marriage is irreconcilable.
Schaefer said Tuesday’s decision "signals a major change within the United Methodist Church, for
sure."
The
appeals panel, however, suggested it was not making a broader statement
about the church’s position on homosexuality but based its decision
solely on the facts of Schaefer’s case.
The jury’s punishment was
illegal under church law, the appeals panel concluded, writing in its
decision that "revoking his credentials cannot be squared with the
well-established principle that our clergy can only be punished for what
they have been convicted of doing in the past, not for what they may or
may not do in the future."
The decision also noted that
Schaefer’s son had asked him to perform the wedding; that the ceremony
was small and private, held not in a Methodist church but in a
Massachusetts restaurant; and that Schaefer did not publicize the
wedding until a member of his congregation learned of it and filed the
complaint in April 2013.
"The committee notes that, in another
case involving different facts, a majority of its members might well
have concluded that a different penalty better serves the cause of
achieving a just resolution," the panel said, adding that some of its
members wanted a longer suspension for Schaefer.
Schaefer, 52, said he expects the decision to stand.
"The church is changing," he said, "and that is good news for everybody."
___
Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania.

No posts to display