LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — December 14-15, 1972, Page 2

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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(1) Immediately after the previous meeting the commission had been uncertain about the
validity of the request to issue a ruling but had now become convinced by the October 16
letter of the chairman of the Board for Missions and was therefore forwarding at this time
the ruling adopted at the previous meeting;
(2) If there should be the desire to have specified advisory members receive the privilege of
attendance at all executive sessions, it is the opinion of the commission that the convention
should be memorialized to include such a specific provision in the bylaws for the Board
for Missions.
The commission also asked the secretary in his letter of transmittal to include a paragraph which would
state that even though the commission rules on questions of legality it is always with the hope that its
rulings and opinions will be applied in an evangelical and brotherly way.
213. Proposal for Joint School, Gary (Ag. 376): Principal Wayne Spitzer of the joint Missouri Synod
parochial school in Gary, Indiana had asked in behalf of the association whether it would be possible to
give full membership status in the association to LCA and ALC congregations. The commission finally
decided to reply along the following lines. In the opinion of the commission the Synod has not yet
adequately defined its position toward other church bodies and therefore the commission advises that the
control of the central parochial school remain with the Missouri Synod congregations; however, the
commission suggests that the Missouri Synod congregations in Gary gratefully permit participation on the
part of other congregations in the community within the limitation set forth above.
214. Status of Women Teachers in Nominating Process (Ag. 370A): The committee for convention
nominations was dissatisfied with the commission's ruling in the previous meeting and therefore
resubmitted its request for a ruling on the question whether women teachers should be regarded for
nominating purposes as teachers, or as lay people, or as both. The commission resolved to reply along the
following lines:
1.

Only persons who have been formally received into the membership of the Synod at a
convention of the Synod or of a District and have signed the Constitution of the Synod are
teacher members of the Synod and therefore eligible for nomination as teachers;

2.

Whether women who have taken the prescribed course of study for teachers in the Synod
or have successfully passed through the colloquy route are eligible to be received into the
membership of the Synod by convention action and by signing the Constitution, is another
question.

Furthermore, the commission recognized that it would no doubt be compelled to deal with the second
question within the very near future and therefore, for the purpose of preliminary study, decided to place
this second question on the agenda for the next meeting and to ask legal counsel Phil Draheim to share his
insights with the commission especially from the viewpoint of legal ramifications (Selective Service, IRS,
etc.).
215. Selection of Teacher Delegates (Ag. 386): The Board of Directors of the Northern Illinois District
had asked whether teacher delegates to the New Orleans convention could be selected by having the local
teachers conferences nominate one slate of delegates and then having the teachers present at the District
convention merely ratify this one slate of delegates. Mueller had replied tentatively that in his opinion
nominations could indeed come from local teachers conferences but that the teachers actually present at a