A chronicle of ELCL events 2000 – 2010.
The third millennium after Christ begins hopelessly for the ELCL and the development of women’s ordination. In the first five years, it seems, this question has sunk into oblivion and will gradually fade of its own accord from the ELCL’s agenda. The number of women serving in the ELCL decreases; the emigration and ordination in the LELBĀL of women evangelists serving in the ELCL continues, where women, too, are ever more often elected as deans. In the ELCL, meanwhile, attempts are made to amend the Constitution, in order finally to legalise the archbishop’s personal position on the question of women’s ordination.
In 2000 pastor Dace Rubļevska leaves active ministry in congregations, continuing to work as a lecturer at the Christian Academy and remaining on the ELCL list of pastors for a few more years.
At the 5 April and 12 July, 20 December 2000 installations of evangelists into office, only students of the Luther Academy are consecrated, among whom there is not a single woman.
On 18 June 2000 after the examinations of the LELBĀL examination commission, the UL FT graduates Ilze Ezerniece (called to serve in the Grand Rapids congregation in Michigan), Gundega Puidza (in the Chicago congregation) and Dace Skudiņa (in the St. Louis congregation) are ordained.
In October 2000 the pastor of the Tērvete-Kalnamuiža and Augstkalne-Mežmuiža congregations, S. Fišere, is sent on a 9-month mission to the Old Latvian village in Bashkiria.
Among the men installed into the office of evangelist on 10 November 2000 there is only one woman – Dace Jēkabsone (UL FT graduate), who serves in the Kuldīga St. Catherine congregation.
On 1 February 2001 the first graduation of the Luther Academy. Among the 13 graduates there is not a single woman.
In the 2001 publication „Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia for 2002”, in the review „On the ELCL congregations and the ministry of pastors”, prepared by the head of the Congregational Affairs Section of the ELCL Consistory, pastor L. Rozentāls, it is said that: „The total number of evangelists is 79; it is made up of students of the Luther Academy, students of the UL FT, also theology bachelors, as well as evangelists who obtained their education in evangelist courses. The ministry of evangelists takes place in two forms. The first group are the permanent evangelists, who make up 30% and serve in congregations on a permanent basis. Most of them are students of the Luther Academy. The remaining 70% of evangelists, in turn, serve in particular areas of ministry under the authority of the pastors of their congregations. The number of evangelists has decreased by 25% over the past three years. (….). 16% of them have left the ministry of the office of evangelist.”
On 11 and 12 June 2001 the 20th ELCL Synod is held in Riga, at which a decision is taken on partnerships with other Churches – the Synod supports the ELCL’s cooperation with the SELK (the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, which does not ordain women but has begun discussions). A majority of the Synod approves altar and pulpit fellowship and a Church partnership with the Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod (LCMS, which does not ordain women) and tasks the ELCL Consistory with reaching agreement with the LCMS on further cooperation. The majority of the Synod, for its part, affirms its loyalty to its existing partnerships with the Church of Sweden, the North Elbian Church, the Church of Saxony, with the Bodø diocese in Norway, the Salisbury diocese in England, and to the special ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia outside Latvia. The agreement between the ELCL and the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia (GELCL) is ratified.
From 14-20 July 2001 the 61st Synod of the Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod was held in the city of St. Louis (USA), at which one of the questions was – the establishment of altar and pulpit fellowship with the ELCL. After a vote, fellowship was decided upon.
From 21 – 25 July 2001 the days of the Society of Saint Bridget were held in Vadstena (Sweden), in which representatives of the ELCL took part.
On 2 September 2001 the UL FT graduate Ieva Pušmacāne is ordained, called to serve in the New Brunswick-Lakewood Latvian congregation.
In October 2001 with the support of the LWF, the ELCL organised a five-day pastors’ retreat at the Burtnieki parsonage, led by the pastor of the St. Andrew Latvian congregation in Toronto, Ilze Kuplēna-Ewart.
