96-Year-Old Pastor Has Credentials Revoked After Officiating Gay Son’s Wedding

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An all-too-familiar, all-too-unfortunate story:

Chester Wenger has dedicated 65 years of his life to the Mennonite Church USA, serving as a pastor, missionary, and church leader based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania since 1949. That all came to an end recently, however, when he officiated the marriage of his gay son, who, it should be noted, was excommunicated from the church 35 years ago for being gay. More from Think Progress:

Wenger “grieved deeply” about the church’s decision to expel his child, but when same-sex marriage became legal in Pennsylvania in May, his son asked him to officiate his wedding to his partner of 27 years. The retired pastor “happily agreed,” openly defying the established rules of his tradition in order to perform the union on June 21. After he reported the marriage to the Lancaster Mennonite Conference credentialing committee, however, church authorities convened on September 10 and formally retired Wenger’s ministerial credentials. They argued his actions violated established church guidelines, which read “Pastors holding credentials in a conference of Mennonite Church USA may not perform a same-sex covenant ceremony.”

After the incident, Wenger penned a touching letter to his “beloved church”

“I know persons will accuse me for my transgression, but my act of love was done on behalf of the church I love, and my conscience is clear,” Wenger wrote. “When my wife and I read the Bible with today’s fractured, anxious church in mind, we ask, what is Jesus calling us to do with those sons and daughters who are among the most despised people in the world—in all races and communities? What would Jesus do with our sons and daughters who are bullied, homeless, sexually abused, and driven to suicide at far higher rates than our heterosexual children?” “We invite the church to courageously stake out new territory, much as the early church did,” he wrote. “We invite the church to embrace the missional opportunity to extend the church’s blessing of marriage to our homosexual children who desire to live in accountable, covenanted ways.”

So far there has been no response, but Wenger has every right to be hopeful. Think Progress reminds that there is currently an ongoing debate boiling within the Mennonite Church. “Some churches have cut ties with the Mennonite Church USA in recent months, citing concerns that the denomination is moving towards greater acceptance of LGBT people and same-sex marriage. Homosexuality is also said to be a major topic of discussion at the denomination’s upcoming national assembly, which is scheduled to convene next year in Kansas City, Missouri.”

(h/t Joel Mathis)