Minister: Methodist church appeals ‘refrocking’

A Methodist minister ousted and then reinstated after presiding over his son’s gay marriage says the church is appealing his refrocking.

The Rev. Frank Schaefer says he is disappointed by the appeal, but not surprised.

Schaefer is moving to a California diocese this week after his decision to officiate his son’s 2007 marriage thwarted his church career in Pennsylvania. He has since become a gay rights activist.

In a statement Friday, he says he hopes the church’s Judicial Council will decline to take up the appeal from the counsel for the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

The Rev. Christopher Fisher of Schuylkill Haven is the church counsel. He did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Schaefer says he prays for an outcome that would help “heal … the wounds of homophobia.”