On 20 October 2001 the UL FT graduate Biruta Puiķe is ordained, called to serve in the Manchester and Willimantic Latvian congregation.
On 11 March 2002 in Boston, USA, pastor Velta Zante-Šime, born in 1915 in Vecauce, dies. She studied theology at Harvard University. She was ordained in 1982 in the Philadelphia Latvian congregation.
On 8 May 2002 in Tukums, pastor Valda Krūmāja, born in 1931 in Dundaga, dies. She worked as a typist, archivist and economist. She completed the ELCL theology seminary in 1984. Archbishop Jānis Matulis ordained Valda Krūmāja on 27 January 1985. For the first five years Valda served in her home region in the Dundaga Ev. Luth. congregation. After that, from 1987 to 2002, she served in the Sēme congregation of the Kandava deanery district.
On 17 January 2003 with an ecumenical service and the participation of clergy and government officials, the Christian education and upbringing programme „Mirjama” was opened at the Riga Iļģuciems prison.
On 23 October 2003 Milda Klampe, a master of theology and a text editor of the Bible translation text commission, is installed into the office of evangelist; she serves at the disposal of dean E. Bikše.
On 30 November 2003 the service marking the 10th anniversary of the consecration of ELCL archbishop J. Vanags is celebrated. Ten years after the election, discussions on women’s ordination no longer take place in the ELCL. It has become a self-evident taboo topic. The discussion has moved to the mass media, in which from time to time archbishop Vanags expresses his view.
On 7 December 2003 in Stuttgart, Ilze Ķezbere is ordained to the office of pastor in the LELBĀL; a UL FT graduate, she earned a doctorate in theology at the University of Heidelberg with summa cum laude. Her dissertation in German: „Wahre und falsche Apotheose im lukanischen Doppelwerk”.
On 22 April 2004 in Germany, at the age of 90, the Baltic-German Riga-born vicar Katharina Waldmann, née Remy, dies; she studied theology at the UL FT in Riga and at the universities of Berlin and Jena. She obtained a certificate from the Riga teachers’ institute and also trained in the care of the sick. She served in the Riga home mission (diaconia). From 1950 to 1968 she served in the Münster Latvian Ev. Luth. congregation, leading the Sunday school, conducting services together with the pastor, and fulfilling the duties of organist.
On 10 May 2004 in the USA, at the age of 90, pastor Vera Fricsone, née Akmeņkalēja, dies; a UL FT graduate of 1936 with a Lic. theol. degree, she worked in Liepāja as a teacher of religious instruction, and after emigrating served in the USA, leading confirmation classes for Latvian young people, Sunday schools and summer camps for children, serving in congregations around Michigan; she was ordained in 1977 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
On 23 May 2004 on the recommendation of the examination commission and the decision of the Central Administration, Elīza Zikmane is ordained to the office of pastor in the LELBĀL, having received an invitation to serve from the United London and Peace Latvian congregation. Eliza Zikmane, while an evangelist, had already provided pastoral care to the congregation from 2002 and had won the congregation’s trust and support. Before that, in Latvia, Elīza had been one of the first ELCL evangelists, serving in the congregations of the Jelgava district, permanently in the Kalnciems-Klīve congregation; in 2000 she graduated from the UL FT.
In April 2004 a conference organised by the ELCL diaconal centre, „Violence – a reality that must be reckoned with”, takes place, in which 129 participants take part. Domestic violence is discussed. In 2004, a retrospective is held on what the ELCL Diaconal Centre achieved over 10 years – congregational diaconia develops, the number of volunteers grows, training and the fostering of fellowship take place, social projects develop. In congregational diaconia it is mostly women who serve as volunteers.
