|
Three
successive rulings by the Synod's Commission On Constitutional Matters
(CCM) have redefined the Office of the President in the LCMS and placed
him above the LCMS Board of Directors. In other words, the Office
the President, for the first time in the history of the LCMS, is no longer
accountable to or under the authority of the LCMS Board Directors.
Now the Board is in the same position as every LCMS congregation and
pastor.
Reports that charges were filed against LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick
and Atlantic District President David Benke over prayers with pagan clergy
in Yankee Stadium flooded the American media in November of 2001.
The LCMS Board for Communication Services admitted in its "LCMSNews
-- No. 93 Dec. 3, 2001," that they were the source of this
information to the American Press in their own news release on Nov. 11,
2001, as follows:
|
"An
LCMSNews release of Nov. 11 reported that Lutheran Church--Missouri
Synod President Gerald B. Kieschnick has been charged by two clergy
members
of the Synod with allegedly violating synodical fellowship
principles." |
This is when
the CCM issued its first of three releases placing the LCMS President
above the LCMS Board of Directors as follows:
|
"The
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Board for Communication Services
LCMSNews -- No. 97 December 11, 2001; 'Ruling voids charges against
Kieschnick'. . . . But the CCM ruled Sunday night (Dec. 9) that only
the
Synod convention -- not a district president -- has supervisory
responsibility for the Synod president." |
This ruling
means that only the LCMS Convention, which meets every three years, can
file charges of false doctrine against a Synodical President. However, the
President's hands picked District Presidents are in charge of all
resolutions brought to the Convention from the Floor Committees.
This also means that the LCMS President is not subject to Dispute
Resolution or any doctrinal supervision, even if he invents a fourth
Person of the Trinity.
The LCMS Board of Directors responded by ordering a media blackout as
follows:
|
"The
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Board for Communication Services
--LCMS
News -- No. 7 February 11, 2002, . . . 'The Synod's Board of
Directors Feb.
1 ordered an immediate halt to distribution of any information
concerning
charges brought against Atlantic District President David
Benke.'" |
It was then
that the CCM issued its second opinion that the LCMS President is over the
LCMS Board of Directors as follows:
|
"LCMSNews
-- No. 37 July 12, 2002, CCM ruling allows news about Benke: . . .
'The CCM has ruled, however, that the Board cannot restrict the
ecclesiastical power of the Synod president or the bylaw-mandated
duties of
the Board for Communication Services.'" |
The minutes
of the August 15-18, 2002 LCMS Board of Directors note a lengthy complaint
that the LCMS President has exceeded his authority to publicize
information in Dispute Resolution such as the Benke Case. The
following are quotations from the Board minutes:
|
"The
Board therefore has no choice but to call attention to the fact that
serious infractions have taken place on the part of the President
and the
Board for Communication Services with regard to publicity in a
dispute
case."
"The
President has spoken openly on numerous occasions to various groups
and
also secular reporters and news agencies regarding such 'matters in
dispute'
as have been included by the Commission under the prohibition
against
publicity of Bylaw 8.21 e. Recently, after strictly
confidential material
was wrongly released by a party to the case, the President issued a
formal
public statement in its regard and in a July 9, 2002 'Pastoral
Letter to the
Synod,' spoke openly and critically of the decision of the
investigating
officer [Dr. Wallace Schulz] in the case. He was aided by the
Board for
Communication Services staff not only in providing broad
distribution of the
letter but also by a front page Reporter article."
"In response, the Board of Directors is not eager for
confrontation with the
President, who is a member of the Board, or with the Board for
Communication
Services, over which it has oversight responsibilities." |
Just two days
later, on August 20, 2002, the CCM issued its third ruling that virtually
nullified the complaint by the Board of Directors and their numerous
citations from the LCMS Handbook.
In ruling (02-2282) "Questions re President's Duty to Call up for
Review" by issuing the following ruling: (http://www.lcms.org/ccm/02-2282.pdf)
the CCM ruled that the LCMS President is free to publicize and speak about
anything
to the Synod "under extraordinary circumstances." The
president decides what are or are not "extraordinary
circumstances."
|
"Under
extraordinary circumstances, such as when an issue is of synod-wide
concern and having an immediate and ongoing negative impact on the
Synod,
the President may choose to exercise his discretion in fulfilling
his duties
under Article XI. The President's right and/or responsibility to
call up for
review an action of an investigation officer carrying out the
responsibilities of Bylaw 2.27 c flows from his constitutional
responsibilities and powers. Similarly, his right and/or
responsibility to
report to the Synod via pastoral letter flows from his
constitutional
responsibilities and powers under Article XI." |
Reclaim News
has repeatedly pointed out that the Board for Communication Services has
kept the Benke Case before the American Media and is little more than a
Public Relations firm for the LCMS President. They assist the
President in his campaign to defend Benke and refuse to publish
Vice-President Schulz's decision on the Benke Case. They control the
information.
Rulings by the CCM have not only made the LCMS President the ruler over
the Synod, they have overthrown Resolution 7-17A adopted at the 2001 LCMS
Convention to support Walther's "Church and Ministry."
Thesis XI B of "The Minister must not tyrannize the church. . .
." (Walther's Church and Ministry" CPH 1987 page 311)
|
"Smalcald
Articles: 'In 1 Cor. 3:6, 21 Paul makes all ministers equal and
teaches that the church is greater than the ministers.
Therefore, it cannot
truly be said that Peter has any superiority or power of the church
before
the other apostles and all other ministers. For he writes:
'All things are
yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas' (1 Cor. 3:21-22).
That is to say:
Neither Peter nor any other minister may arrogate to himself any
power or
superiority over the church." (Triglot, p. 506) (page
314) |
The Synod in
itself is not a "Church," but it does require that the LCMS
President be an ordained LCMS pastor. The CCM has now made the LCMS
President unaccountable to each LCMS Pastor and each LCMS congregation
regarding his doctrine and practice. President Kieschnick now has
doctrinal immunity and superiority over each minister and each
congregation.
No pastor or congregation can question or challenge the doctrine and
practice of the LCMS President. This makes doctrine a matter of
majority opinion in the Convention, which is in total opposition to
Walther's "Church and Ministry."
Considering that President Kieschnick was one of the four men who helped
Dr. Norbert Oesch establish PLI, "Pastoral Leadership Institute"
we are not surprised that he seeks to be the unchallenged
"leader" of the LCMS. |