A Lutheran pastor ardently critical of allowing gays into the clergy is on leave from his Minneapolis church after a gay magazine reported his attendance at a support group for men struggling with same-sex attraction.

Church officials, however, said Wednesday registry clean software that the Rev. Tom Brock likely will return to the pulpit at Hope Lutheran Church because he acted in accordance with his faith by attending the group.

A fixture on local cable access shows, Brock regularly broadcasts conservative views on homosexuality and criticizes the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for liberalizing its gay clergy policy. Lavender Magazine published a story last week about Brock's quiet attendance of the Faith in Action meetings, written by a reporter who falsely posed as a member of the group.

"The clean registry fact that he said one thing publicly, and privately he's a homosexual - that's somewhat inconsistent," said Lavender president Stephen Rocheford. "This company has a policy not to out people. The one exception is a public figure who says one thing and does another."

The Lavender article never explicitly said Brock confessed to homosexual activity. It quotes him at one point talking about a recent mission trip to Eastern Europe, of which he says, "I fell into temptation. I was weak."

Hope registry fix Lutheran's executive pastor, the Rev. Tom Parrish, said when confronted with the article, Brock "simply said he indeed has been attending this Christian group, both going there and being honest about temptations he has, and is being held accountable so he never would do anything with that temptation."

Parrish said Brock was put on leave from the job of senior pastor at Hope Lutheran when the article came out, but likely will return after an internal investigation.

"What they've done is unconscionable," Parrish said of Lavender's covert infiltration of Faith in Action. The group is the Minnesota affiliate of the Catholic Church's Courage program, described on its website as a "spiritual support system which would assist men and women with same-sex windows registry clean attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love."

Brock, who has an unlisted phone number, did not respond to several interview requests made through Parrish.

Lavender is a twice-monthly free magazine Rocheford co-founded in 1995. The article was written by John Townsend, a freelance registry repair writer, who does not include details of how he gained access to the group except to say he went through a preliminary interview with its administrator, the Rev. James Livingston. Townsend did not reveal if he Outdoor Living actively participated at meetings he attended or simply listened.

Livingston said Townsend gave an alias and attended meetings in Minneapolis over two months this spring.

"I think anybody who appreciates confidential support groups would just be aghast at what they did," Livingston said. "It's one thing to be opposed politically to someone; it's another thing to worm your way into a group like that and expose the secrets of the group."

Rocheford said he did not think it uncommon for media organizations to send reporters undercover to obtain secret information. But Kelly McBride, an expert in journalism ethics at St. Petersburg, Florida's Poynter Institute, said she found Lavender's approach "troubling."