On 8 and 9 June 2004 the 21st ELCL Synod is held, at which changes are made to the Constitution, providing for the inclusion of deans and the heads of Church branches in the composition of the Consistory. For the first time there are women in the composition of the ELCL Consistory – four commission heads – H. Andersone, I. Gulbe, A. Jākobsone, I. Putniņa. The Synod resolves to forward the drafted ELCL Constitution project to the districts for discussion and the submission of proposals; resolves to forward the translated Confessions of Faith to the pastors’ conference for the adoption of a final decision; and to approve the signed agreement between the Republic of Latvia and the ELCL.
On 11 September 2004 in the chapter hall of Riga Cathedral, the launch celebration of the third collection of poems by the poet and ELCL chaplain Rudīte Losāne, „I Pour My Soul into a Golden Vessel”, takes place.
On 23-28 September 2004 archbishop Jānis Vanags took part in the 2nd Theological Conference of the Porvoo Communion in Iceland, whose guiding theme was the instruments of Christ’s discipleship in the congregation, and delivered a co-paper on the calling of the family.
On 6 November 2004 at the Riga Matthew Baptist church, an international and interdenominational conference „Man – Father” was held, which brought to the fore the topic of the sanctity of life. The address was delivered by archbishop Jānis Vanags.
On 16 December 2004 Rudīte Losāne is installed into the office of evangelist. Rudīte Losāne is the author of the Christian education and upbringing programme „Mirjama”, whose aim is to prepare the return to society of convicted and imprisoned women by changing their system of values. In 2003 this programme was recognised as one of the best in Europe.
On 26 December 2004 in the Tukums church, G. Pelēcis’s concert programme „Hildegard’s Songs” was performed, which the vocal group „Putni” had prepared over two years.
At the end of 2004 the ELCL congregational development commission (Dz. Laugalis, head, J. Zariņš, L. Rozentāls, A. Jaunskalže. Participating: I. Evamois, E. Godiņš, archbishop J. Vanags) develops criteria by which to plan pastors’ places of ministry. In January 2005 the Commission developed a description and questionnaire of a congregation pastor’s ministry workload, by which the volume and quality of ministry could be assessed in case a centralised system of pastors’ remuneration were to be developed. Several serving women – pastors and evangelists – are anxious and questioning – whether in future the new system will be used to push them out of ministry, in order to create places of ministry for men, judging not by the fruits and quality of ministry but by sex.
On 29 January 2005 in Brussels, the ordination of Ieva Kļaviņa, previously an ELCL evangelist, to the office of deacon in the LELBĀL took place, for ministry in the Latvian congregation in Brussels.
On 19 March 2005 representatives of the Women’s League gather at the ELCL Consistory. Archbishop Jānis Vanags, too, shared his reflections on ministry at the altar.
On 4-8 May 2005 the Latvian congregation days in Germany and a pastors’ conference were held in Annaberg. The closing service was led by the young Latvian theologians – pastor dr. theol. Ilze Ķezbere, pastor J. Mingina; the sermon was preached by vicar Marks Plāte.
On 10 and 11 May 2005 lectures on ecclesiology and the spiritual office were given at the Luther Academy by the dean of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Uppsala, prof. Dr. Sven-Erik Brodd.
On 22 August 2005 the LLWTA celebrated the event marking the 30th anniversary of women’s ordination in the ELCL. The celebrations began with a conference, „Woman in the Church”. It was attended by 140 participants from partner churches and the Lutheran World Federation, by Latvian women ordained in exile, as well as by some ELCL pastors and Consistory staff. Among the guests of the conference were also archbishop Jānis Vanags and his assistant Pāvils Brūvers. Papers were read, and work in groups took place. Opening the conference, pastor Sarmīte Fišere presented a gift to archbishop Vanags – lecture notes from their joint studies at the ELCL seminary for spiritual workers.
On 23 August 2005 a thanksgiving service for the 30th anniversary of women’s ordination was held in the ELCL Riga Luther congregation, led by pastor Zilgme Eglīte, Sarmīte Fišere, the bishop of Lund Christina Odenberg, archbishop Jānis Vanags and archbishop E. E. Rozītis. The sermon was preached by dean Lauma Zuševica. The materials of the conference papers were collected in the UL FT theology and cultural-history publication Ceļš no. 57/2006.
