Frank Schaefer

Defrocked United Methodist pastor Frank Schaefer on Tuesday learned that a church judicial panel overturned the decision that stripped him of his ordination. Schaefer had lost his credentials after having been found guilty of violating church law when he officiated over a gay marriage.

(File photo/The Associated Press)

A former United Methodist pastor from Lebanon County will have his ministerial credentials restored after a church judicial panel on Tuesday overturned a church decision to strip him of his duties after he was found guilty of violating church law.

Schaefer on Tuesday afternoon was enroute to the First United Methodist Church in Germantown for a press release.

His spokeswoman, Cathy Husid-Shamir, said he was excited and happy. Her office, she said, was inundated with calls from the media.

Husid-Shamir said she had been instructed to wait for the church to post the news officially on its website before releasing details of the decision to the media. However, she did say the nine member panel had ruled that the penalty doled out to Schaefer could not be compounded. In addition, she said, the penalty could not be predicated on the possibility that he would do something in the future.

Schaefer, Husid-Shamir said, will receive full back pay dating back to December 19; and will have his ordination restored.

Schaefer, formerly head of Lebanon Zion United Methodist Church of Iona in Lebanon, in November was stripped of his pastoral duties following a dramatic church trial on charges that he violated church law when he officiated at the same-sex wedding of his son in 2007.

Schaefer last week reiterated sentiments that he had every intention of staying in the church: "I've always said I consider this my church and I'm not leaving," he said.

The decision on Tuesday was rendered by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Committee of Appeals of the United Methodist Church. The panel consists of nine members - part clergy, part lay members of denominational conferences from the northeast.

Over the past four decades, the United Methodist Church leadership has come under pressure from within its ranks to lift its ban on same-sex marriage. Church leadership has without fail struck down attempts to change church stance on gay marriage, even as a tide of gay rights advocates within the church have tested the limits of church regulations.

The 7.5 million-member U.S. denomination prohibits gay and lesbian couples from marrying in the church, but in April, the church extended same-sex benefits to staff at its 13 general agencies, if allowed by state law.