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Claire Burkat Elected Bishop of ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod


From <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>
Date Tue, 9 May 2006 14:15:27 -0500

Title: Claire Burkat Elected Bishop of ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 9, 2006

Claire Burkat Elected Bishop of ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod 06-066-JB/RF*

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Claire S. Burkat, mission director for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, was elected May 6 to a six-year term as the synod's bishop at the synod assembly in Franconia, Pa. Burkat, 54, will assume her new role July 1 and will be installed formally Oct. 14 at a site to be determined.

Burkat will succeed the Rev. Roy G. Almquist, who has served as bishop of the synod since 1994. Almquist, 66, had announced that he would not seek re-election.

Her priorities as bishop will be "to plant new congregations, revitalize and renew existing congregations, raise up mission-minded lay and clergy leaders, and to equip leaders and congregations for the missional challenges of the 21st century," Burkat told the ELCA News Service.

Burkat was elected on the fifth ballot for bishop 307-252 over the Rev. Cynthia L. Krommes, St. John Lutheran Church, Phoenixville, Pa. On the fourth ballot for bishop, Burkat led with 227 votes, Krommes had 208 votes; and the Rev. James K. Echols, a Philadelphia native serving as president of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago -- one of eight ELCA seminaries -- received 134 votes and did not advance to the final ballot. Sixty percent of the total ballots cast, or 342 votes, were required for election on the fourth ballot.

There were 101 names on the first or nominating ballot.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Burkat graduated in 1973 with a bachelor's degree in education from City University of New York. In 1978 she earned a master of divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, an ELCA seminary.

After her ordination in the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1978, Burkat was assistant pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Abington, Pa. In 1983 she became assistant to the bishop, LCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod.

In 1988 the ELCA was formed through a merger of the LCA, American Lutheran Church and Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. She remained on the staff of the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, and in 1990 she assumed additional responsibilities as mission director. In 2000 she joined the ELCA Division for Outreach as mission director for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod and ELCA New Jersey Synod. Since 2004 she has served in a dual role as mission director for the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod and as executive director for congregational advancement for the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. The synod and diocese serve congregations in the same five counties in the Philadelphia area.

Burkat, who resides in Ambler, Pa., is the parent of a son, Alex, a college student. She is a member of Holy Communion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia.

The ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod has 95,486 baptized members in 170 congregations. The synod office is in Norristown.

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Information about the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod is at http://www.ministrylink.org/ on the Web.

*Robert W. Fisher is director for communication and information, ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog


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