In 2005 the book „Mary’s Songs and Stories; writings of Latvian women clergy” is published, created by the editors: pastor Zilgme Eglīte, dean Ieva Graufelde, pastor Inese Radziņa, pastor Indra Skuja-Grīslis, and publisher Maruta Strautmale. The book takes several years to come about. It collects the life stories and sermons, poetry, interviews and articles of 36 ELCL and LELBĀL pastors, deacons and serving evangelists. The book was published by the publishing house „Klints”; it is 191 pages thick. The book is dedicated to the LELBĀL dean Lauma Zuševica on the 25th anniversary of her ordination, and to pastors Vaira Bitēna, Berta Stroža and Helēna Valpētere on the 30th anniversary of their ordination. In her introductory words, editor Z. Eglīte writes: „Although over the past fourteen years not a single woman pastor has been ordained in the ELCL, both anniversaries are very important to us. They are anniversaries of work, anniversaries of long years of selfless ministry. These women have inspired us by their example.”
On 14-16 October 2005 by a convincing majority of votes, at the 11th Synod of the LELBA in Milwaukee, pastor Lauma Zuševica was elected dean; the Church Central Administration designated her its spiritual vice-president (which is akin to a bishop’s responsibility).
On 21 September 2006 a pastors’ conference on the spiritual office. The paper „On the understanding of the spiritual office in the ELCL” is read by I. Paičs; the paper „The office of deacon and its place in the ELCL” is read by L. Rozentāls.
On 14 October 2006 the 22nd Extraordinary Synod of the ELCL in Riga. Its task is to prepare the way for the next, 23rd ELCL Synod. At the extraordinary synod a decision was taken to establish three dioceses – Riga, Liepāja and Daugavpils; the procedure for electing the bishops of the new dioceses was approved, and the nomination commission for the new bishops was elected, which, immediately after the Extraordinary Synod, began the selection of bishop candidates. The extraordinary synod tasked the ELCL Finance and Congregational Development Commissions with preparing and presenting, for the 23rd Synod, several possible variants of a draft system of remuneration and social security for the Church’s clergy.
At the end of 2006 at the invitation of the Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod, an ELCL delegation under the leadership of archbishop Jānis Vanags visited the USA.
On 5 February 2007 the new rector of the ELCL educational institution for spiritual personnel, the „Luther Academy”, Dr. William Weinrich, is installed in office.
On 27-29 April 2007 a session of the ELCL and LELBĀL cooperation council was held at Annaberg Castle in Bonn (ELCL – archbishop J. Vanags, pastor P. Brūvers, chancellor H. Andersone, pastor Dz. Laugalis, pastor Artis Eglītis; LELBĀL – archbishop E. E. Rozītis, dean L. Zuševica, pastor K. Bērziņš, dean I. Graufelde, P. Vīgants). The question of the spiritual office was examined. The session participants arrived at a common understanding that 1) the priesthood of all baptised believers belongs to the whole Church – just as in the Old Testament God called Israel to be a holy people, and as this echoes in the New Testament; 2) ordination derives not from baptism but from the apostolic mandate, and ordination takes place by the laying on of hands and the giving of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; 3) the ordained priest is not higher than the layperson, neither is holier than the other; 4) ordination is bound up with responsibility and ministry; 5) the Church has the freedom to structure the spiritual office in various ways, but it is good to follow the structure adopted in the 1st century, i.e., the threefold spiritual office: bishop, priest, deacon.
On 5-6 June 2007 the 23rd ELCL Synod, at which heated debates took place over the new ELCL Constitution and the ELCL plan for the remuneration and social security of clergy (GASN). The new ELCL Constitution and the GASN plan were adopted by a majority of votes. The new bishops Einārs Alpe in the Daugavpils diocese and Pāvils Brūvers in the Liepāja diocese were elected.
