The Lutheran Church of Chile ordains its first woman pastor!
The Lutheran Church of Chile (ILCH) has ordained Pastor Hanna Schramm as its first woman pastor, marking a historic turning point – all the churches of the Lutheran World Federation in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region now accept women pastors.
“The ordination of a woman pastor in the ILCH concerns the whole communion of LWF churches,” said Rev. Patricia Cuyatti, DMD Area Secretary for LAC. “We are thus called to involve women of diverse backgrounds, so that with their life experience they may reveal and affirm a life set free by God’s grace for ministry.”
Born in Dresden, Germany, Schramm studied theology in Leipzig and then completed a two-year vicariate in Chile. Last month she was ordained by ILCH Bishop Siegfried Sander at the Church of the Savior in Santiago.
“I want to give thanks for this path that has made possible the ordination of the first woman in our church. We thank Hanna Schramm for the courage, sensitivity and kindness shown during her vicariate, which led people to highly value her ministry,” said Sander. “We realized that many people who had doubts and objections about the ministry of a woman pastor have been changed by Hanna’s ministry. For the ILCH, this means a change of mind, openness and a much more inclusive theology. The ILCH has moved into a different time, into today’s reality.”
The LWF Gender Justice Policy, adopted by the Council in 2013, underscores the global church communion’s commitment to empowering women and achieving gender equality both within the LWF and in wider society.
Schramm hopes that her ordination will also encourage women in Chile to study theology and join the ministry.
“The fact that a woman has begun to serve, has been ordained and is accepted as a pastor is certainly a great achievement in encouraging more young women to respond to this calling. They can now see that this opportunity is open to them as well,” said Schramm.
“The ordination of a woman pastor in the ILCH places both churches in Chile in a relationship of equality and fulfills its principle,” said Rev. Gloria Rojas, Vice President for the LAC region and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile (IELCH). “With this achievement, the LWF member churches in the region have realized the LWF guidelines, which have been studied, understood and learned, and which the everyday activity and relationships of our churches now follow.”
Photo: The Lutheran World Federation
Translated from English by LELBāL pastor Ieva Puriņa
Proofreader Mag. Theol. Milda Klampe