Lutheran Leaders Push Unity Pact

CHICAGO — Leaders of the 5.2-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have decided to press ahead on a unity pact with the Episcopal Church, despite some opposition.

The Church Council, which sets policy between sessions of the Lutherans’ national assembly, also asked the denominational staff to consider whether exceptions should be allowed to a 1990 ban on homosexual behavior by the clergy and report back in November. The issue arose when the St. Paul, Minn., region requested a waiver for a lesbian clergy candidate.

The council rejected a separate proposal for a study on whether to ordain gay and lesbian clergy who are not committed to celibacy. But the council called for “deliberate and prayerful conversations” through 2003 on the inclusion of gays and lesbians in church life.

On Episcopal Church relations, the council directed that a comprehensive unity pact approved by last year’s assembly go into effect next Jan. 1 if the Episcopal Church gives its assent at a July convention. Lutheran opponents of the pact had asked for delay.