# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_May 2 3 1980_S6
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

The Commission understands that a report and recommendation will be completed by the time of
the 1981 convention and that a report will be made to the convention; if the study is not
completed or if there are marked differences of opinion among those charged with responsibilities
under the 1979 resolution and under the Bylaws, the Synod in convention will have the
opportunity to speak to the issues.
The Commission assumes that the Board of Directors altered the terminal date of the funding
from March 1, 1982 as recommended by the American Indian Advisory Council and the Board
for Missions to March 1, 1981 for budgetary reasons and that funding will be continued until
March, 1982 if funds are available.
Based on documentation and material submitted, the Commission is of the opinion that the
declination of the amendment to Resolution 1-14A of the St. Louis convention has no real force
or effect on the questions at issue, since delegates obviously voted against the proposed
amendment for a variety of and even opposing reasons. Indeed the defeat of the amendment has
been cited in support of opposing positions.
Dr. Herbert Mueller returned to the meeting of the Commission at 9:20 a.m. and continued as secretary of
the Commission.
John W. Klotz, Secretary pro tem

Opinion Re Seating of Delegates at a District Convention
In answer to four questions the Commission on Constitutional Matters adopted the following statements:
1. As the Commission has pointed out often in the past, the seating of uncertified Seminex
graduates as pastor delegates at synodical or District conventions is unconstitutional.
2. Voting participation by uncertified pastoral delegates at a District convention could indeed
have legal ramifications, as the Commission had already stated in a previous opinion shared with
the Synod.
3. When a motion to seat an uncertified pastor as a delegate is offered to a convention, the
District President should not entertain such a motion but should rule it out of order on
constitutional grounds; such a ruling is unappealable because it is based on a constitutional ruling
made by the Synod itself (see 1979 St. Louis Resolution 5-11).
4. It is the specific responsibility of the synodical representative to encourage the District
President to make the proper ruling from the chair and to support him by referring also to
previous rulings.

COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
Herbert Mueller, Secretary
May 2, 1980