Methodist pastor defrocked over gay wedding is reinstated

PHILADELPHIA -- A Pennsylvania pastor who broke church law by presiding over his son's same-sex wedding ceremony and then became an outspoken activist for gay rights can return to the pulpit after a United Methodist Church appeals panel overturned a decision to defrock him.

The nine-person panel ordered the church yesterday to restore Frank Schaefer's pastoral credentials, saying the jury that convicted him last year erred in fashioning his punishment.

"I've devoted my life to this church, to serving this church, and to be restored and to be able to call myself a reverend again and to speak with this voice means so much to me," an exultant Schaefer told The Associated Press, adding he intends to work for gay rights "with an even stronger voice from within the United Methodist Church."

The church suspended Schaefer, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, for officiating at his son's 2007 wedding, then defrocked him when he refused to promise to uphold the Methodist law book "in its entirety," including its ban on clergy performing same-sex marriages.

Schaefer appealed, arguing that the decision was wrong because it was based on an assumption he would break church law in the future.

The appeals panel, which met last week in Linthicum, Maryland, upheld a 30-day suspension that Schaefer has already served and said he should get back pay dating to when the suspension ended in December.

Bishop Peggy Johnson of the church's eastern Pennsylvania conference said yesterday she will abide by the panel's decision and return him to active service.

The ruling can be appealed to the Methodist church's highest court. The pastor who prosecuted Schaefer, the Rev. Christopher Fisher, said he has not made a decision about an appeal.

Schaefer, at a news conference in Philadelphia, said he expects to take a job with the Methodist church in California, a liberal bastion where there is presumably little chance he would be punished for defying church doctrine on homosexuality.

Gay marriage has long roiled the United Methodist Church, the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination. Hundreds of ministers have rejected policies that allow gay members but ban "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from becoming clergy and forbid ministers to perform same-sex marriages.

The appeals panel suggested it was not making a broader statement about the church's position on homosexuality, just basing its decision solely on the facts of Schaefer's case.

"The church is changing," said Schaefer, 52, "and that is good news for everybody."