On 8 August 2007 the ELCL Central Administration elected a secretary of the Central Administration, in accordance with the Constitution adopted at the 23rd ELCL Synod. The head of the finance committee, pastor Artis Eglītis, was called to this office. The secretary of the Central Administration is directly accountable for his work to the College of Bishops.
On 13 October 2007 the consecration service of the diocesan bishops Einārs Alpe and Pāvils Brūvers, newly elected at the 23rd ELCL Synod, was held, led by archbishop Jānis Vanags.
On 27 February 2008 the ELCL Central Administration approved the financing plan of the ELCL plan for the remuneration and social security of clergy (GASN), which provided for the sale, over five years, of congregational properties to the amount of up to 20,000,000 (twenty million) lats. The plan provides for the income from the sale of properties to be invested in international investment funds, in order to achieve an efficient and long-term return on the Church’s resources that would not be dependent on fluctuations in Latvia’s economy or in the real-estate market. The GASN mandate agreement is offered to be concluded also with the serving women pastors V. Bitēna, S. Fišere, R. Rozīte and with evangelists acting as pastors. Chaplains are not included in this category. Several women evangelists (for example, Agrita Stašķo, Daiga Umere), following the bishop’s call, leave their „secular” jobs and conclude GASN mandate agreements.
On 28 May 2008 the Central Administration approves provisions on the amendment of the ELCL Constitution, which stipulate that proposals for amendments to the Constitution must be submitted by 1 January 2009. For the work on the Constitutional amendments, a Constitution Commission is established under the leadership of L. Rozentāls, as a subcommission of the Church Law Commission. The provisions stipulated that the submitted amendments were to be examined at sessions of the commission and that the submitters were to be informed of them electronically. The commission is to direct the process of discussing the proposals at district assemblies and pastors’ conferences. The amendments that the commission has supported and that the district assemblies have discussed are forwarded by the Central Administration for the adoption of a decision at the ELCL Synod.
On 7 September 2008 the foundations of the future Salaspils Christ of Peace church are consecrated. Into the foundations of the church to be built, archbishop J. Vanags places a message to future generations. The congregation’s pastor, Sarmīte Fišere, and dean Modris Īvāns serve at the service.
From 2 to 6 November 2008 the ELCL archbishop J. Vanags and dean A. Grīnbergs travelled to Rome to meet the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kasper. In Rome the delegation was also joined by representatives of the Church of Estonia; from the Catholic Church, bishop B. Farrell and monsignor M. Turks, responsible for the Vatican’s contacts with Lutherans, also took part in the talks. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of beginning a local dialogue between the two Churches in the Baltic, in order to dispel misunderstandings and to discuss questions on which the two churches’ views differ.
On 20 November 2008 in its third and final reading, the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia adopted the Law on the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, in which the State recognises the Church’s right to interpret the Holy Scriptures of the Bible, to formulate its teaching and to preach it, as well as to shape its internal life, organisational structure and mission.
By 1 January 2009 the ELCL Constitution Commission had received more than 100 proposals for amendments to the ELCL Constitution, among which were the proposals adopted at the conventions of the Cēsis and Valmiera districts for changes to the ELCL constitution stipulating that the person to be ordained may only be of the male sex or gender.
On 17 January 2009 in London, the consecration of the first Latvian Lutheran woman, Jāna Jēruma-Grīnberga, to the office of bishop takes place, which, however, took place not in the Latvian Lutheran church but in the English-speaking Lutheran Church in Great Britain. In 1997 the LELBĀL archbishop E. E. Rozītis ordained Jāna to the office of pastor in the Latvian London Peace congregation.
On 25 February 2009 the second meeting of representatives of the ELCL and the Roman Catholic Church of Latvia took place.
During 2009 the ELCL Church Law branch and the Constitution Commission analysed all the proposals for amendments to the Constitution submitted by January 2009 and grouped them into supported and unsupported proposals. The said proposal of the Cēsis and Valmiera districts was discussed in the commission, voted on and grouped among the unsupported proposals.
