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| S/He attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls. |
ELCA presiding bishop requests resignation of first transgender bishop
Bishop Megan Rohrer’s removal of a Latino pastor on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been criticized by the Asociación de Ministerios Latinos de la ELCA as showing a 'lack of empathy and understanding toward their Latinx siblings.'
(RNS) — The presiding bishop of the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States has asked its first transgender bishop to resign amid criticism over their removal of the pastor of a Hispanic congregation on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December.
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In a written statement published Friday (May 27), Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, announced she had requested Bishop Megan Rohrer’s resignation from the denomination’s Sierra Pacific Synod.
Eaton’s request comes after the Sierra Pacific Synod removed the Rev. Nelson Rabell-González from his position as mission director at Misión Latina Luterana in Stockton, California, on Dec. 12. The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe — when many Mexican Americans celebrate their religious and cultural identities — commemorates the day in 1531 when many Christians, particularly Catholics, believe the Virgin Mary appeared in Mexico to an Indigenous man named Juan Diego.
In a previous statement on the Sierra Pacific Synod’s blog, the synod council said it had unanimously decided to vacate Rabell-González’s call after “continual communications of verbal harassment and retaliatory actions from more than a dozen victims from 2019 to the present.” Rabell-González denied those accusations to Religion News Service.
But Rohrer’s actions were criticized by the Asociación de Ministerios Latinos de la ELCA as showing a “lack of empathy and understanding toward their Latinx siblings” and led Eaton to appoint a listening panel to review what had happened.
The presiding bishop said Friday she does not plan to pursue disciplinary charges against Rohrer — a decision the Asociación de Ministerios Latinos de la ELCA and several partner organizations also criticized.
“I do not believe that the circumstances of these unfortunate events and Bishop Rohrer’s involvement in them rise to the level of formal discipline against Bishop Rohrer,” Eaton said.
“However, I believe that Bishop Rohrer has lost the trust and confidence of many constituents, both within and without the Sierra Pacific Synod.”
“Unwise decisions” are not automatic grounds for discipline in the denomination, according to the presiding bishop’s statement. But, she said, she has asked Rohrer to respond after attending the Sierra Pacific’s synod assembly next week, listening to their constituents and prayerfully considering her request to resign.
In a statement published Saturday, the Asociación de Ministerios Latinos de la ELCA, the European Descent Lutheran Association for Racial Justice and Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries called Eaton’s decision not to pursue disciplinary charges against Rohrer a “culturally insensitive dereliction of duty.”
Rohrer directed Religion News Service to a spokesperson for the Sierra Pacific Synod for comment late Friday afternoon. The spokesperson did not immediately respond.
During the 2021 synod assembly, where he was nominated for bishop, Rabell-González acknowledged allegations against him, saying he was accused of “verbally mistreating a pastoral intern and members of the church staff” in a previous position at a different church. The pastor, who is Afro-Caribbean, said he had been asked to resign from that church and sign an NDA, which he declined, after members complained about his support for Black Lives Matter and immigrant rights.
He welcomed an investigation into the allegations, he told the synod assembly.
“I am not perfect. I’m just a sinner in need of God’s grace. But these allegations are a character assassination brought up exactly one day before this assembly,” he said.
In the end, Rohrer was elected bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod. The synod council created an advisory council to look into the allegations against Rabell-González and identified “compassionate steps” for him to take, which became part of the terms and requirements of his call, according to the council’s statement on the Sierra Pacific Synod blog.
Rabell-González informed Rohrer on Dec. 9 he would not fulfill those terms and requirements, according to the council, which took action Dec. 11 at its regular meeting.
The pastor was told the next morning, on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, that his call had been vacated, it said. His congregation at Misión Latina Luterana was informed afterward and offered care by synod staff.
The synod council statement said the timing of its decision was necessary because synod staff continued to receive “communications of concern” regarding the pastor.
“The Synod Council believed then and now that it would be irresponsible to postpone our decision until a later meeting for the severity of the situation required immediate action to safeguard the Latinx community,” it said.
The council has publicly apologized for disrupting Misión Latina Luterana’s celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
So has Rohrer.
“I understand that trust can be lost with one action and must be rebuilt with hundreds of trustworthy actions,” Rohrer wrote in late December.
“I am grateful to all who have educated me about the needs of the Latino/x/é community and remain committed to doing the work needed to repair relationships. The Sierra Pacific Synod and I seek to be ever-reforming in our anti-racism and anti-bias work.”
In addition to criticism from Asociación de Ministerios Latinos de la ELCA and African Descent Lutheran Association, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries suspended Rohrer’s membership in late December after they dismissed Rabell-González. In a written statement at the time, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, which organizes queer ministry leaders in the ELCA, accused Rohrer of “an existing pattern of behavior” that doesn’t align with its vision, mission and values — “specifically as it pertains to being an anti-racist organization.”
Rohrer’s election in May 2021 made them the first openly transgender bishop in the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States — or any major denomination in the country. Rohrer also has celebrated being a neurodivergent bishop, part of their identity they said gets less attention.
