wfn.org | Now Seven Women Lutheran Bishops in the United States

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

New Bishops Jerge and Kucharek, Second Term for Larson

CHICAGO, United States of America/GENEVA, 11 July 2002
(ELCANEWS/LWI) - Voting members attending synod assemblies of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) this spring and
summer elected two women and re-elected another to serve as ELCA
synod bishops.

That brings to seven the number of women who will be serving as
bishops of ELCA synods. Lutheran churches in North America have
ordained women as clergy since 1970.

Elected this year to six-year terms were the Rev. Marie C. Jerge,
ELCA Upstate New York Synod, Syracuse, N.Y., and the Rev. Wilma S.
Kucharek, ELCA Slovak Zion Synod. The Rev. April Ulring Larson was
re-elected to a second term as bishop of the ELCA La Crosse
(Wisconsin) Area Synod.

Jerge, 49, has served as an assistant to the bishop of the 84,510-
member Upstate New York Synod since 1988. She was elected June 4
and will assume the role of bishop September 1, succeeding Rev.
Lee M. Miller, 63. Kucharek, 47, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran
Church, Torrington, Connecticut, was elected June 22 succeeding
Rev. Juan Cobrda, 71. The Slovak Zion Synod is the ELCA's only
non-geographic synod and includes 6,010 Lutherans in 32
congregations scattered across the mid-western and northeastern
states. It is also the only ELCA synod organized on an ethnic
basis, with historic roots in Slovakia and the surrounding
regions.

Larson, 52, has been serving as bishop of the La Crosse Area Synod
since 1992. She was the first woman in the ELCA to be elected to
the office of bishop. Other women serving as synod bishops include
Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl, 52, ELCA South Dakota Synod, Sioux
Falls (elected in 1995, re-elected in 2001); Rev. Margaret G.
Payne, 55, ELCA New England Synod, Worcester, Massachusetts,
(2000); Rev. Carol S. Hendrix, 61, ELCA Lower Susquehanna Synod,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (2001); and Rev. Margarita Martinez, 54,
ELCA Caribbean Synod, Dorado, Puerto Rico (2001).

The ELCA is organized into 65 synods, each headed by a bishop. It
joined the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in 1988, and is the
fourth-largest Protestant denomination in the United States, with
5.13 million members.

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To date, 22 women bishops (16) and presidents (6) have been
elected to head LWF member churches. North America has eight
bishops including Saskatchewan Synod's Cynthia G. Halmarson, early
July, the first in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Nordic countries have five bishops-Rosemarie Koehn (1993), Norway;
Sophie Petersen (1995) and Lise-Lotte Rebel (1996) Denmark;
Christine Odenberg (1997) and Caroline Krook (1998), Sweden.
Germany has three bishops, Maria Jepsen (1992, re-elected 2002),
Margot Kaessmann (1999) and Baerbel Wartenberg-Potter (2001).

Women presidents include Ilse Labadie (elected 1986, died in
1999), Suriname; Victoria Cortez Rodriguez (1990), Nicaragua;
Josephine Tso (1996, re-elected 2002) Hong Kong, China; Gloria
Rojas (2000), Chile; Angelene H. Swart (2001) Moravian church,
South Africa; and Ilona Fritz (2002), the Netherlands. A
recognized congregation, the Peruvian Evangelical Lutheran Church,
is headed by President Patricia Cuyatti.

(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 acknowledgment.]

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