In June 2009 the Luther Academy received a licence from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia for the right to deliver an academic higher-education bachelor’s study programme „Theology”, which will allow graduates to obtain a bachelor’s degree in the humanities in theology and a state-recognised diploma.
On 4 October 2009 at the Liepāja Holy Trinity Cathedral, 39 new lectors were installed in office, who will henceforth serve in the congregations of the Liepāja diocese and the Riga archdiocese. According to the ELCL Constitution, lectors are non-ordained spiritual workers of a congregation who act under the authority of the congregation’s pastor, and the aim of their ministry is to take part in worship, carrying out the duties entrusted by the pastor.
From 3-4 November 2009 in Tallinn, seven bishops of the Lutheran churches of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania met and signed a joint message expressing concern about the unity of the Lutheran Churches in the world and calling for spiritual renewal.
On 11 November 2009 the ELCL Pastors’ Conference took place, at which the proposals submitted to the ELCL Constitution Commission for amendments to the Constitution were discussed, to include as a condition of ordination „only the male sex or male gender”. A conditional majority of pastors ( 39 in favour, 11 abstaining, 32 against) resolved to specify the Constitutional regulation on the ordination of clergy and to ask the ELCL Legal branch (the Constitution Commission) to prepare proposals for amendments to the Constitution for the next ELCL Synod, in addition carrying out a discussion with the theological basis for women’s ordination. The ELCL evangelist and LLWTA founder Ieva Zeiferte, together with evangelist Rudīte Losāne, expressed the view represented by the Lutheran World Federation, reading out in summary the LWF document “The Church’s Ongoing Reformation; today’s testimony of women’s ordination”.
On 27 November 2009 the Constitution Commission under the leadership of L. Rozentāls resigns. The ELCL Legal branch continues to be led by A. Bušs.
On 17 December 2009 the members of the LLWTA gather at the association’s annual general meeting. An analysis of the situation and the election of a new board take place. In accordance with the LLWTA Statutes, 3 board members are elected who received a majority of the votes of those present – the existing board chair Vija Klīve, one of the founders of the LLWTA, evangelist Ieva Zeiferte and Rudīte Losāne. The ELCL evangelist and prison chaplain Rudīte Losāne is elected board chair.
On 6 January 2010 pastor Anita Vārsberga-Pāže is installed as the new dean of the Eastern district of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (LELBA).
On 18 January 2010 the LLWTA sends its first appeal to the ELCL to cooperate in organising theological debates and offers 3 constructive proposals.
On 10 February 2010 the LELBĀL Central Administration, respecting and honouring the ELCL’s order, and in the wish to share wholeheartedly its positive experience with women’s ordination, unanimously adopts its biblically grounded position on women’s ordination.
On 24 February 2010 the ELCL Chapter confirmed pastor Dzintars Laugalis as head of the Church Law branch; the previous commission head, Arnis Bušs, is elected dean of the Valmiera district.
On 25 February 2010 the ELCL Central Administration approved the ELCL budget for 2010, reducing it by 45%. The reduction also hits serving women especially hard, since most of them serve in small, poorer rural congregations. Owing to the reduction of the state budget to a minimum, the remuneration of chaplains in state-funded institutions is also reduced.
On 24 March 2010 the ELCL Central Administration accepted the resignation of the secretary of the Central Administration, Artis Eglītis, from the office of secretary of the ELCL Central Administration, which was prompted by the resolutions of the district assemblies and pastors’ conventions of the Bauska, Kandava and Riga deanery districts and of all the districts of the Daugavpils diocese, in which they expressed dissatisfaction with the financial and economic activity of the Central Administration. The duties of secretary of the ELCL Central Administration were temporarily entrusted to bishop electus Guntars Dimants. The presidium of the Central Administration also laid down its powers.
