Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1975 · 51st Convention › Page 479
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 479

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

APPENDIX IV

Constitutional Opinions

(We are reprinting some of the more important opinions issued by the Commission on
Constitutional Matters during the past biennium.)

New Orleans Resolution 3-09

1. Resolution 3-09 does not condemn the doctrinal position
of the faculty as a whole and/or of each individual faculty
member, but it does condemn the position defined as the stance
of “the faculty majority.”

2. Since Resolution 3-09 does not identify individuals by
name, each individual faculty member is permitted to state that
the positions rejected in Resolution 3-09 are not his personal
positions and that therefore Resolution 3-09 does not apply to
him.

3. In its second resolve Resolution 3-09 rejects both in a
positive and in a negative way certain theological positions.

4. The CCM rules that under Resolution 3-09 the Board of
Control is now obligated through an interview process and
through a study of the documentation which has been developed
to determine which faculty members hold positions rejected
in Resolution 3-09 and to deal with them according to those
procedures provided in Bylaw 6.79 e et seq. which are pertinent.

Feb. 8—9, 1974

Certification of Boycotting Students

1. According to Bylaw 4.15 a 1 a student must have com-
pleted the prescribed course of study. It is assumed that if he is
still boycotting he has not completed the prescribed course of
study.

2. The prescribed course of study is that which under Bylaw
6.63 a meets with the approval of the Board of Control.

3. In the light of Bylaws 4.15 a 1 and 6.163 a and d certifica-
tion can be granted only if there is reasonable expectation that
the candidate will qualify by completing the prescribed course
of study and by receiving a diploma.

4. Only those instructors who are still members of the faculty
at the date of certification are eligible to participate in the
certification process.

5. Standards and regulations for the certification process,
such as the date of certification, are subject under the pro-
visions of Bylaw 6.63 a to the approval of the Board of Control.

Feb. 8-9, 1974

Certification, Assignment, Roster Status

1. The answer lies especially in Bylaws 4.09, 4.15, 6.163.
Only the faculty of the institution can certify and only the Board
of Assignments can make the initial assignment of a call.

2. Only graduates who have been certified by the proper
faculty may be received into the membership of the Synod and
placed on its clergy or teacher roster.

Feb. 8—9, 1974

Constitutional Ruling on Parishes
Calling Men to Serve as Seminex
Instructors

The Commission on Constitutional Matters in its meeting
of Mey 16 answered the following questions:

1. Is it permissible for a congregation to call a person to
serve as an instructor at Seminex or to call a person as an
assistant pastor and then assign him to the Seminex faculty?
Does such a person meet the roster requirements of Bylaw
4.33?

The Commission on Constitutional Matters rules that such
an individual does not meet the roster requirements of Bylaw
4.33 but can be retained on the clergy roster of the Synod as
a candidate on a renewable annual basis under the terms of
Bylaw 4.37. The Commission on Constitutional Matters rules
that it is improper for a congregation to call men to a seminary,
since the Synod (e.g., Article III 3; Bylaws 3.07 e, 6.03, and
6.53 a) has reserved to itself the right to provide for the training
of pastors and teachers and to appoint faculties for that purpose.

2. Must a person be physically present and discharging
duties within a parish in order to be legitimately called to that
parish as an assistant pastor? Does such a call presuppose the
utilization of a considerable portion of that person’s work time
in that parish?

The commission rules that common sense would dictate
that in order to meet the requirement of Bylaw 4.33 a for con-
tinuing eligibility on the clergy roster, ‘‘To be retained on the
roster, a clergyman or teacher as the case may be must be
performing the duties of one of the following offices: a. a pastor
called to serve a parish,” it would be necessary for such a called
person to be present in the parish to discharge his prescribed
responsibilities as a pastor of that parish.

May 16, 1974

A Ruling re Eligibility for Certification,
Placement, and Ordination

In response to a series of questions from the Council of
Presidents the Commission on Constitutional Matters has
adopted the following ruling:

In loving concern for the needs of the church and especially
for those students who have completed all but one quarter of
their prescribed courses of study and who, under normal con-
ditions, would in the spring of 1974 be graduated from Con-
cordia Seminary, St. Louis, and be declared eligible for the
office of the ministry in The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod,
the Commission on Constitutional Matters, in its meeting of
March 22-23, 1974, deliberated at length, exploring and dis-
cussing the pertient Bylaws, defining terms, and seeking legiti-
mate ways and means of placing these potential candidates into
the service of the church.

It is with sincere regret that the commission is unanimously
constrained to rule that under the Bylaws of the Synod the afore-
mentioned students cannot be declared eligible for placement in
the ministry of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod. They
will not “have completed the prescribed courses of study and
have received a diploma from one of the Synod’s seminaries”
(Bylaw 4.15 a 1); they will not “have received endorsement by
the proper faculty” (4.15 a 2); they will not be graduates ‘“‘of an
authorized synodical institution or approved synodical train-
ing program” (6.163 a). The operation known as ‘“‘Seminex” is
not a recognized seminary of the Synod. It has not been estab-
lished by the Synod (Article III 3; Bylaw 3.07 e; 6.23 a).

It will be noted that this opinion does not read like the usual
opinion, with its hard facts and cold statements. The Commis-