No End in Sight to Benke Case
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

Michigan District President Hoesmann announced at the Michigan District South and East Pastor's Conference that there is no time limit on the determination of the Benke case by the Praesidium.

Actually he did not say "Benke" directly. He referred to it as a situation that now troubles the Synod.

He stated that he had just learned after attending a meeting, that the Handbook section on dispute resolution, after careful examination, does not actually require a time limit for a decision. Previously, it was thought that decisions had to be rendered within 90 days. However, the correct interpretation is that there only has to be a meeting within 90 days. There is actually no time limit as to when the decision by the Presidium needs to be rendered.

At the 1991 Michigan District Convention, President John Heins and Judge Gene Schnelz, the primary author of Dispute Resolution in the LCMS, convinced the Michigan District that Dispute Resolution was superior to the Board for Adjudication.

The Michigan District adopted a resolution that was sent to the Synod's Convention in Pittsburgh in 1992. President Ralph Bohlmann endorsed Dispute Resolution as being superior to the Synod's then current Adjudication Process. Dispute Resolution was voted in as a replace to Adjudication.

Dispute Resolution is supposedly a win-win process. It is free from lawyers; lets the opponents talk to each other; and moves much more quickly.

The truth is the system is manipulated by the District Presidents who pick the reconcilers. It is free from the rules of evidence and any resemblance to America justice. And to no one's surprise, it need not come to a decision. In other words, the Synod has freed itself from a "legalistic" Adjudication Process bound to the rules of due process and now operates under the Gospel of "who-is-your-body" and "how-many-strings-can-you-pull."

Dispute Resolution is a definite win-win for the District Office. What is good for the COP must be good for LCMS.

Supposedly, the Synod will grow as it frees itself from law and order.


Rev. Jack Cascione is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS - MI) in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He has written numerous articles for Christian News and is the author of Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS: How to Keep Your Congregation Lutheran. He has also written a study on the Book of Revelation called In Search of the Biblical Order.
He can be reached by email at pastorcascione@juno.com.

June 07, 2002