# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_OCTOBER 3 1963_S3
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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131. A letter was now read from Pastor Arlin Maas, Secretary of the

Atlantic District, under date of July 10, 1963. This communication informed
the Committee that the Atlantic District at its meeting at Bronxville, New
York, June 23 to 26, 1963, had adopted a resolution that the Committee on
Constitutional Matters is ''to re-examine resolution 6-06 of the Cleveland
Convention and other settions in the Handbook relating to this matter, and

report its findings to the Detroit Convention in 1965,"
132. The Committee took no action on this matter at this time.

133, A communication was now read addressed to the Committee by
the Rev. Carl Heckmann, President of the Texas District, raising the ques -
tion whether women teachers must attend District Conventions. After discuss -
ing this matter at some length it was agreed to answer Pastor Heckmann by
calling his attention to the traditional position of the Synod in this matter and
tracing the historical developments leading up to this position: Men teachers
are required to attend Conventions, but women teachers are not under the
same obligation. The reason for this differentiation, however, is not found
in the matter of sex but traces to the fact that male teachers ordinarily receive

a Cail, while women teachers work under a contract.

134, A similar inquiry regarding compulsory attendance of women
teachers at District Conventions had been addressed to the Committee by
Mr. Curtis Harper, Chairman of the Southern District Teachers Conference. -
It was agreed that this communication should be answered along the same
line of reasoning that had been followed in determing how the inquiry received

from Texas is to be answered.