On 27 March 2010 the Salaspils congregation celebrated the topping-out ceremony of the church to be built. Those present were addressed by archbishop J. Vanags; also taking part were dean Modris Īvāns, the congregation’s pastor Elijs Godiņš, and the previous congregation pastor Sarmīte Fišere.
On 28 March 2010 the lector-training courses of the Riga archdiocese conclude. 44 prospective lectors received a certificate of attendance of the courses and of successful completion of the examinations (Liturgy, Introduction to Holy Scripture, Catechetics, Practical Theology, the Art of Speech).
On 10 April 2010 the consecration service of ELCL bishop Guntars Dimants was held at Riga Cathedral. The need to appoint an auxiliary bishop in the Riga archdiocese had arisen because, besides caring for the diocese, the archbishop has many other duties. Besides the duties of a diocesan bishop, the new bishop’s duties also include matters of ELCL governance. For a time, the bishop will also carry out the duties of secretary of the Central Administration.
On 10 April 2010 at the consecration service of ELCL bishop Guntars Dimants, the North Elbian church is represented by the world’s first female Lutheran bishop, Maria Jepsen, who meets with representatives of the LLWTA.
On 13 and 14 April 2010 at Kleisti, an LLWTA training seminar for LLWTA members.
On 19 April 2010 the 70th birthday of the Turaida congregation’s pastor, Vaira Bitēna. The pastor has served the Turaida congregation for 20 years. A representative of the congregation writes for the ELCL Yearbook in the section Greetings: „It is not important whether the Word of God is preached by a man or a woman; what is important – is that it be done in true faith and from the heart, while at the same time being a personality who engages and carries others along. Pastor Vaira Bitēna is an example of faith for our congregation and also for many preachers of the Word of God, for to her the preaching of the Word of God is not a job but a way of life, a conviction and a trust.”
On 22 April 2010 in the Column Hall of the Riga Museum of History and Navigation, the second ecumenical conference, dedicated to the year of the priesthood, took place. The conference was organised by the Riga Theological Institute and the Riga Higher Institute of Religious Sciences in cooperation with the ELCL Luther Academy. At the conference, lectures on the spiritual office were given by archbishop J. Vanags, the rector of the Luther Academy Dr. theol. W. Weinrich, the dean of the UL Faculty of Theology Dr. theol. Ralfs Kokins, and others.
On 4 May 2010 the LLWTA sends the ELCL a repeated appeal to cooperate in organising theological debates.
On 19 May 2010 the ordination of Aija Graham, née Kupuršmite, from Gulbene, to the office of pastor in the LELBĀL.
On 18 June 2010 the LLWTA receives archbishop Vanags’s reply letter.
From 15 to 20 June 2010 as part of the project „Let It Roll!”, the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, under the leadership of dean Lauma Zuševica, in cooperation with the ELCL Daugavpils diocese, donated bicycles to needy residents in Latgale and Sēlija. Later dean Lauma Zuševica shared her impressions of this project at an LLWTA meeting.
On 18 June 2010 the ELCL Luther Academy celebrated its 10th graduation, at which 21 students completed their studies. After the solemn service at Riga Cathedral, the former students and lecturers went together one last time to the Luther Academy building at Doma laukums 1, for the academy will continue its work in other premises. The Luther Academy building was renovated and furnished with funds from the Missouri Synod in 1996, in support of the condition that women would not be admitted to the pastoral track. In 2010, as a result of the financial crisis, the ELCL decides to sell the building.
On 21 June 2010 in the hall of the Riga Town Hall, the launch event of the book „The Church Says NO to Violence against Women”, edited and published by the ELCL, took place. The publication offers useful information both for women who suffer and for those who wish to help them. The book is a publication of the member churches of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which the ELCL delayed in publishing for several years. The publication of the book was initiated by the LLWTA and forwarded for approval by the ELCL Diaconal Centre. It was approved by archbishop Jānis Vanags on the condition that the ELCL theological commission make corrections. The project was completed by Helēna Andersone. The book was handed over for use by crisis centres, diaconal centres, the LLWTA and congregations. You can view the book’s original version here.
