LETTERS: ELCA CHURCH IN KANSA CITY UNDER CENSURE

To the editor:

In reference to an item in the March 26 Regional Digest:

The Rev. Charles H. Maahs, bishop of the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has placed Abiding Peace Lutheran Church, Kansas City, Mo., under censure and admonition for willfully violating the church's constitution by calling and ordaining Pastor Donna Simon, a lesbian, who is not on the official roster of the ELCA. Simon is not on the roster because she is unable to comply with an ELCA requirement that "ordained ministers who are homosexual in the self-understanding are expected to refrain from homosexual relationships."

Maahs exercised his pastoral discretion to place the congregation under public censure and admonition rather than to remove the congregation from the roster of ELCA congregations. Members of Abiding Peace Lutheran Church, while under censure and admonition, forfeit eligibility to serve on any council, board, committee or other group of the synod, except upon special invitation to further dialog and discernment regarding the issue of homosexuality.

Maahs asks for the prayers of all of Christ's church "as together we try to discern the will of God and the meaning of loving our neighbor in the context of gay and lesbian sexual orientation. It is one of the joys of our faith that God's mercy and grace are inexpressibly profound. In the forgiving love of Christ, our wrong decisions, as well as our right ones, are redeemed."

The REV. ROBERT F. KLEIN SR.

Pastor

St. Mark Lutheran Church

Cape Girardeau

The REV. JOHN KIEHL

Pastor

St. John's Lutheran Church

Pocahontas, Mo.