Title: ELCA Commission Celebrates Women Leaders, Calls for More
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 16, 2002

ELCA COMMISSION CELEBRATES WOMEN LEADERS, CALLS FOR MORE
02-243-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Commission for Women told the
church it is time to celebrate but not to be satisfied with the
number of women in leadership.  The committee passed two resolutions
on that issue, adopted another resolution on a possible war with Iraq
and studied churchwide planning when it met here Oct. 11-13.
     Predecessor church bodies of the ELCA began ordaining women as
pastors in 1970.  The ELCA's 10,766 congregations are organized into
65 synods, each headed by a bishop.  Since 2000, the number of women
serving the church as synod bishops rose from two to seven.
     The steering committee noted that more than 10 percent of ELCA
synod bishops and 40 percent of the church's Cabinet of Executives
are women -- 10 of 25 clergy and lay people.  The Cabinet of
Executives consists of the heads of various units of the ELCA.
     "The ELCA Commission for Women recognizes and celebrates with
thanksgiving the progress that the ELCA has made toward its vision of
full participation of women in this church and society," said the
steering committee resolution.  "The growing numbers of women bishops
and women members of the Cabinet of Executives serve as role models
and mentors for girls and young women who dream of ministry and
leadership in this church," it said.
     Earlier in 2002, the ELCA Upstate New York Synod elected the
Rev. Marie C. Jerge and the ELCA Slovak Zion Synod elected the Rev.
Wilma S. Kucharek to six-year terms as bishops.  The Rev. April
Ulring Larson was re-elected bishop of the ELCA La Crosse Area Synod;
she was first elected bishop in 1992.
     In 2001, the ELCA Lower Susquehanna Synod elected the Rev.
Carol S. Hendrix and the ELCA Caribbean Synod elected the Rev.
Margarita Martinez as bishops.  The ELCA South Dakota Synod re-
elected the Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl as bishop; she was first
elected bishop in 1995.
     The ELCA New England Synod elected the Rev. Margaret G. Payne
its bishop in 2000.
     "We're moving in the right direction, but we should not become
complacent," said the Rev. Janet M. Corpus, chair, ELCA Commission
for Women.  Corpus is an assistant to the bishop of the ELCA
Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Philadelphia.
     The commission called on all ELCA members "to recommit
ourselves to continued support of and increase in the number of women
in leadership roles, particularly in positions in which women have
been historically under-represented."
     In a related resolution, the steering committee called
attention to the fact that "only one of the 65 ELCA synodical bishops
and only one of the 25 members of the Cabinet of Executives are women
of color."  Martinez is Latina, and the Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock,
executive director, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, is
African American.
     "The ELCA Commission for Women calls upon this church to
intensify efforts to increase the number of women of color among the
bishops and Cabinet of Executives," said the steering committee.
     In a separate resolution on "Potential War and Military Action
on Iraq," the commission affirmed the "public witness" of the Rev.
Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, supporting diplomacy instead
of the threat of war.  "I believe it is wrong for the United States
to seek to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein with military
action," Hanson said in an August 30 statement.
     The resolution asked the ELCA to "examine the possibility of
developing a 'message on terrorism' to be issued in 2003."  The
steering committee urged "individual members, agencies and all
expressions of the ELCA prayerfully to consider and to engage in
conversation about the consequences of war" and "to denounce
terrorism and violence."
     Corpus noted that the steering committee met days after the
U.S. Congress gave President Bush authority to take unilateral
military action against Iraq if diplomatic efforts failed.  "We are
concerned that every effort be made to avoid that unilateral military
action," said Corpus.
     "We encourage members of the church to refer to and use the
resources that our church has for study and conversation around
difficult subjects like peace," said Corpus.  The committee's
resolution mentioned the ELCA social statement "For Peace in God's
World," materials on the principles of "just/unjust war," the ELCA
declaration of 2001-2010 as the "Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence"
and the resource guide "Talking Together as Christians about Tough
Social Issues."
     The commission's steering committee devoted much of its meeting
to reviewing draft material on the ELCA's comprehensive planning
process.  Corpus said the committee made specific suggestions to
sections on "mission, vision, values and strategic directions."  The
committee gave special attention to "the concerns that we are
responsible for in the church -- women's concerns," she said.
     In relation to that process, the commission completed its own
strategic planning, which focused the commission's work on
"participation in the Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence; the
elimination of sexism in our church; leadership, discovery and
development, particularly among young women and women of color; and
advocacy for marginalized women," said Corpus.
-- -- --
     The Commission for Women's home page is at
http://www.elca.org/cw on the ELCA Web site.  The August 30 statement
of Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson on Iraq is at
http://www.elca.org/bishop/iraq.html on the Web.

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http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html