November 26, 1999
The Rev. Jack Cascione
31011 Greater Mack Avenue
St. Clair Shores, MI 48082-1988
Dear Brother Cascione:
Greetings in the name or our Advent King who has come, does come, and will come again.
I read with interest your comments about CTS and the
magazine, "For the Life of the World,"
in the November 22, issue of Christian News. While I agree that some go farther
than I would in certain areas of liturgics, I do believe you...have falsely accused the
Rev. Chad Bird. Instead of going to him directly to see if perhaps you're talking past one
another, you saw fit to go into print, making accusations also about the seminary at Fort
Wayne. Rev. Bird did not say that pastors should be called "priests"; he only
said that they "may rightly be called priests, as members of the royal priesthood of
the baptized (1 Pet. 2:9) who have been called to a special function Word and Sacrament
ministry.
It has been a matter of great concern to me in recent years that conservatives have
found it necessary to attack each other publicly, rather than working together to make
ours a better church body under the cross -- one that strives to bring the glorious
message of justification by grace through faith in Christ Jesus to the very ends of the
earth.
I could say more about your article, but hope you'll contact Rev. Bird and perhaps also
the Rev. Scott Klemsz at the seminary.
(Sentence in parentheses removed.)
Praying that you may find great joy during the upcoming seasons of Advent and
Christmas, I remain --
Your fellow "priest" in Christ,
David L. Anderson
(Chairman, BOR, Fort Wayne)
1413 9th Avenue North
Fort Dodge, IA 50501
cc:
The Rev. Chad L Bird
The Rev. Scott Klemsz
Dear Pastor Anderson:
Thank you for your letter. I would have responded more quickly but December gets to be
a little busy. The joys of Christ's birth are a never-ending cause of celebration.
You are aware that Professor Marquart has already responded to my article in Christian
News and in Balance's "Vision." Also neither you nor Professor Marquart
have responded to my rebuttals in the same medium.
You write: "It has been a matter of great concern to me in recent years that
conservatives have found it necessary to attack each other publicly.."
Marquart wrote: "Honest brotherly correction therefore ought to be freely offered
and received on all sides but Brother Cascione's tirade goes beyond the bounds of
fairness, not to mention charity."
From my view the heart of the matter is quite simply what I wrote: "If 'Life of
the World' is saying that God speaks and acts through those called and ordained just as He
speaks and acts through all Christians then the sentence in the 'Life of the World' is
correct. If 'Life of the World' is saying that God speaks and acts through those called
and ordained because they are called and ordained, then they have made the Office of the
Keys the property of the Clergy and excluded the Royal Priesthood of all believers."
I notice that neither you nor Professor Marquart addresses my above concern.
I also wrote: "If I have misread their publication I'm sure Fort Wayne can defend
itself by simply saying that Walther's Voter Supremacy is the only polity it endorses and
teaches to its students. Such an affirmation would eliminate the slightest hint of
sacerdotalism."
In my possession are more than five hundred pages of signed e-mail, many of them are
your graduates. They are calling me everything from a heretic to every name imaginable
because I insist that the only official polity of the LC-MS is "Voter Supremacy"
as stated by Walther, Pieper, Mundinger, Mueller, and many more.
What you claim, is a private matter between myself and Rev. Chad Bird appears to be
your method of avoiding the issue. This is not a private matter nor am I certain of what
you mean by the word "conservative."
I recall, as a faculty member at Lutheran High School North in St. Louis from 1969-'73
that longhaired St. Louis seminarians picketed the High School on more than one occasion
with their collars on and holding their picket signs because they said the High School was
prejudiced. The charge was complete nonsense. I was also told we had to talk to them
individually. Some of them are now most likely LCMS District Presidents. I remember that
the faculty members at LHN went through my trash, hoping to find something over which I
should be fired because I was the only faculty member who supported Dr. Jacob Preus. After
4 years they discovered my improper procedures in placing a requisition for the school
custodian and I was fired for $2.95. Did that make me your so-called
"conservative?"
I'm holding you to the same standard that the "conservatives" used for the
old St. Louis Seminary. I'm not convinced that you are not responsible for what is
published in your Seminary magazine or what is taught in your classrooms. Like the old St.
Louis Seminary Faculty you have to answer questions about what you teach at the Seminary
and state the official position of the Board Regents on the doctrine of church and
ministry. Need I remind you that you are the Chairman of the Board?
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.... Passage quoted" Note 7 on p 29 refers to this using the term
'highest jurisdiction' and referring in turn to the "Power and Primacy Of 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 a 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 congregation, as the Book of Acts records, 1:15. 23-25, Acts 15:5: 23.
"We call these assembly's 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 restricts." (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?
You comment in your letter, "It has been a matter of great concern to me in recent
years that conservatives have found it necessary to attack each other publicly." This
has a rather hollow ring as I read the latest copy of "Vision" from
"conservative" "Balance" guru Tom Baker. I notice that he reproduces
Marquart's condemnation of my position without publishing my original article or rebuttal.
No group was more opposed to our resolution that the name "Lutheran" be on
every LCMS congregation than Tom Baker and "Balance" operatives in the 1995 LCMS
Convention.
Again, no group was more opposed to our resolution that there be no changes in the
confession of the Creeds in LCMS worship services than Baker and "Balance"
operatives at the 1998 LCMS Convention. Baker claims the Apostle' s Creed contains law.
"Balance" and "Affirm" were supposedly established to expose
liberalism and higher criticism at the Seminaries and defend the inspiration,
infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture. However, in 1995 and now in December 1999, I
have the dubious distinction of being the only parish pastor ever attacked by
"Balance" because they see an obvious threat, not from corrupt Synodical
Officials and Seminary Professors, but from a single parish pastor. Why? Because I want
Voter Supremacy in LCMS Congregations as I was once taught at Fort Wayne in 1978. Now
"Affirm" and "Balance" have to protect themselves from the very
people, laity in Voters Assemblies, they claimed they once defended. Things do change.
At the 1999 Symposium at Fort Wayne, there were at least 30 pastors and students
proudly wearing their "hyper-Euro-Lutheran" stickers. The pastor who gave them
out told me he could have given out 200 but he ran out. It "appears" that many
of your graduates are opposed to the Voters' Assemblies who issue them calls.
This past weekend, at an installation of a pastor, one of your graduates stated in his
blessing, with his stole on the other pastor's head, "The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us." Is the pastor Jesus?
Over KFUO, Baker told the audience that when the communicants come to the Communion
rail they are bowing to the pastor, not the altar or elements.
I know that you had the support of "Balance" for your election to the Board
of Regents at Fort Wayne and that they must attack me to defend their interests. Be that
as it may, this does not exonerate you from accountability to members of the LCMS who are
outside the "Balance" sphere of interest. If you cannot give an affirmative
answer to the three quotations above and answer the question about spiritual blessings
during ordination your resignation from the Board would be a service to the church.
Of course, I may have not perceived that Fort Wayne no longer has any position on
congregational government and is training its students to be pastors in generic non-LCMS
Lutheran congregations. Hence, any preference on polity would be the student's choice for
which the Seminary is not responsible.
Why don't you just show how mistaken I am and say that the Faculty at Fort Wayne is
totally in favor of Voter Supremacy as the only basis for congregational government in the
LCMS and this is all that is taught by your professors. Such an affirmation from you will
lead me to a humble, public apology. At the moment, all I'm getting is criticism and
avoidance of the issues.
I was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church but I prefer the congregational polity
taught by C.F.W. Walther in the LCMS.
Your prompt attention in resolving this matter will be greatly appreciated.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jack Cascione