wfn.org | Martinez Elected Bishop of the ELCA Caribbean Synod

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 8, 2001

MARTINEZ ELECTED BISHOP OF THE ELCA CARIBBEAN SYNOD
01-149-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Margarita Martinez was elected to a
six-year term as bishop of the Caribbean Synod of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) June 7.  Martinez, 53, was elected at
the synod's assembly at El Centro de Convenciones de los Naborias,
Dorado, Puerto Rico.
     Martinez, currently serving as mission developer of Cristo, El
Senor Mision, Cayey, Puerto Rico, was elected on the second ballot for
bishop with 75 of 89 votes.  Others who received votes on the second
ballot were the Rev. Enrique Mercado-Cruz, Iglesia Luterana Sion,
Bayamon, Puerto Rico, 7 votes; and the Rev. Ruben D. Colon Jr., military
chaplain, School of the Americas, Fort Benning, Ga., 2 votes.  There
were 11 names on the nominating ballot.
     Martinez will assume the bishop's role Sept. 1.  She will succeed
the Rev. Francisco L. Sosa, who will serve as pastor of a congregation
after Aug. 31.  ELCA bishops are elected to serve six-year terms.
Because the Caribbean Synod holds assemblies every other year, Sosa said
he decided to resign after five years as bishop to allow for election of
his successor at this year's assembly.
     Born in New York, Martinez earned a bachelor's degree in business
administration from Universidad Mundial, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, in 1979.
She earned a master's degree in business administration there in 1982,
and earned a master of divinity degree in 1989 from the Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia -- one of eight ELCA seminaries.
     After her ordination in 1989, Martinez served as pastor at Iglesia
Evangelica Luterana Bethel, Dorado, Puerto Rico, and Iglesia Evangelica
Luterana San Marcos, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.   She served as secretary of
the Caribbean Synod from 1991 to 1993.  Martinez was a voting member at
the 1995 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis, and was elected ELCA
delegate to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Assembly, July 1997, in
Hong Kong.  From 1997 to 1999, Martinez served as associate director for
global events, ELCA Division for Global Mission.
     LWF, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is a global communion of
Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition.  Founded in 1947, the LWF
now has 131 member churches in 72 countries representing 59.5 million of
the world's 63 million Lutherans.
     Martinez is the parent of one grown child.
     The Caribbean Synod has 34 congregations and 6,783 members in
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Its offices are in Dorado.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html