LOS ANGELES, USA - The Rev. Paul Egertson, the bishop who oversees the religious life of 50,000 Evangelical Lutherans in Southern California, is under pressure to resign his post after he took part in the ordination of a lesbian as a church pastor, church officials said Wednesday.
A source familiar with the situation who wished to remain anonymous confirmed that the top clergyman in the 5.1 million member Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson, has asked Egertson to step down. The source said that the California bishop will take the rest of the week to decide what he will do.
Rev. Anderson declined to comment Wednesday. Anderson's spokesman John Brooks told Reuters that the controversy stems from Egertson's participation last month in a ceremony in which a woman, who is openly living in a committed lesbian relationship, was ordained as a minister.
The ceremony, at St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn., marked the first time an active Lutheran bishop took part in such a practice. Egertson, the source said, "did not do the ordaining but participated in the service."
Prior to the ordination, which was conducted by the local congregation, Anderson had begged Egertson not to take part. However Egertson "felt it was time that someone be willing to step out and participate in the ordination of a lesbian or gay person" despite the fact that the practice violates church law, the source said.
Egertson, whose son is gay, has long been criticized for his views and practices. Prior to his election as a bishop in 1995 he had been pastor of a North Hollywood congregation that was predominantly gay and lesbian and he took part in the blessing of same-sex unions there, the source said.
"He was extremely selective about it. Because it was a policy of the congregation that their pastor do those services he did a couple but he has not done any during the time he has been bishop," the source said. Some church officials were upset about his participation in those services.
As a result, when he was elected bishop, Egertson agreed in writing to resign if he ever felt led by his conscience to break church law. The source said Anderson now has asked him to abide by his promise.
"Bishop Anderson on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops is saying that we require you to do what you said you would do," the source said.
Egertson was ordained as a pastor in 1960. In 1995 he became bishop of the five-county Southern California synod which includes 140 churches, 275 ministers and 45,955 members.
His term in Southern California expires Aug. 31, and he had not planned to seek reelection at that time, the source said. Egertson was unavailable for comment on Wednesday.
The Lutheran Church is one of several mainstream U.S. denominations struggling with mounting pressure to defy traditional church teachings by ordaining openly gay people as ministers and blessing same-sex unions in official church ceremonies.
Last summer Presbyterian Church leaders meeting in Long Beach, Calif., voted to bar ministers from blessing gay unions, calling the practice contrary to "God's intention."
The Episcopal Church of the United States of America is also seriously divided over the homosexuality issue.
Although not officially sanctioned by the U.S. Episcopal Church polity more than half of its 108 dioceses already engage in same-sex union rites, which has raised the ire of conservatives, and entire congregations have left the church.
Last summer at its triennial convention Episcopal leaders voted to recognize same-sex relationships in a pastoral sense, a move which was widely believed to be a victory for those who support gay unions and the full participation of openly gay clergy in the church.
The issue has also caused a rift in the worldwide Anglican communion from which 2.5 million U.S. Episcopalians take direction.
18:47 05-23-01
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