A Layman Writes To Board of Directors On Kieschnick vs. Cascione

By: Rev. Jack Cascione

Dear member of the LCMS Board of Directors:

In a recent letter to the Board of Directors, President Gerald Kieschnick
publicized that an "unofficial electronic communication circulating the
LCMS" is:

   1. "critical of the travels of the President of the Synod";

   2. "questions the frequency of his wife accompanying him
       on his trips throughout the Synod";

   3. "suggests that I am traveling too extensively";

   4. "[suggests] that I travel for political purposes";

   5. "[suggests] that Terry joins me too often"

   6. "wonders who is paying her travel expenses"; and

   7. "insinuatingly connects my travel expenditures to the
       reduction in mission staff at the International Center
       and from the mission field."

President Kieschnick also made the accusation: "Such an insinuation is at
best uninformed and at worst defamatory."

Given such (official?) charges concerning a "communication" from a Missouri
Synod pastor currently charged in a separate eighth commandment violations
case before the Praesidium, as also revealed by President Kieschnick, one
wonders what "communication" President Kieschnick is referring to!

Certainly it could not be a Reclaim News article, "Kieschnicks Mount-up
Record Travel Expenses" written and circulated on the internet by Missouri
Synod pastor, Jack Cascione. Cascione's title only indicated that the
Kieschnicks' travel expenses to date exceed those accumulated for a similar
period by previous synodical presidents and their spouses (presumably
corrected for inflation) - an indication that President Kieschnick has not
disputed.

And within the article, Rev. Cascione merely asked two simple questions
based on statements made in a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Extension Fund
Workbook:

   1. "Does the LCMS pay traveling and other expenses incurred when
       Mrs. Kieschnick is 'speaking to a variety of audiences and
       groups around the country' or is the organization hosting
       her appearance picking up the tab?"

   2. "Just who is paying when she is 'traveling with her husband
       to various parts of the country and world' - the LCMS or
       the Kieschnicks?"

These couple of basic and non-accusatory questions by a synodical member
would not warrant such a public rebuke by the Synodical President.
Furthermore, nowhere in the Reclaim News article does Rev. Cascione make any
of the three suggestions alleged in President Kieschnick's accusations.

As for Kieschnick's accusation of an "at best uninformed and at worst
defamatory" insinuation, Rev. Cascione did state in his article:

   "While the Synodical President and his wife mount up the largest
   annual presidential travel expenses in Synodical history, the
   Synod made the deepest cuts in its mission budget in Synodical
   history."

There is no insinuation of any connection here other than temporal. Thus to
claim this factual sentence in the article is somewhere between "uninformed"
and "defamatory" would itself be somewhere between "uninformed" and
"defamatory".

So - after reading the Reclaim News article, one is left with the obvious
conclusion that President Kieschnick must be referring to some completely
different article written by Rev. Cascione or possibly by some completely
different person charged in a case currently on the Praesidium's agenda.

If you have any idea what "unofficial electronic communication circulating
the LCMS" (and thus not confidential) President Kieschnick has asked you to
address and share with anyone who inquires, I would appreciate knowing what
it is.

Thank you for any assistance.

Rick Strickert
Austin, TX
carlvehse@hotmail.com

January 20, 2002