MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald
By: Sarah Smith, Forum Communications
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — A spirited discussion is taking place on a website written by and read by members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod over how the conservative Lutheran church will respond to the recent arrest of a former pastor who had been hired despite being a convicted sex offender. Recrimination, finger-pointing and prayers are pouring forth in the wake of the arrest last month of the former lay pastor, Darwin Schauer, on 15 counts of criminal sexual conduct involving a teen.
Schauer, a resident of Laporte, Minn., had been a minister for years at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lake George, Minn., until 2008, even though church officials knew, at some point, that he had been convicted in 1983 of sexual abuse of a minor.
Some think it could cost an LCMS district president, who presided during Schauer’s tenure, re-election this week.
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