Unpersuasive anecdotes …

Thanks for Amy Frykholm's interview with Pastor Bradley Schmeling ("Ministry and mission," Dec. 11), who was removed from the clergy roster of the ELCA for being in a same-sex relationship.

A recurrent theme in discussions on homosexuality in the church comes to the fore again in Pastor Schmeling's comment that his confirmation class has taught him to "focus on the issues that are important to them." When issues are not "important" to adolescents, evidently they are then what Schmeling terms "irrelevant." I hear nothing but such anecdotal stories in conversations about sexuality. I am not persuaded.

I continue to look for theological leadership in the ELCA that will offer an objective word on the matter. I find it in the moral theology of the Roman Catholic Church, where after 30 years as a Lutheran pastor I probably belong.

Stephen K. Kummernuss

St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Auburn, Ind.

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