Pastor says Lutheran church in San Bernardino targeted over lesbian issue

Posted on Sat, Dec. 4, 2004

Associated Press

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - An urban ministry that aids the poor and homeless had its official recognition removed in a dispute involving an associate pastor who is in a committed lesbian relationship.

The decision targeting the Central City Lutheran Mission is the most severe punishment of a Lutheran congregation over the issue in more than a decade.

"We thought those days were over," Pastor David Kalke, who leads the mission, told the Los Angeles Times. "It appears conservatism has raised its ugly head here in Southern California, much to our surprise."

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allows gay clergy if they are celibate.

Thirteen other congregations have installed openly gay and lesbian pastors, including worshippers in Hollywood. Churches that have been disciplined have received far milder punishments.

But the Pacifica Synod in Yorba Linda, which oversees congregations in parts of Southern California, revoked Central City's congregational status on Oct. 29.

Bishop Murray Finck said Central City violated the church's constitution when it installed Pastor Jenny Mason in April, because Mason is not on the church's official roster of recognized pastors.

He said the church's decision has nothing to do with Mason's sexual orientation, though he conceded that she is not on the roster because she is a lesbian who chooses not to be celibate.

Discipline was once handled by the national church and included a public trial and an appeal process.

But after a 1990 dispute with two San Francisco congregations that had installed openly gay clergy and were ultimately kicked out of the church, discipline became a matter that synods handled, said Greg Egertson, co-chairman of Lutheran Lesbian and Gay Ministries in San Francisco.

Since those 1990 incidents, no congregations have been stripped of recognition for installing gay clergy. National church leaders are currently studying the issue and the church's National Assembly will be voting at its meeting in August.

Egertson said the Pacifica Synod may be trying to send a message to the assembly.

"It's out of step with what other synods are doing and it's very badly timed," he said.

The Pacifica Synod's move also comes at a controversial time for gays in the clergy. Churches around the world have decreased or eliminated relationships with the U.S. Episcopal Church since it ordained a gay bishop in New Hampshire last November.

Mason previously served 10 years as an officially recognized Lutheran pastor and missionary in Chile before the church learned of her long-term relationship with another woman and forced her to resign in 2001.

"I don't know the good folks who live in Orange County, but that's where our synod office is and I have a feeling that's what moves decisions more than serving the poor and the oppressed in the inner city of San Bernardino," Mason said. "We don't bring money into the church - we're serving the people Jesus called us to serve."

The Pacifica Synod said the mission could continue in its social outreach, without a spiritual component.

But Kalke intends to lead Central City as an independent Lutheran congregation.

"I'm going to continue to celebrate Mass," he said. "These people have a right not only for a place to sleep and a bowl of soup but also a right to worship."