wfn.org | Schultz Installed Canadian Lutheran Bishop

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

WINNIPEG, Canada/GENEVA, 22 September 2001 (LWI/Canada Lutheran) -
The Rev. Raymond L. Schultz was installed as National Bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) September 16, at
Lutheran Church of the Cross, Winnipeg.

Elected during the church's Eighth Biennial Convention last July,
Shultz is the third person to hold the office, succeeding Bishop
Telmor Sartison who retires at the end of September, and their
predecessor Rev. Donald Sjoberg who retired in 1993.

The previous week's tragic events in the United States of America
somewhat overshadowed the ceremony as the scheduled preacher Rev. H.
George Anderson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America, and Archbishop Michael Peers, Primate of the Anglican
Church of Canada (ACC), who was to have represented his church, were
unable to attend because of difficulty of arranging airline
transportation. Sartison preached in the place of Anderson, and Right
Rev. Donald Phillips, Bishop of the ACC's Diocese of Ruperts Land,
represented his church. Most Rev. James Weisgerber, Archbishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Winnipeg, brought greetings from Roman
Catholics in Canada.

As he reflected in his sermon on the events of the previous week and
the task ahead of Bishop Schultz and the ELCIC members, Sartison
urged, "On to the future. We don't have the answers. Only God does.
We must pray for the grace to ask the right questions."

The ELCIC has 630 congregations with 194,000 baptized members. It is
a member of the Canadian Council of Churches, Lutheran World
Federation, World Council of Churches and recently entered into full
communion with the Anglican Church of Canada.

(By Rev. Kenn Ward, Editor, Canada Lutheran)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 133
member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5 million of the
64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its
member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical
relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights,
communication, and the various aspects of mission and development
work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of
its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the
notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgement.]

*       *       *
LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Editor's e-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30
http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Articles/EN/LWI