This week in Christian history: Seabury ordained, Moody dies, Schaefer defrocked

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, December 17, 2023

Frank Schaefer defrocked for officiating gay wedding – Dec. 19, 2013

Frank Schaefer, United Methodist Church pastor defrocked for officiating his son's same-sex wedding, at Foundry UMC in Washington, DC on Sunday, December 22, 2013. | (Photo: Melissa Lauber)

This week marks the anniversary of when United Methodist Church Pastor Frank Schaefer was defrocked for officiating the same-sex wedding of his son, in a highly watched church trial.

Schaefer, who pastored a church in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was initially suspended for 30 days for officiating the ceremony, but then had his clergy credentials revoked when he refused to agree not to officiate another same-sex wedding.

Schaefer would appeal the defrocking decision and was reinstated in June 2014 by the UMC Northeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Appeals, with the United Methodist Judicial Council upholding the committee decision in a ruling in October 2014.

"The judicial council … finds there are no errors in the application of the church law and judicial decisions. The penalty as modified by the committee on appeals stands," read the Judicial Council’s 2014 decision.

"The committee on appeals is fully authorized by the discipline to amend or modify the penalty of the trial court as long as the penalty is 'not higher than that affixed at the hearing or trial.'”

Controversies like those of Schaefer reflected a broader disagreement within the UMC over the denomination’s rules regarding same-sex unions, which eventually led to over 7,500 churches deciding to leave the UMC in recent years.