By Linda Delmonico-Prussen
The service, held at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx Sept. 23, brought together thousands of family members of the dead and was intended to help heal the raw emotional wounds of the attacks.
Rev. David Benke, like so many other clergy that day, attended the solemn, but uplifting ceremony as Atlantic District president (a position similar to a Catholic bishop) of the Missouri Synod, the second largest denomination of the Lutheran faith. He thought he was representing his fellow church members from throughout the New York metropolitan area well.
Officials of the Missouri Synod, however, didn't see his presence at the service that way. Rather, they called it as a betrayal of his religion and ousted him from his post as Atlantic District president.
Rev. Wallace Schultz, second vice president of the Missouri Synod who suspended Benke, wrote, "To participate with pagans in an interfaith service and additionally to give the impression that there might be more than one God is an extremely serious offense."
Now, local Lutheran pastors are organizing a letter-writing campaign in support of Rev. Benke.
Rev. Perry Kirschbaum is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Merrick, which is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, or ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in the country with 5.1 million members.
With 2.6 members, the Missouri Synod is more "traditional" -- and closed -- than the ELCA. The ELCA, for example, openly allows clergy to participate in interfaith services and activities. It also permits women to become pastors, while the Missouri Synod does not.
Over the past 25 years, the two denominations have grown further apart. The denominations do, however, work together to provide social services through organizations such as Lutheran Disaster Response of New York, which formed in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
In a case such as the Sept. 23 memorial service, kindness should prevail above tradition, Kirschbaum believes. "What would God do?" the pastor asked. "God would reach out, give a word of hope, of comfort."
Kirschbaum, along with two other pastors from central Nassau ELCA Churches, Rev. Thomas Taylor of Grace Lutheran in North Bellmore and Rev. Laurie Cline of St. John Lutheran Church in Bellmore, recently wrote a letter that was sent to other local houses of worship to explain the differences between the Missouri Synod and the ELCA, and to offer their support for Benke.
Benke said in an interview with the Herald: "I'm very gratified
by the support across denominational and interfaith lines from people all over Long Island."
Cline, who is a member of the Lutheran Roman Catholic Dialogue team of Long Island and the Bellmore-Merrick Interfaith Clergy Association, said she saw Benke as a "prophetic light to his church."
Of Benke's participation in the Sept. 23 service, Taylor said, "It was the pastoral thing to do in a time of crisis."
Taylor is a U.S. Navy and fire chaplain and since January has served as a ground zero chaplain, blessing remains of the dead. He said, "It was less his prayer and more his presence with others" that led to Benke's suspension, adding, "Dave Benke has been a good friend to the Lutherans, all the Lutherans in New York. We respect what he has done in the ministry. He's got a lot of courage."
Calvary Lutheran Church of East Meadow is a member of the Missouri Synod. Pastor Andrew Jagow was quick to say, "Calvary is a very traditional Lutheran Church of Missouri Synod." Still, he said, his church supports Benke.
"What's really aggravating about this case is Dr. Benke followed the rules," Jagow noted. According to the pastor, Missouri Synod pastors cannot join in an interfaith communion service in which ceremonial wine and bread, representing the blood and body of Christ, are shared. Synod members are, however, allowed to take part in an interfaith "civic" service such as the Sept. 23 memorial at which communion is not offered.
Jagow, though, did say that a small percentage of Missouri Synod pastors are uncomfortable with any form of interfaith service. He pointed out, however, that with civic services, Synod rules state, "Charity should prevail."
After the Sept. 23 service, Jagow said, there were Synod pastors who filed complaints against Benke from Oct. 22, 2001 through Jan. 30, 2002. "That group of our pastors is not being very charitable right now," he said.
Calvary Church has started a letter-writing campaign to show
its support for Benke.
Schultz, the Synod's second vice president, formally charged Benke with disobeying the church's rules. Now, Benke's case will go before a panel of three Synodical Reconcilers, who may be pastors or church members and are specially trained to hear such cases. If the panel finds Benke guilty, he can appeal his case one last time before a panel of district presidents.
Rev. Dr. Gerald Kieschnick, president of the Missouri Synod, supports Benke.
Jagow said he personally will continue attending memorial services and civic events similar to that of Sept. 23 and believes other Missouri Synod pastors will as well. Of the possibility that he too might be suspended, Jagow said, "If they get one of us, they'll have to get us all."
Benke said of the Sept. 23 service: "It was a mountain-top day in my own spiritual walk." And he said he would attend such an interfaith gathering again. "There is no question in my mind, given the permission I got, and the circumstances, I would do it again. You have to stand up for what you believe when the chips are down."
