The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) has been in the mainstream news media this week…and not in a good way. [i]
Last summer, members of the ELCA rejoiced as the Reverend Megan Rohrer was called as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod which includes nearly 200 congregations in the central and northern California and northern Nevada area. Bishop Rohrer (who uses the pronouns they/he) was the first openly-transgender person in the ELCA elected to the office of bishop.
In the first six months of their tenure, Bishop Rohrer and the Sierra Pacific Synod council responded to allegations of abuse (not of a sexual nature) by an ELCA Latiné mission pastor in the synod. The synod council voted to remove the pastor from their position.
Bishop Rohrer chose to remove the pastor before worship on the morning of December 12, 2021, the day of the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe. For this Latiné congregation, largely made up of Mexican immigrants, the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a day celebrated much as many others celebrate Christmas or other major holidays. The worship was planned months in advance with special guest musicians and invitations to friends and family in anticipation of the holiday. The bishop was told by their Latiné staff multiple times that it would be culturally-insensitive to remove a congregation’s pastor that day, but Bishop Rohrer went ahead with their plan.
As a result, the congregation walked out (and subsequently walked out of the ELCA), distraught that their bishop took such an action and on that day.
The presiding bishop of the ELCA, the Reverend Elizabeth Eaton convened a Listening Team which issued a report condemning this and other behavior of Bishop Rohrer as institutional racism. They wrote, “We offer this report as a truthful telling of an instance where racism was the primary factor in harming a community of people who love and seek to live by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as do we all.”[ii]
At first, Bishop Eaton asked Bishop Rohrer to resign. When Bishop Rohrer did not initially resign, Bishop Eaton announced that Bishop Rohrer was suspended and formal disciplinary charges would be brought against Bishop Rohrer. In the meantime, the Sierra Pacific Synod council voted to ask for Bishop Rohrer’s resignation and Bishop Rohrer complied.
So what does this have to do with us on the other side of the country?
The truth of the matter is that the events that happened in the Sierra Pacific Synod are not isolated incidents. Pastor Cassandra Chavez, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran in Lawrence, has shared similar such stories.
As the Listening Team report says, “Diversity represents the greatest potential for growth in the ELCA.” According to a 2017 Public Religion Research Institute study, the majority of Latiné Americans are Christian (76%) and according to United States census projections, by 2050, Latiné Americans will no longer be a minority in the United States. The Listening Team continues, “Losing the trust of BIPOC (Black Indigenous Persons of Color) communities over the lack of accountability, or over racist misconduct, is a loss of one of the greatest opportunities to slow down membership-declining trends in this denomination, and the opportunity to welcome new partners in the stewardship of the mission of the Gospel.”
There has been a lot of soul-searching among the leadership in ELCA congregations. Resolutions and memorials will be acted upon at synod assemblies this spring and at the churchwide assembly in August. There will be requests for cultural-sensitivity training, offering of anti-racism resources, and evaluation of institutional policies and procedures.
At Faith, we have been blessed by our collaborative work with Pastor Chavez and Redeemer Lutheran in Lawrence. We have the opportunity every month to share a meal at Bread and Roses and get to know some of our Latiné neighbors.
What is one thing you might take on this summer to learn more about and appreciate the Latiné community – its music, its art, its literature, its language, its history? The more we know, the less likely we’ll misjudge and the more-authentically we can invite new partners into ministry. We can do better. We must do better.
In Christ,
Pastor Jen
[i] https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/transgender-lutheran-bishop-resigns-racism-allegations-rcna32510
[ii] https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/ELCA-Listening-Team-Report-053122.pdf