Doctor George Heider, President of Concordia University, River Forest
Illinois, received Holy Communion from Associate Pastor, Phyllis Kersten of
Grace Evangelical Church, located on the campus of Concordia University.
Heider was attending the funeral, on February 6, 2002, of art professor and
curator, Dell Klaustermeier, husband of Dr. Mary Todd, also on the faculty at
Concordia River Forest.
Todd is the author of "Authority Vested" a feminist view of the
LCMS.
Many of the River Forest staff and faculty at Concordia joined in receiving
Communion during the service. Reverend Kersten delivered the sermon. The
Senior Pastor is Bruce Modahl.
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church left the Missouri Synod after the Seminex
Walk-Out in 1973. Grace's attempt to leave the Synod resulted in a well-known
court case where LCMS President Dr. Jacob Preus took the witness stand. It was
decided that Grace, by its agreement with the LCMS, could not join another
Synod or its property would revert back to the LCMS.
Since that time, Grace has remained an independent congregation on the
property of Concordia River Forest but is served by ELCA clergy and
contributes to the ELCA and its affiliates.
The Northern Illinois District President, Rev. William Ameiss, also
attended the service and did not take Communion.
It is regrettable that the death of an LCMS professor becomes the arena to
challenge the LCMS's position on Closed Communion and women clergy.
Martin Marty writes about Todd's book as follows:
"One does not have to be a Missouri Synod Lutheran, a Lutheran at all, a
Christian or a religious person at all, to become engaged by these pages. They
deal with basic human themes.... I think most will be impressed by [Mary
Todd's] fair-mindedness, her calm tone of voice, her patient story-telling,
and her invitation to readers to find more angles than before on the
sex-and-authority combination that will mark both resistant and bold church
bodies and individuals alike."
The Following quotation is taken from a review of Todd's book in
"Jesus First" by Gilson A. C. Waldkoenig , faculty, Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: "Women's Roles in a
Teutonic Denomination: Change and Denial in The Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod"
"From a painful impeachment of their first charismatic leader, whom
they followed under episcopal authority amidst their pervasive pietism, to the
paradox of a vaulted congregationalism alongside centralized patriarchal
authority, Todd summarizes the early story of the Missouri Synod in eighty
pages more deftly than any of those who have tried before her. In the rest of
the book, Todd traces the evolution of denominational authoritarianism through
conflicts over the roles of women in church and ministry. Her evidence spans
the situations of the many parochial school teachers in the synod, the
deaconesses in social ministry, the Ladies' Aid societies, suffrage for women
in church affairs and finally the ordination of women, which the synod rejects
to this day."
"Christian News" editor, Herman Otten, quoted in the February, 8,
2002, New York Times about the Benke case, published the account about Heider
in CN's February 11 issue. If you want to know what is happening in the LCMS
you can order your weekly issue of Christian News at cnmail@fidnet.com
or call 573-237-3110. On Friday, February 8, 2002, "The New York
Times" called CN the "unofficial publication" of the LCMS.
The St. Louis Seminary faculty warns the Synod that everything Otten has
published in the last 40 years can't be trusted, particularly Otten's claim
that there are many on the LCMS roster who are opposed to its doctrine and
practice. Whistle blowers don't fair well in the church.
The Saint Louis Faculty has placed the Second Table of the Law above the
First Table of the Law, and accused Otten of breaking the Eighth Commandment
for exposing those who break the First Commandment. In other words, what is
said about people has become more important than what is said about God in the
LCMS. If there is a God, there will be a judement of which many appear to have
no fear at this time.
There is only one of Otten, but there are many more on the LCMS roster who
don't agree with the Synod's doctrine and practice. It is far easier to remove
the one than the many. Those who speak the truth must walk alone.
No one has published more about the case of Grace Evangelical Lutheran
Church in River Forest, Seminex, liberals in the Synod, and Todd's book than
Otten. He has more credibility with "The New York Times" about what
is happening in the LCMS than in with St. Louis Seminary Faculty.