Gay priest installed in Calif. church

SAN FRANCISCO,   (UPI) -- An openly gay Lutheran priest has been installed as pastor of a San Francisco church expelled from the national body for ordaining gays.

The move could get both the Rev. Robert Goldstein and St. Francis Lutheran Church in trouble with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. But Goldstein believes eventually the national church will follow St. Francis' lead, KPIX-TV said.

"Serving this congregation is a way of bearing witness to the larger church that one of your pastors is here, serving this congregation with joy and faith and confidence," Goldstein said.

Goldstein, a native of Australia, said he lost his parish in New Jersey when he came out as a homosexual in 1987. But the diocese of Chicago eventually gave him a home and he served several churches there.

The ELCA expelled St. Francis in 1995 after two gay women who refused to pledge celibacy were ordained there. More of Gay priest installed in Calif. church @ United Press International