News of the elderly woman's treatment went viral after a letter upbraiding Mrs Pawelk for not taking the eucharist at a legalistically-determined frequency was released by family. A huge negative reaction led to a backtracking by Synod leaders and local pastor, LeRoy LaPlant. It was, so they now say, all a big mistake.
What clearly isn't a mistake is the existence of a nasty form letter saturated with a spirit of legalism that would take the breath away from any real Lutheran - or any decent person from whatever religious or non-religious background. Even if this was the 'wrong letter', it has clearly exposed the unpleasant side of the already famously narrow LCMS mindset. Adding insult to injury, this is a form letter that, despite its tone and gravity, can be churned out without the need for the pastor, or any congregational official, to as much as dignify it with a signature.
Of course there's a simple solution. In Minnesota there are a lot of ELCA Lutheran churches. I'd bet the farm that none of them have "self-exclusion policy" like this.
I wonder how often LeRoy J. LaPlant will be taking the Holy Eucharist when he's 92 years old, if he makes it that far.
ReplyDeletePerhaps he will learn the hard way how difficult it is to get up on Sunday morning at 92 years old, no matter how well intentioned he was.
Now tell me that this wasn't an automated letter sent from some computer system somewhere. If it were, we need to be all the more cautious about implementing artificial intelligent life forms. We should have learned from Skynet.