Defrocking a Contentious Pastor

By Richard N. Ostling.

The scene was a basement lounge in St. John's Lutheran Church in McCandless, Pa. Ten clergy and five laity met last week around tables arranged in the shape of a horseshoe for the second ecclesiastical trial in the history of the 23-year-old, 3 million-member Lutheran Church in America. Their verdict: the Rev. D. Douglas Roth, 33, ex-pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Clairton, Pa., was to be defrocked.

Officially, Roth's crime was "willful disregard and violation" of the church's constitution in disobeying a command from his superior, Kenneth May, bishop for the Western Pennsylvania-West Virginia Synod. More broadly, however, the Roth case is part of an ongoing conflict in the Pittsburgh area over social-action protests by some two dozen Protestant clergy. Unemployment in the region stands at 9%, and in some pockets is almost double that. Roth and his colleagues in the radical Denominational Ministry Strategy repeatedly blamed local businessmen for the economic suffering in the mill towns. D.M.S. and its allies adopted such maneuvers as spraying skunk scent in the vaults of Mellon banks and disrupting worship services attended by executives. Roth's political preaching and his support of D.M.S. despite its tactics incensed many members of his church.

Responding to the complaints of parishioners, Bishop May investigated and commanded Roth last October to quit the congregation. Roth refused. May then got a court order directing the pastor to leave. On Nov. 13 the recalcitrant Roth was arrested and began a 112-day jail term. Released from jail, Roth returned last week to Trinity, which was padlocked by court order, and conducted a Communion service on the church lawn.

The St. John's trial began the next morning. Emotions ran high against May. "Where's your hatchet, Bishop?" shouted one Roth supporter. Roth yelled, "This is a fixed court!" The Roth faction complained that under church law the bishop named ten of the 15 judges. Moreover, Roth never testified in his own defense. He refused to appear unless he was allowed to tape-record the trial. The panel refused because church law requires secrecy.

After the verdict, Roth charged that his bishop was "supporting corporate attacks." Bishop May contends, however, that many Lutheran ministers around the U.S. have joined protest marches or spoken out against social injustice without interference from the church. Says May: "There's no problem because they are not dividing and destroying their parishes."

Roth, now suspended from all clerical duties, will appeal to a regional Lutheran convention in June, but that body is expected to confirm the defrocking. This week he faces another appearance in secular court. Meanwhile, Lutheran investigations have begun of parishioners' complaints against two other D.M.S. clergy: William Rex Jr. of Trafford and Daniel Solberg of Allison Park. D.M.S. backers are considering further church protests.

"All Roth has done is to disrupt some people's thinking, and for that he's been jailed and defrocked," says D.M.S. Strategist Charles Honeywell. "Roth's scared. We're all scared. We don't want to be crucified, but we're at war and we won't stop."

With reporting by Cathy Booth/Pittsburgh