# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1884_S86
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

86   Proceedings of the 19th General [Synod], or

                        Appeals.

                1. In the Matter of Pastor Döscher.

    Resolved, that the following committee report be printed word for
word in the synodical report as the Synod's statement, with the remark
that a considerable further quantity of material similar to that
published in this committee report exists and can be supplied on
request.

    "The undersigned committee takes the liberty of submitting the
following report to the Reverend Synod:

    "The letter addressed to the Reverend Synod by Pastor J. F.
Döscher, in which he complains,

    1. that the St. Johannis congregation [St. John's] at New Orleans,
       whose pastor he was, is withholding some of his property from
       him;
    2. that Pastor Stiemke has borrowed a book from him and will not
       give it back to him;
    3. that he, Pastor Döscher, was unlawfully removed from his office
       and driven out by his congregation on the pretext of alleged
       mental illness — a "sin crying to heaven" in which the theological
       faculty at St. Louis, the Southern District of our Synod, and the
       General President bear a principal share; and
    4. that Dr. Walther misused $2,500 in mission funds by sending
       them to the missionaries in India who had withdrawn from the
       Leipzig Mission; —

has been read attentively by your committee and carefully compared
with the documents enclosed with the letter.

    "And here your committee feels compelled first of all to state: since
Pastor Döscher has renounced our Synod and, indeed, according to his
own letter, has already applied to join a foreign synod, he has no claim
whatsoever, either before the world or before the Church, that the
Reverend Synod should concern itself with investigating his complaint.
For what do those outside concern us? We can therefore not wonder
enough that Pastor Döscher nevertheless dared to bring his complaints
before the Reverend Synod. Since, however, the Reverend Synod has
resolved to go beyond what is required and to take up Pastor Döscher's
written complaint, your committee takes the liberty of reporting the
following on it:

    "As for the first two points of complaint, namely the withholding of
property, the committee considers that Pastor Döscher has to settle this
matter with the congregation, or rather with Pastor Stiemke, and that
the Synod is in no way obligated to concern itself with it.