Lutheran leaders look to ease stance on gay pastors

CHICAGO -- Lutheran parishes in areas with supportive bishops could hire gay and lesbian pastors without fear of being kicked out of their denomination under a proposal put forward by leaders of the largest Lutheran denomination in the nation yesterday.

The proposal, in the 5-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, marks the first major effort by a mainline Protestant denomination to address the increasingly vexing issue of whether religions should change their posture toward gay relationships since Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage and the Episcopal Church USA faced a schism over the ordination of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

The Lutheran proposal, which is being spearheaded by Bishop Margaret G. Payne of Massachusetts, would maintain an official requirement that gays and lesbians abstain from homosexual relationships in order to qualify as ministers. But it would allow local church leaders to "refrain from disciplining" congregations that disregard that requirement and hire "partnered" gay or lesbian pastors. In recent years, some bishops have censured or even ejected from the denomination congregations that have hired non-celibate gay and lesbian pastors, and some have demanded the resignation of pastors who declared themselves to be gay.

Payne's task force, which began meeting in 2002 and considered 28,000 comments from Lutheran individuals and parishes, insisted it was not recommending changes to the church's policies, but just suggesting some discretion in the enforcement of those policies. The task force also decided not to recommend the approval of a blessing for same-sex couples, instead urging Lutherans to respect a 1993 statement by Lutheran bishops declaring that "there is basis neither in Scripture nor tradition for . . . the blessing of a homosexual relationship."

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, formed in 1988 through the merger of three North American Lutheran church bodies, has, like other religious denominations, for years confronted deep divisions over homosexuality. But Payne's panel said the denomination should "concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst of our disagreements," and that if it could do so, "this issue does not have to be church dividing."

The proposals, unveiled yesterday at a news conference at the denomination's headquarters in Chicago, will be debated over the next several months and voted on at a church assembly in August in Orlando, Fla. Several alternative proposals regarding same-sex blessings and the service as ministers of gays and lesbians are also likely to come before the assembly, which will be made up of both clergy and laypeople.

Gay rights advocates reacted angrily to the recommendation, calling it preservation of a status quo that oppresses gay and lesbian Lutherans. They said more than 100 gay and lesbian pastors already quietly lead churches with the tacit knowledge of their local bishops, but a handful of congregations have faced punishment for hiring such pastors, leading many to remain secret about their sexuality.

"We are dismayed and deeply saddened by this institutionalized discrimination," said Emily Eastwood, a spokeswoman for the Lutheran Alliance for Full Participation, a coalition of six organizations that support blessings of same-sex unions and the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy.

"This is an institution that selectively oppresses us," Eastwood said of her denomination. "We will attempt to get [church] legislation passed to force a policy change."

But supporters of the status quo were also furious, claiming that the Payne task force was recommending tacit approval of non-celibate gay clergy despite church teachings about the heterosexual nature of marriage.

"They say they're not proposing any changes, but in fact, if this were adopted, we would have, in writing, that it's OK to disregard the standards -- there would be permission to do whatever you want and anywhere you want," said the Rev. Mark C. Chavez, director of the WordAlone Network, a conservative organization of Lutherans. "Contrary to what the task force says, there is a consensus in our denomination, and it's not in favor of change. The more the church-wide leadership supports this kind of change, the more they cut themselves off from most of our members."

But an expert on the Lutheran denomination said the opposition from the interest groups is to be expected on such a polarizing issue as sexuality, and predicted that the task force proposal will be adopted.

"Both ends of the spectrum are going to be dissatisfied, but when you're in the midst of a heavy-duty conflict, that's probably a place you can stand," said the Rev. Michael L. Cooper-White, president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. "My read is that the task force on sexuality has carved out a stance that can be fairly broadly embraced in our church, and my prediction is they likely will be passed and will move us to a place of being able to live with greater diversity in the church than we have."

Cooper-White said the Lutheran denomination in the past has declined to enforce other policies. For example, he said, the denomination did not punish congregations that violated church rules by refusing to pay their financial obligations to the denomination because of disagreements over civil rights, the Vietnam War, and other issues.

In an interview after the news conference, Payne said her panel did not call for change to church rules because "so much of the church said, 'we do not want to do that.' "

"People have been taught since their childhood that homosexual relations are prohibited," Payne said. "Many people do not believe these should be blessed."

But Payne said Lutherans on the east and west coasts tend to be more supportive of gay rights in the church than Lutherans in the Midwest. Payne, who is the top official of the New England synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said the issue is particularly challenging in a region where same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts and civil unions are legal in Vermont.

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.