Synod Bishop Lifts Sanctions Imposed on Two Congregations

SAINT PAUL, Minn. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Peter Rogness, bishop of the Saint Paul (Minn.) Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced Jan. 15 that he had lifted sanctions imposed on two congregations in 2001. Hosanna! Lutheran Church, Lakeville, Minn., and St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church, St. Paul, were disciplined by Rogness' predecessor for violations of the ELCA Constitution. Rogness' action was effective immediately.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, former Saint Paul Area Synod bishop and now ELCA presiding bishop, took disciplinary action against the two congregations in June 2001 for calling and installing pastors not on the clergy roster of the ELCA. Though the circumstances differed, the constitutional offense was the same, and both Hosanna! and St. Paul- Reformation were censured for their actions. Hanson imposed sanctions that precluded members of the congregations, including clergy, from serving on the synod council, as conference officers or on any leadership team, board, committee, or task force of the Saint Paul Area Synod.
Hanson disciplined St. Paul-Reformation Church for calling and ordaining Anita C. Hill, who now serves as pastor of the congregation. Hill is not in compliance with ELCA policies that expect pastors to refrain from homosexual sexual relationships. Her ordination is not recognized by the ELCA.
Hanson admonished Hosanna! for commissioning and licensing three members of the congregation for full pastoral ministry. The three -- Kristi Graner, Patricia Moe and Janine Olson -- are not rostered in the ELCA and would not be as long as they do not comply with the ELCA's standards for ordination, Hanson said at the time.
In both cases, Hanson said the admonition and sanctions would remain in effect until the congregations complied with ELCA policy or the church changes its requirement for lay and ordained leadership.
Two months after he acted, Hanson was elected ELCA presiding bishop by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly meeting in Indianapolis. Rogness, who served as bishop of the ELCA Greater Milwaukee Synod until 2002, succeeded Hanson when Rogness was elected bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod in April 2002. Rogness could not seek re-election in the Milwaukee synod because of term limits for its bishop.
Rogness' action keeps the censures in place, but removes the penalties Hanson imposed.
Since Hanson's action in 2001, the pastoral ministry of those called and installed who are not on the ELCA clergy roster continues in the congregations, Rogness said in a written statement about his decision. Both congregations "have remained engaged and contributing congregations of the ELCA" and "have exhibited vigor and growth that suggest they have much to offer the wider church," Rogness said.
The Saint Paul Area Synod assembly adopted a resolution in April 2002, requesting that its new bishop remove the censure imposed on St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church. In the fall of 2002, Hosanna! Lutheran Church again expressed its need for and desire to commission two or three members of current staff for pastoral responsibilities within the congregation, Rogness said.

DIVERSE LEADERSHIP NEEDED IN CHANGING SOCIETY, ROGNESS ARGUES
Rogness, who made the decision in consultation with the synod council, explained that those called and installed by the congregations will still not be pastors in the ELCA, unless ELCA policies change or they comply with ELCA standards for ordination.
The wider issue is the need to diversify ministry leadership and to continue discussion about meeting a variety of leadership needs as the church faces a rapidly changing society, Rogness said.
"With increasingly diverse and missional contexts, we need to affirm and encourage congregations in their faithfulness, both to their denominational theology and traditions and to their mission zeal in their particular context," he said.
"Clearly, ELCA governing documents and guidelines are being applied variously throughout the church as mission needs dictate," Rogness said. "Lutherans believe in good order, but also in the priority of Word and Sacrament and mission over matters of church structure. We find ourselves with diverse patterns of ministry already emerging. Consistency and commonality are needed for a clear sense of identity and unity. Flexibility and diversity are needed for effectiveness in mission in a diverse and changing world. We are living in the midst of tension between these two needs. I believe it can be a creative, rather than a destructive, tension."
Sanctions "clearly indicate the sanctioning body's disapproval of the offending action," he said. "Beyond that clear response, however, sanctions often fail to either effect change or bring reconciliation. Sanctions that remain in place after they have served the purpose of signaling disapproval, become punitive and serve to further alienate the parties involved."
It is possible not only to affirm the censure of admonition and the imposition of sanctions as a clear response to two congregations acting contrary to ELCA governing documents, "but also to affirm that a time comes when the evolving life of the congregations and their church body may call for a continuing relationship without the sanctions imposed," Rogness said.
"It is time to recognize anew and communicate clearly that what binds us together as Christ's church is far more central to our common life than the constitutional infractions of past actions," Rogness concluded. "This is not to take lightly the call we have to relationships of mutual commitment and accountability and the seriousness of stepping beyond those defined parameters. A decision to remove the sanctions is not a dismissal of the seriousness of these matters but rather a decision to recognize a more positive and affirming posture towards these congregations."
The Saint Paul Area Synod is one of 65 synods in the ELCA, and comprises 119 congregations with some 157,000 baptized members.

ELCA COMMITTED TO UNITY, MISSION IN CHANGING CONTEXT, SAYS HANSON
In a response to Rogness' decision, Hanson said the ELCA "is committed to vital mission in a changing context and to the unity of this church."
"Bishop Rogness has sought to exercise his authority in a manner that reflects both of these commitments," Hanson said. "His action should not be interpreted as presupposing any changes in ELCA policies. Congregations, synods and the churchwide expression are called to interdependence in our shared life. In this partnership, we are discussing openly and prayerfully how this church is to serve God in mission." --- * Elizabeth S. Helgen is communication director for the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod.

Editors: The legal name of Hosanna! Lutheran Church includes the exclamation point.

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