The Advocate: Lutheran pastor calls for removal of celibacy requirement for gay clergy (Jul 27)

July 27, 2007

Lutheran pastor calls for removal of celibacy requirement for gay clergy

Lutheran pastor Wayne Miller of Aurora, Ill., who will soon become bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, is calling for his denomination to remove a celibacy requirement for gay and lesbian clergy, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. "That's where I think the church is going," said Miller. "That's where I think it needs to go."

Miller is hoping the change could come as early as next month in Chicago, where the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is scheduled to conduct its churchwide assembly. Nearly a third of the denomination's 65 synods are asking for a policy change in clergy standards.

Homosexuality is a debated issue at mainline church conventions. The ELCA has adopted a compromise position, allowing gay and lesbian clergy to serve as long as they remain celibate. Heterosexual clergy, however, are not subject to the celibacy requirement if they are married, a right gay clergy don't have.

As reported by the Sun-Times, more than 1,000 voting church members are expected at the August 6–11 assembly at Navy Pier. If the rules for gay clergy aren't altered, Miller acknowledges he'll experience conflict between his personal beliefs and his vows as bishop.

"That is the dilemma of a bishop at this particular moment in history," he said. (The Advocate)