United Methodist pastor Frank Schaeffer officiated at the wedding of his gay son. That was six years ago. Just before the statute of limitations ran out, he was brought up on charges and was put on trial this past Monday.
Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin does a pretty good job of explaining why this denomination is still putting pastors on trial for such things. I know he did a good job because I lived through that General Conference.
By the end of Monday the 13 pastors who formed the jury found Schaeffer guilty on two charges:
* Conducting a ceremony that celebrates same-sex unions.
* Disobedience to the order and discipline of the United Methodist Church.
Of course, the prosecutor said those charges could not go unpunished.
A commenter reminds us this is not a violation of church doctrine. It is violation of a legislative enactment.
On Tuesday morning the proceedings continued with the sentencing phase. Schaeffer refused to repent. He certainly wouldn't say he is sorry he conducted the ceremony for his own son -- some pretty strained family relations if he did. Schaeffer also refused to promise he would never do it again -- he has two more gay kids (yeah, three out of four).
The guy who brought the charges was, naturally, outraged at Schaeffer's refusals. The pastor responded by putting on a rainbow-colored stole and declaring his determination to continue to minister to gay people.
The jury gave Schaeffer a 30 day suspension, which is lenient given Schaeffer's refusal to repent. He was told that he would be kicked out if he repeated those actions. So he expects he'll lose his credentials at the end of the 30 days.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment