Methodist Panel Reinstates Defrocked Pastor
The New York Times‘ Michael Paulson and Emmarie Huetteman report, “A onetime Methodist pastor who was stripped of his clerical credentials because he presided at the wedding of his gay son is being reinstated, a startling reversal for a large Protestant denomination that, like many, is riven by divisions over same-sex relationships.” On Tuesday, the United Methodist appeals committee overturned the punishment for Frank Schaefer, a Pennsylvania pastor who was defrocked last year.