Lutheran Pastor Apologizes for Praying at Newtown Vigil
Pete Souza / The White HouseLutheran Pastor Apologizes for Praying at Newtown Vigil
A Lutheran pastor in Newtown, Conn., has apologized after being reprimanded for participating in an interfaith vigil following the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The Rev. Rob Morris, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church, prayed at the vigil the Sunday following the Dec. 14, 2012, shootings alongside other Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Baha'i clergy.
Morris' church is a member of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), and the denomination's constitution prohibits ministers from participating in services with members of different faiths.
It's not the first time a Missouri Synod pastor has been reprimanded for joining an interfaith prayer service; a New York pastor also was suspended for participating in an interfaith service after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
LCMS president Matthew Harrison wrote in a letter to the Synod that "the presence of prayers and religious readings" made the Newtown vigil joint worship—and therefore off-limits to Missouri Synod ministers. Harrison said Morris' participation also offended members of the denomination.
"After consultation with my supervisors and others, I made my own decision," Morris wrote in his apology letter. "I believed my participation to be, not an act of joint worship, but an act of community chaplaincy."
The Newtown Interfaith Clergy Association hosted the Dec. 16, 2012, vigil, which was attended by Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and President Obama.
In his opening statements at the vigil, the Rev. Matt Crebbin of the Newtown Congregational Church made clear that the participating religious leaders were not endorsing one another.
"We are not here to ignore our differences or to diminish the core beliefs which define our many different faith traditions," Crebbin said, according to a CNN transcript of the event.
Following the 9/11 attacks, Missouri Synod pastor David Benke participated in the Prayer for America interfaith service at Yankee Stadium. Although had the approval of then-LCMS president Gerald Kieshnick, the Synod's Dispute Resolution Panel suspended Benke.
He was reinstated in 2003 by Kieshnick and returned to his post as president of the denomination's Atlantic District.
Harrison wrote in his letter that despite his reprimand of Morris, the Missouri Synod does not unanimously agree on what joint worship is. The denomination is still attempting to define it.
"I am looking forward to working together with (Morris) and others in the Synod to strive for greater unity and consensus among us," Harrison wrote.
The St. Louis-based Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod is the smaller of the two largest branches of Lutheranism in the U.S., with almost 2.3 million members. The more liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has 4 million members.
Harrison was unavailable for comment, and Morris declined to comment.
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Luther Layman
Having read your article in February regarding the actions of the president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod following the tragedy in Newtown, CT, I am somewhat surprised that there have been no follow up articles, or at least none that I have noticed. As a lay member of the church, I have been embarrassed and appalled by the actions and attitudes of President Harrison. As the church prepares for its triennial convention this July, a number of congregations and members submitted overtures to the convention affirming the actions of Pastor Morris, and the need of the church to be an active witness in the public square. The governance of the church allows President Harrison to appoint floor committees to review those proposals. Those proposed overtures can be viewed by downloading the “Convention Workbook” at http://www.lcms.org/convention. On pages 185-189, you can find a series of overtures – 4-50 through 4-54 – addressing the desire of members of the church to express support for Newtown, Pastor Morris, and the responsibility of the church to be engaged in our communities. President Harrison, through his handpicked floor committees, has tried to bury EVERY such overture, and not a single resolution presented by the floor committees makes any attempt to address these grave concerns. Those resolutions are also available on the same web site, under the link “Today’s Business – First Issue.” I have also seen no coverage of other issues. President Harrison was elected by the last convention of the LCMS in 2010. At that time, significant changes to the governance structure were proposed, and ultimately adopted. At that time, now President Harrison vehemently objected to those changes, suggesting that those changes would place too much authority in the president. Now that he has been elected, however, he is proposing even more drastic changes to the governance, attempting to aggregate powers that even the pope does not have within the Catholic Church. Because of the 2010 changes, President Harrison has complete control of the church’s media outlets, and dissenting views are not heard at all. Without coverage outside the church, there is no chance that the members and delegates to the upcoming convention will even be aware of these actions by President Harrison. I have yet to find a single article in the non-church press regarding these issues. With a membership of 2.5 million members, I would hope that reporters such as you will find reasons to shine some light on these issues.
robert Boe
kaleb bell reporter at large got it wrong!! no lutheran denomination or lutheran synod president pastor or theology profesor, teacher or any other lutheran has any authority to tell any one in the lutheran church what to do .. we are not the roman catholic church or a baptist church or a non denominational church .. The only authority in the lutheran church is our bibles Gods word.. the bible in more than one place tells us authortivly to stay away from those who teach differently than the bible. stay away from can not mean pray with or worship with .. yet that also does not mean we cant pray for them because the bible says----------- that we should do!
Sandara Jo Fakler
Why can't a lcms person pray with people of other demominations. God is all christian's God isn't He
mikeandcarol winick
Jesus tells us, in Matthew 5:44, "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." So how much more are we to pray for those of our neighbors who are hurting and mourning? How do we live out the command of the Great Commision if we only stay and pray with our own? I think that the right thing to do was to pray boldly and to proclaim a loving God to hurting people when they needed it most.
robert Boe
This guy being a lutheran pastor should know better than that.. after all he should be setting a example not only for lutherans but other christians also.. Should other christians really be praying with those they really dont know any thing about? Most of you other christians have no real idea what Lutheran christians actually beleive about most things that the bible talks about .. so Why then would you want to pray with lutherans when you dont know what we really believe about the bible or God or people .. and you certainly should not being praying with people like muslums or jews who beleive in a god other than Jesus .