Title: Synod Bishop Lifts Sanctions Imposed on Two Congregations
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 17, 2003

SYNOD BISHOP LIFTS SANCTIONS IMPOSED ON TWO CONGREGATIONS
02-008-EH*/JB

     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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