To the ELCL College of Bishops,
the ELCL Chapter,
the ELCL Consistory
from
the association “Latvian Lutheran Women Theologians’ Association” (LLWTA)
Sīpeles 15, LV 1058, Riga
[email protected]
Copies of this letter have been sent
to the LELBĀL archbishop E. E. Rozītis,
to the LWF Women’s Desk
4 May 2010
Reminder and appeal.
We remind you that already on 18 January 2010 the LLWTA sent a letter to the ELCL College of Bishops, the ELCL Chapter and the ELCL Consistory with an appeal to postpone the planned vote on amendments to Article 76 of the ELCL Constitution concerning women’s ordination until 2013. We called for theological discussions on the question of women’s ordination to be resumed, and put forward proposals on how these discussions might be organised. At the end of the letter we asked for a reply to our appeal within a month.
Since we have still not received a reply to the LLWTA’s letter, we again ask you to provide it to us in writing within the coming month. We wish to know in what manner the discussions on the said Constitutional amendments will be organised, as well as in what manner and when the theological debates on these questions will be organised.
A reply to the appeal would, in our view, accord with the best examples of Christian ethics, would confirm that in our Church a differing view on the understanding of the spiritual office is also respected, and might perhaps mark a positive beginning of a new chapter of discussion in the ELCL on the question of women’s ordination.
Respectfully,
on behalf of the LLWTA, the chair of the board:
Rudīte Losāne
The LLWTA was founded in 1995. It brings together 40 members: 7 are evangelists serving in the ELCL, among them chaplains; 1 a serving pastor; 1 an assistant pastor; 1 an emerita pastor; 8 women who were once ELCL evangelists, deacons or serving students but have left the ELCL because of its attitude towards women’s ordination; 9 are Latvian women theologians who have emigrated over the past 14 years and become pastors in the LELBĀL; 2 are pastors ordained in the LELBĀL who have returned to their homeland but have not been accepted into the ELCL; 9 are émigré Latvian pastors and deacons belonging to the LELBĀL, and 2 deans. Of all of them in total, 4 have obtained a doctorate in theology. The number of LLWTA members has not declined since its founding, but has grown and continues to grow.