Posted on May 10, 2021
Megan Rohrer Elected As 1st Openly Transgender Bishop In U.S. Lutheran Church
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The Rev. Megan Rohrer has been elected as a bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, becoming the first openly transgender person in the U.S. to do so in a major Christian denomination.
Rohrer will serve as bishop of the Sacramento-based Sierra Pacific synod, which encompasses close to 200 congregations in Central and Northern California and northern Nevada.
"I am humbled and honored, and aware that this call is bigger than me," Rohrer said in a speech after the ballots were counted on Saturday. "My hope is that your grandkids will call you, and your kids will call you, and your friends will call you, and ask you about your faith. And when they call, tell them how much you love Jesus and why Jesus' faith in you meant why you could have faith in me."
Bishops are elected to six-year terms.
Rohrer, 41, currently serves as a pastor at San Francisco's Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church and as a community chaplain coordinator for the city's police department. They are also well-known for their advocacy work with homeless and LGBTQ communities in the Bay Area and on a national level.
Rohrer will serve as bishop of the Sacramento-based Sierra Pacific synod, which encompasses close to 200 congregations in Central and Northern California and northern Nevada.
"I am humbled and honored, and aware that this call is bigger than me," Rohrer said in a speech after the ballots were counted on Saturday. "My hope is that your grandkids will call you, and your kids will call you, and your friends will call you, and ask you about your faith. And when they call, tell them how much you love Jesus and why Jesus' faith in you meant why you could have faith in me."
Bishops are elected to six-year terms.
Rohrer, 41, currently serves as a pastor at San Francisco's Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church and as a community chaplain coordinator for the city's police department. They are also well-known for their advocacy work with homeless and LGBTQ communities in the Bay Area and on a national level.
Megan Rohrer Elected As 1st Openly Transgender Bishop In U.S. Lutheran Church
Posted from npr.org
Transgender
LGBTQ+
Religion
Christianity
Sacramento
Posted 3 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel "For a 2017 profile in Cosmopolitan, Rohrer spoke about how the abuse directed at their identity strengthened the resolve to pursue religious education "to vocalize what I knew in my gut was OK."
After college, they began to identify as transgender, and later found acceptance at a progressive Lutheran seminary in Berkeley.
In 2006, at a time when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America banned LGBTQ pastors from serving openly, Rohrer was ordained through an "extraordinary candidacy process." Their ordainment was officially recognized by the church in 2010 after the ELCA changed its policy.
After college, they began to identify as transgender, and later found acceptance at a progressive Lutheran seminary in Berkeley.
In 2006, at a time when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America banned LGBTQ pastors from serving openly, Rohrer was ordained through an "extraordinary candidacy process." Their ordainment was officially recognized by the church in 2010 after the ELCA changed its policy.
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