Ft. Wayne Faculty Polled on Voter Supremacy
The letter following this explanation was sent to all 33 names listed in the Lutheran Annual for faculty members of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. The question was whether or not the Chairman of the Board of Regents at Fort Wayne was correct in his assessment that all of the faculty at Fort Wayne agreed with and taught the LCMS position on Voter Supremacy and Voters' Assemblies as written by C. F. W. Walther.
After 10 days, 6 of the 33 faculty agreed with Walther on this issue. There is a serious question as to Rev. Anderson's ability to understand the level of opposition on this issue at the Fort Wayne faculty. We asked for nothing more than agreement with official public writings of the LCMS. A number of recent graduates at both seminaries are either uninformed or opposed to Voters' Assemblies as defined by C. F. W. Walther. Congregations can't be sure if they are calling a CEO for the Board of Directors or a proponent of Pre-Waltherian European Lutheran Hierarchy.
April 3, 2000
Dear Professor Emeritus, Professor, Associate Professor, and/or Assistant Professor:
I recently expressed my concern about the lead article in the Fort Wayne Seminary October 1999 issue of "Life of the World" titled, "Called & Ordained" by the Rev. Chad Bird. There were some rather sharp criticisms about my comments from Professor Kurt Marquart and Rev. David Anderson, Chairman of the Board of Regents.
In further correspondence with Rev. Anderson I wrote:
"I'm not nearly as concerned about what Rev. Bird teaches, as much as I want to know what the Seminary teaches. Please stop avoiding my questions and concerns.
"I know Marquart says, 'Voters' Assemblies' should be called 'Congregational Assemblies,' but he then avoids answering my concern about 'Voter Supremacy' as do you.
"The following are three quotations on Voters' Assemblies. Do these quotations represent the position of the Faculty and Board at Fort Wayne?
"'Finally the congregation is represented as the SUPREME TRIBUNAL, Matt.18:15-18....' Note 7 on p 29 refers to this using the term 'highest jurisdiction' and referring in turn to the 'Power and Primacy Of the Pope,' 'highest and final jurisdiction to the church..' (Form of the Christian Congregation, C.F.W Walther, CPH, St. Louis, 1989, p.24)
"'In public church affairs nothing should be concluded without the vote and consent of the congregation.' (Form of the Christian Congregation, C.F.W Walther, CPH, St. Louis, 1989, p.48)
"'A. The Voters' Meeting: If the congregation is to function and fully exercise its DIVINELY IMPOSED RIGHTS AND DUTIES in a conscientious, profitable, and God-pleasing manner, IT MUST, in the first place, hold public church assemblies in which it considers and determines all things THAT ARE NECESSARY for its special church management. Such public executive church assemblies Christ presupposes when He commands Matt. 18:17-18 'Tell it unto the church.' Such executive assemblies were generally maintained in the first Christian congregations, as the Book of Acts records, 1:15. 23-25, Acts 15:5: 23. We call these assemblies, voters' meetings, for we admit to them as authorized to vote only the adult male members of the church. Since the final authority in all matters is vested in the congregation and not in a few members of the congregation, it would seem evident that all of the members of the congregation are responsible for what the congregation does. But God Himself has made certain restrictions.' ('The Abiding Word' CPH, 1947,Vol. II, page 460 "The Lutheran Congregation" by G. Perlich)
"Again I ask: Why doesn't Fort Wayne simply say it supports the only agreed upon polity for all LCMS congregations, namely, Voter Supremacy? God's Word is always supreme. I am speaking about congregational government of which Marquart, and indeed the entire faculty at Fort Wayne, treats as nonexistent.
"I also ask, what are the spiritual gifts that the pastor receives at ordination to which Professor Marquart refers, that the children in the preschool do not possess?"
On January 24th, Rev. Anderson was kind enough to respond with a letter that included the following words:
"First of all, I was disappointed that you [Pastor Cascione] felt it necessary to send my letter and your response to Christian News, since I made a point of not airing our laundry in the press. I understand that you also printed my letter on the Internet. Therefore, with this letter, I am also sending the full text of the November 28, 1999 letter to Christian News, so Herman will be able to say what you left out. Following the lead of the Robert Preus accusers from the past, you leave blanks for others to fill in as they see fit.
