Kansas City
ELCA Church Selects Lesbian Pastor
A bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America censured and admonished a church in
Kansas City, Mo., for "willfully
violating" the ELCA's constitution by
calling and ordaining a lesbian pastor not
approved for ordination.
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church ordained Donna
Simon, 35, last October. Although the ELCA allows
ordination of gay and lesbian pastors, they must
promise celibacy. Simon, once in a committed
relationship, would not promise she would never
have another.
Bishop Charles Maahs of the Central States
Synod stopped short of recommending removal of
the congregation from the ELCA's official roster,
an action he could have taken.
"My primary reason for this is that the
issue of homosexuality continues to be under
discussion in the ELCA, and the Central States
Synod can make a contribution to this
discussion," he said in a report to the
synod council.
A similar case will occur in St. Paul at the
end of this month when St. Paul-Reformation
Lutheran Church ordains Anita Hill.
Last September, Bishop Robert Mattheis of
Oakland, Calif., declined to file disciplinary
charges against a Berkeley, Calif., congregation
for its decision to call a man to serve as its
pastor who is not on the ELCA's official clergy
roster.
(4/07/2001)
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