LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — June 20, 2016, Page 1

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MINUTES
COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
Telephone Conference Call, June 20, 2016
173. Call to Order and Opening Prayer
Chairman George Gude called the meeting to order with all members of the commission participating in
the telephone conference call. He opened the meeting with prayer.
Chairman Gude called attention to the single item of business to be addressed during the meeting—a
request by a member of the Synod for an opinion to assist a convention floor committee with its work.
The commission discussed its response at length during the conference call and via email for several days
thereafter to provide the following opinion.
174. Constitutionality of Historical Appeal to President and Praesidium in Expulsion Cases (162791)
On May 29, a member of the Synod and of a convention floor committee developing its responses to
overtures submitted to the 2016 convention requested an opinion of the commission:
Question: “In the event that a district president did not take action in matters of expulsion, was the
process operative in the Bylaws between 1956 and 2004, enabling the President of the Synod
or the Praesidium of the Synod to initiate proceedings and present charges in an expulsion
matter, in violation of the Constitution of the Synod?”
Opinion: Requested is an interpretation of the Synod’s Constitution as to whether the bylaws that existed
between 1956 and 2004 governing matters of expulsion were then, or would be now, consistent with and
not contradicting the Constitution (Constitution Art. XIV). This opinion will deal first with the provision
as it first stood (1956–1989), conferring upon the President of the Synod authority to initiate formal
proceedings when district officials failed to act. It will then deal with the provision as subsequently
amended (1989–2004) to confer essentially the same authority upon the Praesidium instead.
1. Constitutionality of the 1956–1989 provision for the initiation of expulsion proceedings by the Synod
President, should the district president fail to act.
The provision in question was adopted by the 1956 convention as follows (italicized portion) and
remained essentially intact i until 1989:
5.23 Ineligibility for Service
If the member involved is a pastor, professor, or teacher, and his offense makes him
ineligible for further official service in the church and he pleads guilty, the District
President shall publish in the official organs of Synod the fact that he is ineligible for
service and shall so report to the District. In case the President of the District is charged
with any action that would disqualify him for office, the Vice-Presidents of the District
shall initiate proceedings, and the First Vice-President shall act. If the District officers fail
to act, the President of Synod, by virtue of the power given him in the Constitution
(Article XI, B, 1, 2, 3) may on his own initiative institute proceedings, take administrative
action, and, if necessary, present charges to the District Board of Appeals. (1956 Bylaw
5.23, Handbook, n.p.)
1956 Res. 6-11, which effected this addition, was proposed by the Committee on Constitutional Matters,
following a suggestion from the Board of Appeals.ii It gave as the rationale for this bylaw addition the
following whereas paragraph: