Celebrating 35 Years of Ordination for Lutheran Women

Congratulations to 2003-04 Gloria Dei, Tecumseh intern Vicky on her recent ordination!

This year the ELCA celebrates the 35th anniversary of Lutheran women being ordained. The Commission for Women provides an exhibit (established 1990 for the 20th anniversary) of women's contributions to the ELCA history. Taken from that site's several pages comes the following items on the ordination of Lutheran women:

• Elizabeth Alvina Platz, ordained November 22, 1970, was the first woman to be ordained as a Lutheran (Lutheran Church in America) pastor in North America. Since her ordination she has served as campus pastor at the University of Maryland.
• Barbara Louise Andrews was the first woman ordained into the American Lutheran Church on December 20, 1970. She served as an assistant pastor, a staff chaplin and an interim pastor before her death on March 31, 1978.
• The constituion of the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches wrote its constitution to allow the ordination of women and was adopted on December 2, 1976 at the church's founding convention.
• Seven of the 65 synodical bishops in the ELCA are women. They serve the following synods: South Dakota, Lower Susquehanna, Upstate New York, Slovak Zion, LaCrosse Area, Caribbean, and New England.

Thank you to all the women leaders who have prepared the road for myself and other women, no matter our vocations.