For nearly 45 years, Elizabeth A. Platz has served at the
University of Maryland, College Park, quietly influencing generations of Lutheran students to remain active in the church and serve others. Former students speak highly of Platz's influence on them, her dedication to the church and some wonderful home-cooked meals she serves to hungry collegians.
In 1970 the former Lutheran Church in America ordained Platz at the university's Memorial Chapel. The first woman ordained a Lutheran pastor in North America, Platz has served her entire ministry as UM Lutheran campus pastor. On Nov. 22, the
ELCA marks the 40th anniversary of her ordination.
Before her ordination, she was assistant Lutheran chaplain at the university. Looking back, Platz, a native of Pittsburgh, said she couldn't have imagined becoming ordained. "I came to it slowly," she said. "Never underestimate the persistence of God."
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| Elizabeth A. Platz |
What finally nudged her to candidacy for ordination was the call to serve as a "steward of the Holy Mysteries," or communion. "The pastor is an instrument," she said. "The pastor's 'I-ness' is to be put aside ... for the total focus is on the altar and the cross."
Forty years later, she is still overwhelmed when the communion liturgy begins. Preaching and presiding remain her calling.
Others see it too
"What she brings to the church is the notion of church leadership as servanthood — both a servant of the gospel and the people of the church," said Richard H. Graham, bishop of the
Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod, and her longtime friend.
One of the qualities that Veronica Weber, Middletown, Md., remembers is Platz's hospitality. "One of the wonderful things was how she opened up her home to us," Weber said. "She cooked wonderful meals for us."
And every spring, Platz blesses and sends the Lutheran students to the next stage of their lives by presenting each with a card containing a personalized message. "I still have mine," said Weber, one of 10 former students who have studied to become pastors during Platz's tenure.
Nick Asendorf, who was president of the
Lutheran Student Association at Maryland last year, said it's the passion Platz brings to her calling, her love for the students and her calm demeanor that are among her finest qualities. "Countless times she tells us it's the students who make her job worthwhile," he said.
Platz was married in 1988 to Wofford K. Smith, an
Episcopal Churchpastor, who died less than two years later from cancer. She remained at
Maryland in part because of the energy she gets from interacting with students. "My congregation keeps changing. To be able to be with young people and watch them change over four years and mature—it's exciting," said Platz, adding that one of her most important roles is to see to it that when they leave "they are engaged and active Lutherans."
At age 69, Platz is pondering the transition to her next phase of life, which will likely come in the next year or two.
What will she do? "I was saying to my niece, 'This is a big question for me. I am what I do. The church always has something for you to do,' " she said.
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GJ - WELS did this the easy way. First, a bunch of pastors published papers saying there was nothing in the Bible against women's ordination. Second, Brug endorsed the same opinion in The Popes Speak (aka Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly). Third, WELS began calling Mary Lou Correctional their School of Ministry. Fourth, WELS began establishing women as pastors without calling them pastors, since "everyone is a minister." Fifth, to protect their feminist beachhead, Church and Change created additional parachurch organizations and a national feminazi conference endorsed by the SP.
