wfn.org | Bavaria: Perhaps a woman bishop

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Three candidates as synod prepares for elections in April

MUNICH, Germany/GENEVA 25 February 1999 (lwi) For the first time in the
history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, a woman might be
elected to the office of bishop.

According to the Evangelischer Pressedienst (epd), the search committee
indeed has nominated the broadcasting officer of the Evangelical Church
in Germany (EKD), Johanna Haberer from Munich, along with Munich
professor of theology, Gunther Wenz, and Nuremberg dean Johannes
Friedrich.

There is only one other Lutheran woman bishop in Germany, namely Maria
Jepsen in Hamburg. If Haberer were elected she would join the list of
eight women bishops in the LWF member churches worldwide . These include
two each in the Church of Sweden, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark. Germany's North
Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church and Church of  Norway each have one
woman bishop. In addition, three churches namely the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Suriname, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong
and Nicaraguan Lutheran Church of Faith and Hope have elected women to
the position of president.

In Bavaria, the three candidates have submitted their candidacy to
replace 67-year-old Bishop Hermann von Loewenich, who will retire at the
end of October after a five-year term. It is anticipated that the
Bavarian synod will elect a new bishop on 24 April in Munich while the
installation into office is scheduled to take place in Nuremberg on 21
November 1999.

Johanna Haberer, 42, was born in Munich and after congregational service
changed to church media work. In 1997 she was nominated as broadcasting
officer of the EKD. Haberer is a single mother of one daughter.

Johannes Friedrich, 50, was born in Bielefeld-Bethel and has been
working as parish pastor from 1976. In 1985 he became dean in Jerusalem
and in 1991 in Nuremberg. Friedrich is married with two daughters.

Born in Weissenburg, Franconia, Gunther Wenz, 49, is professor of
systematic theology at the University of Munich. He is married with two
daughters.

With over 2.7 million members, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Bavaria is the second largest among the LWF member churches in Germany.

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