A gay Lutheran
pastor who announced a year ago that he had a steady
relationship with another man will face disciplinary
proceedings for violating church rules banning sex
outside marriage. The Reverend Bradley Schmeling of
St. John's, Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church, will face a
disciplinary hearing on Friday structured much like a trial,
where a committee of 12 members of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America will decide whether he can
remain an ordained minister in the church.
Schmeling and his supporters say they hope his
case will lead to changes in those rules, making the
church more accepting of relationships involving its
gay pastors. "I want people who have felt excluded by
the church for their sexual orientation to know God loves
them," Schmeling said in an interview with the
Associated Press last weekend. "We've always been a
church that emphasizes the unconditional love of God,
so this policy runs counter to that."
Many mainline Protestant denominations in the
United States, including the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican
Communion, have been struggling to resolve differences over
homosexuality and gay clergy. The ELCA maintains it is
simply following its own rules, which ban
relationships outside marriage, even though they allow
openly gay clergy.
Schmeling told both his bishop and congregation
about his sexual orientation before he was chosen
pastor in 2000. When told of the steady relationship,
however, the bishop of the ELCA's southeastern synod did
not celebrate. Instead, Bishop Ronald Warren asked the
44-year-old pastor to resign. When Schmeling refused,
Warren started disciplinary proceedings against him
for violating church rules barring sex outside of
marriage, which the church defines as only between a man and woman.
ELCA spokesman John Brooks said that if a
single, heterosexual pastor told his bishop that he
was in a relationship outside of marriage and he
refused to repent, he likely would face similar disciplinary
proceedings. When Warren announced in August that he
was taking action against Schmeling, he said he would
not comment until a verdict is rendered.
In 2005 delegates to an ELCA national meeting
rejected a proposal to allow sexually active gay men
and lesbians to be ordained as pastors if they were in
committed, long-term relationships. Opponents, including
Schmeling, say the policy discriminates against gay clergy
by forcing them to refrain from sex, while
heterosexuals only have to wait for marriage.
"ELCA says it welcomes GLBT people but that
welcome stops at committed relationships," said Phil
Soucy, spokesman of Lutherans Concerned, a group
fighting for full inclusion of gays in the church.
Schmeling's disciplinary hearing, which will be
closed to the public, is expected to run through the
weekend. Afterward, the 12-person committee made
up of both clergy and lay people, including two members
chosen by Schmeling, will have a couple of weeks to
decide whether to take action, which could include a
suspension or removal from ordained ministry.
Schmeling's congregation does not even want to
consider where that would land them. "We want Bradley
to be our pastor, and we want to remain in ELCA,"
congregation president Laura Crawley said. "If he's
removed from the roster, he'll continue as pastor."
While that could lead to disciplinary actions
against St. John's, the married mother of two said she
hopes the church will reform itself by understanding
that "we want our pastors to live in the world with
us." (Giovanna Dell'Orto, AP)
