Frank Schaefer, the former Methodist reverend who was defrocked after performing his son's gay wedding, has successfully filed for an appeal which will take place on June 20. The Washington Post reports that according to Jen Ihlo, president of the Committee on Appeals for the United Methodist Church's Northeast Jurisdiction, “The decision to hear his appeal is procedural and doesn't indicate the committee's chances of approving it.”
Furthermore: ”The appeals committee has nine members – some clergy, some not – and none can come from Schaefer's region around Philadelphia. The committee, Ihlo wrote, will consider two questions: Whether the evidence supports a conviction and whether there is a conflict between the conviction and penalty and “errors of Church law.”
Last December, the California-Pacific Annual Methodist Conference offered Schaefer a job because of his anti-discrimination stance, but stated that they would not be able to reinstate his ministerial abilities. Currently, four other Presbyterian pastors are facing church trials for officiating same-sex weddings as well.
