US pastor expelled over gay wedding offered job in another church

Former United Methodist pastor Frank Schaefer embraces The Rev. Lorelei Toombs. United Methodist church officials have defrocked Schaefer, who officiated his son's gay wedding in Massachusetts. [PHOTO:AP Photo]

PHILADELPHIA: A United Methodist pastor from central Pennsylvania who was defrocked after officiating his son's gay wedding was invited by a California Methodist bishop to serve in her region in yet another sign of a split in the nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination.

Frank Schaefer said he is deciding whether to accept the offer from Bishop Minerva G. Carcano to join the California-Pacific Annual Conference. The region includes California, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands.