SALVATION

Methodists Save Gay Marriage Pastor

Defrocked for officiating son’s gay wedding.

The United Methodist Church announced Monday that it would overrule a decision to revoke a pastor’s ordination for performing his son’s same-sex wedding. The second-largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. said it would not defrock Rev. Frank Schaefer. A member of his congregation filed a complaint when he discovered Schaefer performed his son’s same-sex wedding in 2007 in Massachusetts. Last year, a Pennsylvania church jury voted to defrock Schaefer after he refused to promise not to perform any other same-sex weddings. While the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church ruled to reinstate Schaefer, it did so on technical grounds. It did not express any official policy support for same-sex marriages. “We are mindful of the divisions within our church,” the Judicial Council wrote in its ruling.