Supporters of the United Methodist pastor who is currently on trial for officiating his son's same-sex wedding rallied outside of the Pennsylvania church where he is scheduled to appear in front of a jury on Monday.
Rev. Frank Schaefer of Lebanon, Penn. might lose his credentials as a pastor if he's found guilty of breaking his pastoral vows by presiding over his son's wedding to his partner in Massachusetts in 2007, according to the Associated Press. While the jury of fellow religious leaders assembled Monday morning at a retreat in Spring City, 60 miles east of Schaefer's hometown, several dozen demonstrators gathered in support of the pastor.
64-year-old West Chester resident Bunnie Bryant told reporters that she questioned the church's moves to interfere in a familial matter.
"I'm in support of the church becoming a new church that welcomes everyone," she said, while clutching her sign that read: "Law or love? Jesus chose love."
"I question the church's law trumping a father's love," she continued.
The pastor told CBS's local station WHP that according to the Book of Discipline, United Methodist ministers aren't permitted to perform homosexual marriages. But in the case of his son, he couldn't turn him away.
"What I did was based on my conscience, even though it is against the church rules," Rev. Schaefer told WHP. In an earlier interview with the Associated Press, the pastor said that he chose to preside over his son's marriage "because I love him so much and didn't want to deny him that joy."
The church trial will not take place in a legal court, but will proceed like any trial, AP reported. Witnesses will testify, and there will be evidence submitted to the case.
"It just reads like an episode from 'Law and Order,'" Rev. Schaefer said. "There'll be a judge, there'll be a prosecution, there'll be a defense."
Retired Methodist minister Rev. Judy Kehler-Shirey said she doesn't agree with the church's rules that bar same-sex marriages, but would refuse to preside as minister over a gay union.
"I have a vow that is connected to all the other United Methodist pastors internationally," she said. "We have a covenant to follow the [Book of] Discipline whether we agree with it or not. That has to take priority."
But for Rev. Schaefer, the church policy issue isn't what's at stake here.
"We're talking about the love of a father for his son, and I'm hoping that the jury will really hear that message," he stated. "I did this for my own son in a state where gay marriage was legal at the time."