On Friday, Rohrer responded to several posts on Twitter expressing support for the bishop.
“As requested, I’m listening deeply and prayerfully discerning,” they said in one tweet.
In another, they wrote, “There has been so much more kindness and compassion expressed to me than anger, frustration and hurt. This fully human human appreciates all the prayers.”
RELATED: First ELCA transgender bishop, Megan Rohrer, hopes to ‘translate good news’ for the curious
The material below is verbatim from Wikipedia:
Megan Rohrer
Megan Rohrer | |
|---|---|
| Fifth Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod | |
 | |
| Province | 2 |
| Diocese | Sierra Pacific |
| See | San Francisco |
| Elected | 2021 |
| Predecessor | Mark W. Holmerud |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 3, 1980[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Laurel Rohrer[2] |
| Occupation | Bishop, pastor, activist |
| Alma mater | Augustana University Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary[1] |
Megan Rohrer (born April 3, 1980) is an American pastor, bishop, and activist.[1] Rohrer (who uses gender-neutral singular they pronouns) is the first openly transgender minister to be ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,[3][4][5][6] and to serve the denomination as bishop.
Early life and education[edit]
Rohrer was born in 1980 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.[1] In 1998, they graduated from high school and enrolled in Augustana University to study religion.[1] In college they came out as gay, and became president of the Gay-Straight Alliance. They encountered resistance, threats, and attempted "cures" by fellow students for their sexuality.[1][3] Rohrer graduated from Augustana in 2001.[1]
Rohrer moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2002 to continue their studies. By this time they had come to identify as transgender.[3] Rohrer attended Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, earning a Master of Divinity from PSR in 2005 and a Doctor of Ministry in 2016.[7][8]
Rohrer was ordained in 2006, becoming the first openly transgender person to be ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[1][4][3]
Rohrer claims to be related to Nicholas of Flüe in the 16th generation.[9][10]
Career[edit]
In 2010, Rohrer and six other Bay Area gay and transgender pastors were reinstated into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, after the national assembly voted to allow partnered gay people to serve as clergy. The pastors' churches had previously been removed from the denomination for ordaining gay and lesbian ministers who refused to adhere to the denomination's document guiding clergy conduct, "Visions and Expectations".[11] At the time "Visions and Expectations" required that candidates for and persons on the clergy roster remain celibate outside of legal marriage and monogamous within marriage.[citation needed]
In 2014, Rohrer was installed as pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in San Francisco.[3][5]
In 2017, Rohrer was hired by the San Francisco Police Department as their first chaplain from the LGBTQ community.[6]
On May 8, 2021, Rohrer was elected bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod, becoming the first openly trans person to serve as bishop of a major U.S. Christian denomination.[12][13][14] On September 11, 2021, Rohrer was installed as bishop.[15]
In December 2021, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries suspended Rohrer from their membership for alleged "racist words and actions".[16]
Activism[edit]
Rohrer has helped the homeless in San Francisco, serving as Executive Director of the Welcome ministry to the homeless and hungry, leading the Singers of the Street choir, distributing sandwiches, and participating in a night ministry with other local pastors.[4][5][17][18] Rohrer has also helped to grow and distribute thousands of pounds of free food from community gardens.[4][7]
In 2015, Rohrer started a fundraiser to raise bail for Megan Taylor, a black trans woman who was held in isolation in an Iowa jail.[19]
In the wake of the 2016 Oakland warehouse fire, in which at least three transgender people were killed, Rohrer was called upon by the city of Oakland to provide support and assistance to the community.[20]
Rohrer has advocated for trans people who would be negatively impacted by proposed "bathroom bills" that seek to restrict restroom usage based on sex assigned at birth.[21]
In 2021, Rohrer shared their experiences of being a pastor during the COVID-19 pandemic, and advocated for LGBTQ community members to get vaccinated.[22]
Awards, honors and recognition[edit]
- 2012 — "Pastor Megan Rohrer Day" declared on August 12 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors[7]
- 2014 — Honorable Mention, Unsung Hero of Compassion (awarded by the Dalai Lama)[23][24]
- 2014 — Award of Merit for Zanderology: Disability 101 (director), International Film Festival for Spirituality, Religion, and Visionary[25]
- 2015 — Distinguished Alumni/ae, Pacific School of Religion[7]
- 2015 — Soldier of Social Change, San Francisco Magazine[26]
- Honorary Doctorate, Palo Alto University[7]
- Lambda Literary Award finalist, transgender nonfiction[7]
Selected publications[edit]
Through Grace Lutheran Church and Wilgefortis Press, Rohrer has written a number of books for children in the Good News Children's Book Series.[27]
Adult titles authored or co-authored by Rohrer include:
- Rohrer, Megan (2012). Queerly Lutheran. Lulu Press. ISBN 9781365105265.
- Rohrer, Megan (2014). Holy Night: Prayers and Meditations for People of the Night. Lulu Press. ISBN 9781312256903.
- Rohrer, Megan; Keig, Zander (2016). Manifest: Transitional Wisdom on Male Privilege. Lulu Press. ISBN 9781365276828.
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