LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — November 1, 2001, Page 1

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MINUTES
COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
November 1, 2001

209. Call to Order
Chairman Walter Tesch called the telephone conference call meeting to order, noted that all members of
the Commission except Gerhard Bode were present, and asked Albert Marcis to offer an opening prayer.
210. Approval of Minutes
The minutes recording the opinions provided by the Commission at the time of the 2001 convention of
the Synod were approved as printed.
211. Questions re Convention-Mandated Deaconess Training (01-2232)
In an August 23, 2001 letter to the Commission, the Executive Director of the BHE/CUS Board raised
questions regarding Res. 5-06B adopted by the 2001 convention of the Synod. He noted that Bylaw 3.409
c establishes that one of the responsibilities of the BHE/CUS Board is to “review and approve programs,
both church work and nonchurch work, both undergraduate and graduate, in the interest of institutions
and the constituency.” He further noted that Res. 5-06B resolves that the LCMS “permit” deaconess
training to be offered at the seminaries.
In his letter he proposed that the convention resolution “appears to contradict the fundamental
responsibility of the BHE/CUS to establish programs in an orderly fashion,” noting that “normally, a new
program proposal would be submitted to the BHE/CUS and it would be evaluated in terms of its academic
integrity, fiscal viability, and impact on the BHE/CUS school system,” also calling attention to the
Preamble of Bylaw 3.409. He reported that the BHE/CUS has in fact denied or postponed approval of
requests in past years because a proposal “was inadequate or its effect on the other schools would be
unduly negative,” observing that, if the BHE/CUS does not have opportunity to conduct an evaluation
process, there is also no opportunity to evaluate the institution’s new fiscal commitments and the
programmatic impact on the school system.
Therefore, in order to discuss the implementation of a deaconess program at the seminaries, he asked on
behalf of the BHE/CUS board for responses to the following questions.
Question 1:

Can the BHE/CUS determine that a seminary’s proposal is inadequate, and
withhold approval until the proposal meets the standards that the BHE/CUS applies
to all proposals?

Opinion: Bylaw 1.07 a states: “The delegate convention of the Synod is the legislative assembly which
ultimately legislates policy, program, and financial direction to carry on the Synod’s work…reserving to
itself the right to give direction to all…agencies of the Synod (including the…seminaries, universities and
colleges, and other component parts of the Synod).” Therefore, this bylaw is controlling relative to the
actions of the BHE/CUS. The elements of the first resolve of Res. 5-06B of the 2001 convention of the
Synod are as follows:
§
§

The continued training of deaconesses at Concordia University, River Forest, is encouraged;
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, are
permitted to offer graduate level deaconess training;