US pastor who performed gay wedding suspended

“I will never be silent again,” he said, as some of his supporters wept in the gallery. “This is what I have to do.”


Jon Boger, who filed the initial complaint against Schaefer, was outraged by the pastor's recalcitrance. The career Naval officer grew up in Zion United Methodist Church of Iona, the church that Schaefer has led for 11 years.

“Frank Schaefer sat here and openly rebuked the United Methodist Church, its policies, standards and doctrines,” Bolger said when called as a rebuttal witness. “He should no longer be in service as a minister of the United Methodist Church, not at Iona, not anywhere else.”

Earlier Tuesday, the Methodists' prosecutor called former members of Schaefer's church who said his conduct split the congregation, and experts who said the punishment should serve as a deterrent to other like-minded clergy.

Christina Watson said her family left Schaefer's church because they no longer wanted to be “subjected to the preaching and teaching” of Schaefer.

“To me, it wasn't a good Christian example for ministers to say it's OK to break the rules of your church,” she testified.

The Rev. Paul Stallworth, who leads a United Methodist task force on sexuality and abortion, testified that church law requires jurors to “openly rebuke” Schaefer so that fellow clergy will think twice before breaking it.