2004 Synod Assembly: "Called Into
God's Marvelous Light"
Live update added 2:55 p.m.,
Saturday, April 24, 2004
The Rev. Eric Shafer Clarifies Texas
Lawsuit
The Rev. Eric Shafer,
communications director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
shared updates Saturday regarding a controversial civil case in Texas.
The civil case stems from an
ELCA pastor arrested in 2001 and later convicted of pedophilia charges. More
recently, 14 alleged victims filed a civil case against the ELCA and other
Lutheran-based institutions. The case was resolved earlier this month.
Shafer told attendants of the
17th annual Southeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly that the civil case ended
this week and, before it went to trial, the ELCA settled its part of the
suit. He said as part of the settlement, the ELCA has agreed to help finance
counseling for people victimized by the former pastor. The ELCA's settlement
will be paid by insurance, not benevolence, funds.
Shafer said while the ELCA
agreed to provide money for victim counseling, that money does not indicate
any culpability. "Our settlement did not imply guilt in any way," he said.
"We just wanted to take care of the plaintiffs."
Shafer emphasized to assembly
attendants that the ELCA does not tolerate improper behavior by rostered
leaders. He said every time the ELCA learns of such truthful allegations
against a pastor, that pastor is promptly removed from the ELCA's clergy
roster. He noted that in the entire ELCA's history, there have been very few
such cases.
"This church does not tolerate
this conduct among its rostered leaders," he said. "Our rules are firm. They
are strong. As far as sexual misconduct by our rostered leaders, we are a
zero tolerance church."
Shafer and the Rev. Joseph
Crippen, of the Church Council of the ELCA, also clarified points about the
ELCA Studies on Sexuality, and spoke about the timeline that was passed out
to the Assembly.
Meanwhile, the Southeastern
Minnesota Synod's 2005 budget was also adopted during the third plenary.
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