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Seminary
president ousted over gay daughter's wedding |
The New Brunswick Theological
Seminary, one of the nation's oldest schools for
training mainline Protestant clergy, has retired
its president and reprimanded him for officiating
at his gay daughter's wedding. The
board of trustees of the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based
school implied in an earlier statement that the
wedding wasn't a factor in its decision not to
renew the contract of Norman Kansfield, 64. But
on February 10, a board spokesman and Kansfield
confirmed that the ceremony, which was conducted
in Massachusetts, precipitated the decision.
"We
decided that the president had put the seminary
in an awkward position by performing that ceremony
without giving us the benefit of offering sufficient
counsel," said Larry Williams Sr., a member
speaking on the board's behalf. "It could
have hurt the school if it divided people in our
student body, if it divided our faculty, if it
divided other people who support us." 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 board voted January 28 not
to renew Kansfield's contract.
The ceremony took place
shortly after Massachusetts began allowing same-sex
marriages, touching off a national furor.
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