Michigan District President Hoesmann announced at the Michigan District
South and East Pastor's Conference that there is no time limit on the
determination of the Benke case by the Praesidium.
Actually he did not say "Benke" directly. He referred to it as a
situation that now troubles the Synod.
He stated that he had just learned after attending a meeting, that the
Handbook section on dispute resolution, after careful examination, does not
actually require a time limit for a decision. Previously, it was thought that
decisions had to be rendered within 90 days. However, the correct
interpretation is that there only has to be a meeting within 90 days. There is
actually no time limit as to when the decision by the Presidium needs to be
rendered.
At the 1991 Michigan District Convention, President John Heins and Judge
Gene Schnelz, the primary author of Dispute Resolution in the LCMS, convinced
the Michigan District that Dispute Resolution was superior to the Board for
Adjudication.
The Michigan District adopted a resolution that was sent to the Synod's
Convention in Pittsburgh in 1992. President Ralph Bohlmann endorsed Dispute
Resolution as being superior to the Synod's then current Adjudication Process.
Dispute Resolution was voted in as a replace to Adjudication.
Dispute Resolution is supposedly a win-win process. It is free from
lawyers; lets the opponents talk to each other; and moves much more quickly.
The truth is the system is manipulated by the District Presidents who pick
the reconcilers. It is free from the rules of evidence and any resemblance to
America justice. And to no one's surprise, it need not come to a decision. In
other words, the Synod has freed itself from a "legalistic"
Adjudication Process bound to the rules of due process and now operates under
the Gospel of "who-is-your-body" and
"how-many-strings-can-you-pull."
Dispute Resolution is a definite win-win for the District Office. What is
good for the COP must be good for LCMS.
Supposedly, the Synod will grow as it frees itself from law and order.