Cleric Led Pennsylvania Lutherans in Protests Against Steel Firms, Banks : Bitterness Remains After Ouster of Pastor Who Fought ‘Corporate Evil’

Try as they might, Lutherans in this proud mill town cannot seem to forgive or forget the controversy that shook their church when a mild-mannered pastor added protest to prayer.

Sunday after Sunday four years ago, D. Douglas Roth preached against “corporate evil” and the moral imperative of helping workers in this economically strapped area.

Often the sermons were delivered after he and others burst into services attended by steel industry executives. The protesters put dead fish in safe deposit boxes and sprayed skunk oil at banks.

The protests climaxed in January, 1985, when seven of Roth’s supporters, including his wife, barricaded themselves inside Trinity Lutheran Church in defiance of a court order, only to be routed by sheriff’s deputies.

Smaller Services Conducted

Now, many of the faithful are back in their pews, worshiping with a new minister. Roth, now defrocked, conducts Lutheran-style services every Sunday for a smaller flock at a Pentecostal sanctuary across town.

The protest group, Denominational Ministry Strategy, has changed its name to DMX to mimic its main target, USX Corp., which used to be U.S. States Steel Corp.

And the controversy surrounding DMX’s tactics rumbles on.

“This group can’t back off and say: ‘Well, maybe we were wrong. We’ve caused a lot of heartache and we’re sorry,’ ” said Mary Gahagen, 70, a lay official at the newly organized Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in what used to be Trinity Lutheran.

“For the ones living here, they’ll never get over it,” said the Rev. Walter Koehler, 61, the church’s new pastor. “It’s not hatred, but it borders on that.”

Roth and other DMX supporters take it all in stride.

“They think we’re crazy,” said Roth, 36, wearing, as always, his clerical collar. “They know we’ll do whatever it takes.”

Arrest During Prince’s Visit

Roth’s latest brush with the law came March 4 during Prince Charles’ visit to a Pittsburgh-area job center for the unemployed. Roth and another DMX supporter were arrested while protesting outside but were cleared of disorderly conduct charges.

“We’re upsetting and making all sorts of impact without even having to lift a finger,” boasted Daniel Solberg, 37, another defrocked Lutheran minister and a DMX leader. His brother, actor David Soul, periodically has lent his support.

Gone are all but half a dozen of the Lutheran pastors who helped organize the church-sponsored ministry in the early 1980s. The group soon charged Pittsburgh-area corporate giants like USX and Mellon Bank with abandoning once-prosperous steel towns along the Monongahela and Ohio rivers.

“This is a small but vocal minority. I think people understand that,” said the Rev. Edward Kappeler, 56, an official of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “The broad consensus of the Lutheran church is that the church is doing what it can in the areas the DMX has always professed to be concerned about.”

Union Support Lost

Gone too are the unionists who backed the rebel clergymen’s cause. “It became a church battle, that’s what happened,” said Ron Weisen, 51, a former United Steelworkers local president.

As for Roth, he says his defrocking and going on welfare have helped him empathize more with the problems he was protesting and have made him more credible among the unemployed.

“There are prices to be paid, particularly in the family,” said Roth, a father of four. “But family is exactly why you do this. How can you look your children in the eyes and say: ‘Well, we have to take care of ourselves’? It’s very bad theology.”

The unorthodox crusade began in earnest on Easter, 1984, when DMX supporters stormed into an affluent Pittsburgh church and railed against “corporate evil.” They declared that overseas investments by steelmakers and other businesses were contributing to the area’s high jobless rate.

The next Sunday, and the next and the next, similar disruptions were staged at other churches in this rusting steel mill valley.

Congregation Won Removal

As the hostilities escalated, Roth’s congregation sought and won his removal. Refusing to leave, he was arrested at Trinity Lutheran’s altar in November, 1984, and jailed for 112 days for civil contempt of court.

Because of the turmoil, the synod’s executive board ordered the 60-year-old stone church locked and the 145-member congregation disbanded. Koehler arrived in September, 1986, and the new parish was organized last October.

Koehler’s first sermon touched on forgiveness, although he “didn’t beat it to the ground.”

He has since had his own faith and patience sorely tested. He said the words “Scab Pastor” have been spray-painted on church property, glue has been squeezed into door locks, a stained-glass window was shattered by a rock and an outside gas meter was turned off one bitterly cold night.

“I was prepared for a lot worse than has happened,” Koehler said. “I brainwashed myself before I came here that I was not going to let their nonsense get to me.”

‘People Are Still Upset’

Although DMX has not claimed responsibility for the vandalism, Roth acknowledged that “people are still upset that this abomination of church is there. They’re just reacting to the removal of this valid ministry.”

He is appealing the synod executive board’s decision to declare the congregation defunct. He also is appealing two jail sentences that are pending as a result of past protests.

“I will be back as an ordained pastor. I will be at Trinity without a doubt,” he said, nodding emphatically. “It’s just a matter of how much more do they want to lose before I win.”