Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1975 · 51st Convention › Page 197
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 197

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

ADMINISTRATION 197

sel pastors and congregations. not only because of their superior
qualities but because they retain the physical abilities to serve in
this capacity and generally have more time for it than men still
burdened with parochial duties: and

WHEREAS. Other pastors of retirement age are still eligible
for election to even more demanding offices: and

WHEREAS. Retired pastors are barred by Bylaw 3.61 b from
the office of Circuit Counselor, with the erroneous implication
that they have suddenly become inferior: therefore be it

Resolved. That the Bylaws be changed to make retired
pastors eligible to serve until the age of 75 as Counselors in their
circuit of residence.

Hope Lutheran Church
San Leandro. Calif.
Roberta Strom. Secretary

4-65

To Amend Bylaw 3.91 Regarding
Circuit Meetings

WHEREAS. Bylaw 3.91 requires: ‘The Circuit Counselor shall
call a meeting of his circuit at least once each year”: and

WHEREAS. There is increasing evidence that this is not done
in many circuits of our Synod and rarely as is detailed in the
Handbook: and

WHEREAS. Neither the District Presidents nor Circuit Coun-
selors are showing an interest in insisting that these meetings
be called; and

WHEREAS. It is hardly right to have a section in the Handbook
that is either being ignored or purposely not being carried out.
without penalty to anyone: therefore be it

Resolved. That paragraph 3.91, Meetings.” be changed to
read as follows: “The Circuit Counselor shall be encouraged to
call a meeting of his circuit at least once each year.”

Board of Directors
Texas District
Carl A. Heckmann. President

4-66

To Delete Bylaw 10.31 Dealing with
Use of Certain Lists of Workers

WHEREAS, Section 10.31 of the Handbook instructs the Board
of Managers— Pensions and Support to use for its purposes ‘the
lists of pastors, teachers, and professors appearing in the current
records of the various Districts’: and

WHEREAS, This directive results in confusion, duplication,
and possible conflict with records as officially submitted to the
synodical Department of Statistics by every District President:
and

WHEREAS, Such records as are maintained by the synodical
Department of Statistics are the official records and are in fact
the official District records in respect to the procedure involved:
and

WHEREAS, Said Section 10.31 is therefore in effect meaning-
less: therefore be it

Resolved. That Section 10.31 be deleted from the synodical
Handbook: and be it further

Resolved. That this resolution become effective immediately
upon adoption.
Board of Managers— Pensions and Support
Robert P. Hopmann, Secretary

4-67

To Allow Lump-Sum Withdrawals from
Pension Fund by Retiring Workers

WHEREAS, A congregation of the Iowa District East memo-
rialized the District convention in 1972 asking the District to

petition the Synod's Board of Support and Pensions to make
possible the withdrawal of funds personally accumulated in
the Pension Fund by those pastors and teachers who are re-
tiring: and

WHEREAS. This congregation, at the advice of the District.
memorialized the Synod at New Orleans in July of 1973 asking
that a lump-sum withdrawal of personally accumulated funds
in the Pension Fund be allowed for those retiring (Overture
12-09): and

WHEREAS. The Synod at New Orleans directed the Pension
Work Committee to study the entire matter and report back
to the 1975 convention of the Synod ‘Resolution 12-10): and

WHEREAS. The Iowa District East in convention June 1974
encouraged the Pension Work Committee to complete its work
and report favorably on the request at the 1975 convention of
the Synod. if actuarily sound: which resolution was forwarded
to the Pension Work Committee through the Synod’s Secretary
in July of 1974: and

WHEREAS. A full report should be forthcoming to this con-

vention of the Synod as directed by the Synod in 1973: there-
fore be it

Resolved. That the Synod, upon hearing a favorable report
of its Pension Work Committee. amend the current require-
ments concerning the Pension Plan to allow retiring members
of the Synod to withdraw from the Pension Plan in lump-sum
the total of their personal accumulations: and be it further

Resolved. That this allowance be made effective immediately
and that all participants in the Pension Plan be advised by mail
that lump-sum withdrawals of the personal accumulations are
now allowable for retiring members of the Synod.

Board of Directors
Towa District East
W. H. Niermann., Secretary

4-68

To Abolish the District Subcommittee
on Pensions. Support. and Welfare

WHEREAS. The Bylaws state that the duty of the subcom-
mittee is to investigate the application of all persons who ask
for support and report its findings 'Handbook 10.29): and

WHEREAS. The Concordia Plans Managers feel that the
complexity of the plans prevents a District chairman from being
adequately informed to carry on an adequate investigation: and

WHEREAS. The role of the District Committee on Concordia
Plans has no function except form-signing: therefore be it

Resolved. That the Synod in convention in Anaheim be
encouraged to abolish the office of District Subcommittee on
Pensions. Support. and Welfare.

Iowa District East
W.H. Niermann, Secretary

4-69

To Abolish District Subcommittees of
Board of Managers — Pensions and
Support

WHEREAS. The District Subcommittee of the prior Board of
Pensions and Support once played an important role in the
administration of the Support Program of the Synod in that:

1. Its members were generally well acquainted with the
Support applicants involved in their District:

2. Retired pastors and teachers generally settled in the
communities where they had labored:

3. Personal contact with these retirees could quite readily
be achieved by a member of the District Subcommittee: and

WHEREAS. The preceding situations no longer continue to
exist generally, because of the increasing mobility of the retired
segment of the country's population: and

WHEREAS. The District Subcommittee is finding it increas-