Teach Your Children Well

The New Brunswick Theological Seminary, one of the nation's oldest schools for training mainline Protestant clergy, has retired (aka fired) its president and reprimanded him for officiating at his gay daughter's wedding.The school's board of trustees implied in an earlier statement that the wedding wasn't a factor in its decision not to renew the contract of the Rev. Norman Kansfield, 64. But a board spokesman and Kansfield confirmed that the ceremony, which was conducted in Massachusetts, had precipitated the decision. In a letter sent shortly before the June 19 wedding of his daughter, Anne, Kansfield informed the board of his decision and said he wasn't seeking its permission. The ceremony took place shortly after Massachusetts began allowing same-sex marriages. Kansfield says he has not done anything to hurt his denomination, the Reformed Church of America. A former pastor and seminary librarian, Kansfield is considered among the church's most learned theologians. The Reformed Church -- which traces its roots to Dutch settlers who arrived in America 400 years ago -- is one of the more conservative denominations in the National Council of Churches.Unlike its fellow mainline Protestant churches -- such as Episcopalians and Methodists -- the church has not had high-profile controversies over the rights of homosexuals. That is about to change.The denomination's national office in Grand Rapids, Mich., recently said formal complaints have been filed against Kansfield, and he said he expected to be brought up on charges in June at the church's General Synod in Schenectady, N.Y. Kansfield, who has been president of the New Brunswick seminary since 1993, is one of a dozen "professors" of the church, an honor bestowed on its most learned theologians. Kansfield, who said he has had close gay friends since high school and his early days as a minister in Queens, said he sought permission from Massachusetts authorities last summer before he performed the ceremony. Kansfield said a trial would be the highest-profile proceeding in the church since 1962, when a seminary professor questioned whether the first parts of Genesis should be taken literally. Kansfield said he was proud to be a catalyst for the discussion in his church.