# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1932_S115
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

156 Proceedings of Thirty-Fifth Regular Convention,

Extracts from Report of Committee
on Constitutional Matters.
(Memorial 401.)

1. The report referred to page 126f. of the Proceedings of 1929

a. On page 126, 1, we read: “Each congregation in t .
tributary to a synodical institution (including Concordia Publishin
House) shall be entitled and requested to nominate one candidate cach
for the Electoral College and the Board of Control (Board of Direc-
tors) of that institution.” This is not in agreement with the Synod-
tcal Handbook, page 62, 4, which stipulates that candidates for eol-
leges shall be nominated by Districts, while Synod itself nominates
candidates for the seminaries, because the colleges serve certain limited
fields, while the seminaries serve Synod as a whole. The convention
was asked to declare whether the former stipulation should be re-
scinded or not.

b. In the same memorial we read, page 127, 4: “Terms of office
shall be limited to two consecutive terms for any member in any one
board elected by Synod; but previous tenure of office shall not dis-
qualify a person after an interruption of three years.” This has been
taken to mean that Synod adopted this recommendation, since the
Proceedings, page 128, declare that “the recommendation of the com-
mittee was adopted,” although ‘the chairman decides, in agreement
with the German Proceedings, that this recommendation of the me-
morial was not adopted. This could be clarified by striking out the
words “The recommendation of the committee was adopted and the”
from the 1929 Proceedings, so that it reads: “The following resolution
was passed by Synod,” ete., thus bringing the English Proceedings
into agreement with the German version.

2. On the basis of a memorial which declares that the stipulations
of Synod’s constitution do not seem to be clear regarding the question
whether a District President should be a member of a voting con-
gregation of Synod, Synod passed a resolution in 1929, page 125, as
follows: “The President, the Vice-President, the Secretary, the Trea-
surer, and the members of the Board of Directors of all Districts must
be members of voting congregations.” This being an amendment to
the constitution, this resolution had to be submitted to the congrega-
tions. Although this was done, so few congregations sent in their
votes that the matter was left undecided.

The Committee on Constitutional Matters holds that this point
is covered by the constitution, which declares regarding the officers
_of Synod: “The President, the Vice-Presidents, and the Secretary
must be ministers of the Church and, like the Treasurer and the mem-
bers of the Board of Directors, members of voting congregations”
(Synodical Handbook, page 6, B, 1), and furthermore states that “this
constitution is also the constitution of each District of the Synod”

he territory

Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. 1932. 157

(Synodical Handbook, page 9, Art. XII, 2). On page 9, 6 it is de-
clared that “all officers of the Districts have the same rights and duties
as those outlined in this constitution for the officers of Synod.” Your
Committee therefore recommends that Synod declare by a formal
resolution that it interprets this point of the constitution as meaning
that this stipulation regarding the officers of Synod applies also to the
District officials.

3. Finally the Committee on Constitutional Matters calls atten-
tion to the regulation of the Handbook, page 99, Art. XXI, 2. 3: “Any
overtures made to the Synod asking for changes of, or amendments to,
the constitution and by-laws of the Synod or its rules and regulations
shall be submitted to this committee in order that it may examine
them (contents and language) as to their constitutionality or their
agreement or disagreement with existing rules and regulations. When-
ever the Synod convenes, this committee. shall be represented at the
meetings of the committee appointed to consider constitutional mat-
ters.” If this stipulation were generally observed, many corrections
and resolutions, as mentioned in the above, could be avoided.

Regarding this report, Committee 15 brought in the following
resolutions : —

la. Wuereas, A resolution of the convention of 1999 (English
Proceedings, p. 129) inadvertently seems to wipe out the distinction
generally observed heretofore between the nomination of candidates
for, and election of, members of the Board of Electors for our theo-
logical seminaries and normal schools, which serve the whole Synod,
on the one hand, and those of the colleges, which serve particularly
a circumscribed territory, on the other hand; therefore be it

Resolved, That the distinction made in the regulation for the
nomination and election of the boards of electors (Synodical Hand-
book, p. 62, 2 and 4) shall be observed also in the future, namely, that
the Synod itself reserve the right to nominate and elect the members
of the electoral boards for the seminaries and normal schools, while the
various Districts have the privilege of electing the members of the
electoral boards for the colleges located in their territory, “which
election shall in the following year be submitted to the Synod for its
approval, rejection, or amendment.”

This resolution was adopted by Synod.

Committee 15 furthermore recommended: —

1b. Wuergas, The English Proceedings of the convention of 1929,
pages 127 and 128, record as a resolution of the Synod the recommen-
dation of a committee “that tenure of office shall be limited to two
consecutive terms for any member in any one board elected by the
Synod,” while the German report records no such action on the part
of the Synod; and

Wnuereas, Such a procedure would not be in accord with the best
interest of Synod; therefore be it