Latvia’s Lutheran women theologians meet with Lutheran World Federation President Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan
On Saturday, 31 January, in the premises of the LELB Consistory, LWF President Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan met with representatives of the Latvian Lutheran Women Theologians Association. LLSTA is the only organization of its kind in Latvia that advocates for restoring the ordination of women to the ministerial office.
The meeting with M. Younan was a great honor for LLSTA members, especially because it took place at the esteemed bishop’s own initiative. M. Younan is a world-renowned advocate for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel. His contribution to inter-religious dialogue, ecumenism and reconciliation is internationally recognized and highly valued. The LWF President’s understanding of justice also includes the equality of women in the church’s ordained ministry.
Latvian women theologians and clergywomen, LLSTA members who serve in Lutheran churches both in Latvia and beyond, had come to meet the distinguished guest. Also taking part in the conversation was the LWF Secretary for Europe, Dr. Eva-Sibylle Vogel-Mfato, with whom the association’s members had already met in 2012, when LWF General Secretary Martin Junge visited Latvia.
In the course of the conversation the guests were introduced to the association’s main activities and to the problems that its members encounter both in their joint work and in their individual ministry due to the fact that the ordination of women is not recognized in Latvia. For a long time the view has been deliberately cultivated in the public space that the ordination of women is connected with undermining the authority of the Bible. For this reason LLSTA has made public education its main task, by publishing various materials, including research works, on the website “www.sieviesuordinacija,” as well as by speaking publicly and cooperating with the media in order to provide objective and truthful information about women’s ministry in the ministerial office. The LLSTA website is currently the only one in Latvia that regularly publishes news translated into Latvian from the LWF website. M. Younan and E. Vogel-Mfato expressed their appreciation for the translation and publication of the news and said that they follow our activities on the website. We informed them that on 12 September 2015 an international conference organized by us will take place, at which we will mark the fortieth anniversary of the ordination of women. We also told them that the first ordination of women historically took place on 23 August 1975 at St. John’s Church. In this church, on the day of our meeting, Bishop M. Younan took part in the ordination service of Rinalds Gulbis. However, he was deeply disappointed that we had received from the congregation’s pastors a categorical refusal, without explanation, to hold our anniversary service at St. John’s Church to commemorate this important historical event in the historic building.
We also discussed the proposals for amendments to the LELB constitution that were debated at the LELB pastors’ conference held at the Consistory on 28 January. We expressed our incomprehension that, on the grounds of a shortage of pastors, a proposal is being put forward to amend Article 134, which would allow the ordination of men with experience but a lower general and theological education, while at the same time an amendment to Article 133 is being put forward in order to bar women, at the very constitutional level, from being ordained to the office of pastor. All the participants of the meeting were unanimous that the situation is absurd, because in Latvia and beyond there are many educated women theologians who have long served as ordained pastors, as well as theologically educated women evangelists who are ready to receive ordination and serve in congregations. M. Younan recalled that he recognizes the equality of women and men in serving in ordained offices and calls on all LWF member churches to do the same.
We also discussed the fact that the document on gender justice policy, which was adopted back in 2013, is still not available translated into Latvian. Although there is an agreement at the LWF level to translate this document into the member churches’ national languages and distribute it for the work of their clergy, in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia the document is still not available in that form. We also discussed many other important questions related to the association’s future work.
LWF President Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan expressed his satisfaction with the meeting, his appreciation for the work accomplished by LLSTA, and wished us the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our future ministry. He added that we should remember that women in the church are loved and respected. The meeting with the honorable bishop left for us, especially for the women theologians living in Latvia, an unmistakable testimony that we as women are indeed respected, loved and recognized for ministry in spiritual ordained offices.
Since 1984 the LWF has recognized women’s ministry in the ordained office and affirmed it as a goal, so that women would henceforth be included in this field of ministry in the member churches. Such a stance of the LWF is grounded in a biblical and theological understanding, and it is connected with the identity of Lutheran theology.
In 2013 the LWF Assembly adopted a gender justice policy, which is a significant step toward the further participation of women in the church’s ministry. The aim of the gender justice policy is directed at supporting and advancing the LWF communion on its way toward the inclusion of women in the church’s decision-making processes and in various fields of ministry, including the ordained office. The equality of woman and man in ministry, whom God created in His own image and likeness, is part of the LWF’s understanding of justice. At present the LWF brings together 142 member churches with 72,268,329 members. Women’s ministry in ordained offices is recognized by 77% of the member churches, which include 93% of the members belonging to the LWF.
M. Younan is well informed about LLSTA’s work in Latvia, and the LWF’s positions on gender justice policy were the main reason why the meeting with LLSTA members was included among the priorities of the bishop’s visit to Latvia.
Rudīte Losāne,
Chair of LLSTA