"I talked with a number of our professors at CTS this past week and found no one who teaches or who knows anyone who teaches that the congregational Voters' Assembly is not supreme. If you know someone who does, it would seem to be the Christian thing to approach that brother privately and talk to him about it. If he listens to you, you have won your brother (Matt. 18:15). Having thus done all I can to run down the basis for your rumors, I asked Dr. Weinrich to reply to your questions.
"What bothers me the most is that a few people, at least will believe your charges without checking whether they are true. It seems that you are Ralph Bohlmann's successor, seeking to destroy the greatest seminary in the world."
Shortly after receiving Anderson's letter above I responded with a letter of repentance that read in part as follows:
"Thank you so much for your reply. As strange as it may seem to you I was convinced that all the faculty at Fort Wayne, except for one, are either opposed to the supremacy of the Voters' Assemblies, as Walther, Peiper, Mueller, Fritz, and many others taught, or that they endorse no particular polity for LCMS congregations.
"..What else can I say except I was wrong? I have continuously put the worst construction on what your faculty has been saying about Church and Ministry and I now understand that they do indeed support voter supremacy. You have done the church of Christ a service for which I thank God. I owe you and all these fine teachers of our Synod's pastors my humble apology."
As we approach the beginning of April, I have yet to hear anything from Dr. Weinrich regarding the faculty's agreement with Voter Supremacy as the only polity taught to your graduates and endorsed for LCMS congregations at Fort Wayne.
Regretfully, I'm having recurring doubts about Rev. Anderson's ability to properly assess the faculties' position in this matter. Therefore I've decided to follow Rev. Anderson's advice when he wrote to me above, "If you know someone who does, it would seem to be the Christian thing to approach that brother privately and talk to him about it". How can I "know" without asking each of you directly? The letters written to me from a number of your graduates about their rejection of Voter Supremacy does not mean they learned such things in any of your classrooms.
The Seminary offered another marvelous Symposium in January 2000. The banquet abounded with fellowship and good fun. The humorous gibes offered about Bohlmann, PLI, Libs, Church Growth, and six references about me from the microphone were a rollicking good "Lutheran Roast". I even stood up and took a bow on the jest questioning my loyalty to the Seminary. It is a shame that Bohlmann and Oesch weren't there to enjoy the event with me.
You may ask, "Why don't I begin with St. Louis?" The answer is obvious. You are "the greatest Seminary in the world," so; I only begin with the best. Just because of the Crypto Calvinist Controversy and my problems with the St. Louis Seminary from 1969-73 doesn't mean I'm distrusting of all seminary faculties, needlessly suspect conspiracies, and all such nonsense.
All that I ask is that you return the self-addressed, stamped postcard and check off "yes" or "no" to the statement, "I am in full agreement with the quotations from Walther and Perlich in this letter" and then sign your name.
I am so bold to ask this question, because those who teach at the "greatest Seminary in the world" wouldn't allow anything from preventing their giving a clear and forthright answer on the historic position and practice of Church and Ministry in the LCMS from a fellow LCMS Pastor.
After Anderson's letter, I look forward to the support of the entire Fort Wayne faculty at the 2001 Convention for our congregation's resolution endorsing Voter Supremacy as the only official polity of the Synod, for all LCMS congregations.
This will be incontrovertible proof for the laity and a fine example for your students that the faculty at Fort Wayne is teaching pastors to respect the priesthood of all believers as taught by C. F. W. Walther, the Synod's greatest theologian and first President.
You are also invited to subscribe to our Reclaim News Service at www.reclaimingwalther.org/recnews.htm, which it is currently received by thousands of readers, participate in www.Lutherquest.org and review our information on www.reclaimingwalther.org.
As I pursue this survey on LCMS polity, regardless of pastor or Voter Supremacy, the Word of God is and must always reign supreme in His church. The existence of Voter Supremacy does not imply Voter Infallibility any more than the existence of the pastoral office implies Pastoral Infallibility. Polity is simply how we plan to structure ourselves in the church as we all live under the supremacy of God's Word.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jack M. Cascione
Post Card Sent to Every Professor at Fort Wayne
I am in full agreement with the quotations from Walther and Perlich sent in the letter of April 3, 2000 from Redeemer Lutheran Church in St. Clair Shores MI.
Yes ____
No ____
Name _________________________________
April 14, 2000