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Lutherans grant second exception to policy of ordination by bishops
2002-219-2
9/25/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
A candidate for ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has been ordained by a pastor, rather than a bishop--the second time an exception has been granted to rules established by the church's full communion agreement with the Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Matthew Kuempel's ordination on September 14 came after Bishop Gerald Mansholt of the Central States Synod in Kansas City, Missouri, granted the request under a by-law amendment on ordination adopted at the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly that 'in unusual circumstances' a synod bishop could authorize a pastor to preside at an ordination. The full communion agreement, Called to Common Mission (CCM), directs that 'a bishop shall regularly preside and participate in the laying-on-of-hands at the ordination of all clergy.' Prior to the CCM agreement, Lutheran bishops presided at most ordinations but it was not required in the ELCA.
Kuempel was ordained by the Rev. Tom Kesselring, but Bishop Mansholt was present and, at one point in the ordination rite, laid hands on Kuempel's head, raising questions among some observers whether the ordination was actually an exception.
Kuempel said that he asked for the exception in April and it was granted in August when he accepted a call to a two-point parish in Kansas. His wife Kristen was ordained by Mansholt September 8 under the terms of CCM and has also been called to a parish in Kansas.
'I think it is helpful for the peace of the church for exceptional ordinations to take place,' said Kuempel, who entered Luther Seminary in St. Paul before CCM was adopted. 'I hope there are more. My hope is that with each graduating class there will be more as part of the evangelical freedom that we have.'
Mansholt said that he consulted widely before making his decision and, in a letter to the synod, recognized that the decision has ramifications for both churches. 'Eventually I came to the decision there seems to be more to be gained by granting the exception, more to be lost by denying the request at this point in time.' He added that Kuempel 'sees the requirement for a bishop to preside at an ordination as adding something extra to the true unity of the church. I understand the provisions as a sign, a symbol that one is ordained into the one ministry of Word and Sacrament, not as something that guarantees the validity of the ordination.'
The decision to grant the exception led to the resignation of the Rev. William Sappenfield, one of three ecumenical representatives in the Central States Synod, who objected to the exception.
Sappenfield served on the Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network (LERN) which has said that the exception represents 'a unilateral change' in CCM and that the by-law is 'deficient in its intended purpose to restore peace and unity in the ELCA.' He said that he was not consulted by the bishop about his decision to grant the exception which, in his opinion, 'lacks integrity, it's bad for relations with our existing ecumenical partners and it's bad for our ability to maintain policy within our own denomination.'
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