Frank Schaefer's Defrocking Overturned By United Methodist Church

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A pastor who presided over his son's same-sex wedding ceremony and vowed to perform other gay marriages if asked can return to the pulpit after a United Methodist Church appeals panel on Tuesday overturned a decision to defrock him.

A nine-person appeals panel ordered the church to restore Frank Schaefer's pastoral credentials, saying the jury that convicted him of breaking church law erred when fashioning his punishment.

The church suspended Schaefer, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, last year for officiating his son's 2007 wedding. It then defrocked him because he wouldn't promise never to preside over another gay ceremony.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/24/frank-schaefer-defrocking-methodist_n_5526312.html?utm_hp_ref=religion