LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — August 14, 1993, Page 2

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

limit the ability of a District President to institute an action to expel from the Synod a member of
the Synod who is on restricted status.
1.

Does the burden of proof for departing from this Handbook prescription ("shall continue for a
period of one year") rest on the District President for his exceptional action?
To this question, the Commission on Constitutional Matters responds as follows:
The question assumes that Bylaw 2.23 is prescriptive as to the minimum time which must
transpire with respect to a member's being placed on restricted status before a District President
may place a member on suspended status. As noted above, the Commission has concluded that it
is not prescriptive. Restricted status is a temporary status for a period of time during which the
matter which resulted in restricted status may be corrected or during which a District President
may carry out additional investigation relating to that matter or those matters.

1.

Must the District President prove that his exceptional action was based on totally new and verifiable
evidence that surfaced after his action to restrict and then became the basis for his action to suspend?
To this question, the Commission responds as follows:
Suspended status is not an independent action by a District President. Rather, suspended status
becomes automatic (Bylaw 2.25 a) when a District President institutes an action to expel a
member of the Synod under the procedure set forth in Bylaw 2.27 c. Bylaw 2.25 a further
provides that "If such member was on restricted status at the commencement of formal
proceedings, the restricted status shall become suspended status."
Restricted status results in an immediate limitation on the activities of an individual member of
the Synod. It does not, however, require that a District President institute formal proceedings to
expel that member from the Synod. Such a further step is within the sole discretion of the District
President as the circumstances dictate. To place a member on restricted status or to commence a
formal proceeding to expel a member from the Synod with the resulting imposition of suspended
status is not an "either/or" situation. Rather, placing a member on restricted status allows the
District President additional time to further investigate the facts and then carefully consider
whether he should seek expulsion of the member from the Synod. Accordingly, the Commission
on Constitutional Matters holds that the same facts which caused a District President to place a
member on restricted status may also serve as the basis to institute a formal proceeding to
terminate that individual's membership in the Synod which, as stated above, automatically places
such member on suspended status.

1.

If such proof is not demonstrable, is the revocation of suspension to be presumed?
This question assumes a positive answer to the previous question. A careful reading of
Commission's response to it makes it clear that the Commission does not agree with that
assumption.
In sum, a District President's decision to place a member on restricted status does not impair the
liberty of the District President to file formal charges against that member and thereby to suspend
the member who was on restricted status.

48. Adjournment : After being reminded of the October 16 meeting of the Commission in St. Louis, the
meeting was adjourned with prayer offered by the Secretary.