Methodist Pastor Frank Schaefer Faces Trial for Son's Gay Wedding

[joeybee12]

The defrocking of a Methodist pastor for officiating his son's gay wedding would be worth the attention that his upcoming church trial has generated, the pastor's son said.

"This is getting the conversation started to revisit really discriminatory policies," Tim Schaefer, 29, told ABC News. "I think that will have made it worth it."

The fate of Schaefer's father, the Rev. Frank Schaefer, will be decided at a Methodist retreat outside of Philadelphia this Monday, six years after he officiated at Tim's same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

Schaefer, pastor of Zion United Methodist Church of Iona in South Lebanon Township, told his superiors in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference that he was going to perform at his son's wedding in 2007 and received no warning or reprimand. It was only this April, when a parishioner filed a complaint, that Schaefer was told he would face discipline for violating church doctrine.

http://gma.yahoo.com/methodist-pastor-frank-schaefer-faces-trial-sons-gay-150811799--abc-news-topstories.html

[theHandpuppet]

1. I could suggest an alternate headline

"Methodist Pastor Offers Lesson on True Love to Conference"

[redwitch]

2. I hate reading news items on yahoo.

Because I always read the comments afterwards and pretty soon I am seriously annoyed. Good for Frank Schaefer, he is in good company with the likes of Susan B. Anthony (she broke the law by illegally registering to vote and then doing so), Rosa Parks and thousands of people whose names are mostly unknown. Standing for justice against unjust laws is a very good thing to do. Also seems pretty damned American to me.

[joeybee12]

3. Oh yeah, avoid those comments...I truly believe those are

paid teabaggers.

[murielm99]

4. The United Methodists really need to face this issue.

We had a wonderful lesbian couple leave our church because of this policy. They were pillars of the church.

We still have several other lesbian couples. As a congregation, most of our members don't worry about their sexual orientation. It is the hierarchy who need to wake up.

[theHandpuppet]

5. What was the congregation's response when the couple left?

What pressure, if any, is being put upon the hierarchy?

[MNBrewer]

7. The UMC doesn't really have a "heirarchy"

Not like the Roman Catholics or Anglicans, anyway.

[murielm99]

8. They have Conference.

It is time for more people to stand up, and put pressure on people who attend conference.

I have been hearing for years that the UMC is going to split over this issue. Nothing happens.

[MNBrewer]

10. That's true, but it's a very democratic body

not really a hierarchy. The issue is coming to a head soon.

[MNBrewer]

6. I think the UMC is headed for a schism over this topic.

The Methodists split over slavery back in the day, this will cause another split. They also have a problematic homophobic African problem, like the Anglican Church has.

[theHandpuppet]

9. The Anglican schism has gotten really ugly

I believe the ultra-conservative arm of that church was involved in the Ugandan persecution of gays.

I would be sorely disappointed to see yet another denomination split apart because some people really do hate gay folks that much. It would seem that whether you are Anglican, Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist et al, there's some segment of the church so obsessed with their hatred of gays (and in some cases, women) they simply lose all reason. The hardliners see that society's attitudes towards gays (at least here, in SA and in the EU) are making them irrelevant. Of course, there's always Poland, Russia and some African nations if they are looking for new converts.

At least we still have the Southern Baptist Convention. We've never had any doubt where they stand.

[theHandpuppet]

11. Ah yes, here's one of the articles I was thinking of

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/12/229869334/god-loves-uganda-how-religion-fueled-an-anti-gay-movement

[Bohunk68]

12. Frank comes from my area of Upstate NY

and I have a lot of respect for him. I am a congregational deacon in my ELCA church and have been trying to get them to become a Reconciled congregation for some time. My council president, while at the same time telling me they would be hurt if I should meet someone and want to be married and didn't do it at our church, says "Well, we have had you as our deacon for 20 years, that should be enough without making a statement." Another council member told me I should bring in more LGBT members and then maybe, they would consider a statement. Meantime, my very supportive pastor just yesterday told me that I have changed a lot of minds by being stubborn and staying. They're going to throw him out the door by January 1 because he hasn't brought in enough new members or old members. HELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The fucking disconnect in thinking sometimes is just overwhelming.