On 30 June 2010 the agenda of the Central Administration includes the discussion and approval of the Synod agenda. The drafted proposal for the ELCL Synod agenda includes a separate Synod agenda item, 4.2. „Amendments to the ELCL Constitution in accordance with the decision of the ELCL Pastors’ Conference of 11.11.2009 to include in the ELCL Constitution a provision on reserving ordination only to those of the male gender.”
On 15 July 2010 the Vatican, in publishing a large number of new disciplinary rules, ranks women’s ordination, along with paedophilia, among the “gravest crimes”. The Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi stressed that women’s ordination is a “crime against the sacraments”, while paedophilia is a “crime against morals”. Therefore, cases concerning “attempts to ordain women” will henceforth be referred to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) – the successor to the Inquisition, the church statement says. In the 2007 CDF decree, supplemented by the new regulations, it is stipulated that those who have attempted to ordain women, as well as the women themselves, are to be immediately excommunicated, that is, expelled from the church. This statement provokes indignation in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, which also have ecumenical relations with the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic women’s organisations that advocate for the ordination of women to priestly ministry consider it a reaction to the ever-growing private initiative of bishops who have illegally ordained more than 100 women in various parts of the world.
From 20 to 27 July 2010 the assembly of the Lutheran World Federation is held in Stuttgart, in which, on the ELCL side, archbishop J. Vanags and R. Brūvere take part; on the LELBĀL side, archbishop E. E. Rozītis and dean L. Zuševica; from the LLWTA, pastor I. Druviņa and evangelist R. Losāne, who receives the necessary church endorsement from the ELCL leadership. At the assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, elections of the council and of the president took place. The ELCL archbishop Jānis Vanags was elected to the LWF council for seven years as a representative of the Eastern European Lutheran churches. You can read here the report of the LLWTA board chair on what was experienced at the LWF assembly.
On 8 August 2010 the consecration of the new metropolitan archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Latvia, Zbigņevs Stankevičs, took place at Riga Cathedral.
In October 2010 a request was submitted to the Central Administration to include in the Synod agenda a decision on returning to the Constitution that was in force before the adoption of the current one in 2007.
At the ELCL Pastors’ Conference of 3 November 2010 fundamental discussions took place on the discussion process and the possible amendment of the Constitution. It is found that the procedure for discussing amendments to the Constitution has not been observed. Several pastors, including the former head of the Legal branch and the Constitution Commission, L. Rozentāls, in the summer of 2010 called for the principles of Church governance provided for in the 1928 Constitution to be incorporated into the Constitution. An agreement is reached: 1) to recommend that the Central Administration not include the amendment of the ELCL Constitution in the Synod agenda; 2) to extend the simplified amendment procedure until 31 December 2013.
On 10 November 2010 the ELCL Central Administration, in accordance with the agreement reached at the pastors’ conference of 3 November 2010, approved the final agenda of the 25th ELCL Synod, in which a decision on amendments to the Constitution was not included, including on returning to the 1928 Constitution and on including a gender condition in the conditions for the office of pastor in the ELCL.
On 11 November 2010 the President of the State, Valdis Zatlers, awarded the Order of the Three Stars to the ELCL evangelist, chaplain and LLWTA board chair Rudīte Losāne.
On 3 and 4 December 2010 the 25th ELCL Synod is held. In his report at its opening, the ELCL archbishop Jānis Vanags speaks words of apology to many, including those whom his position on the question of women’s ordination has hurt.
At the close of the decade, discussions on the question of women’s ordination in the ELCL gradually resume. They take place in the context of discussions on the ELCL’s Lutheran identity, the ELCL’s financial stability, principles of leadership, cases of abuse of official position for selfish ends, questions of the ELCL constitution, the future fate of the educational institutions, and many other questions personal to each individual.
Editor Ieva Zeiferte
Sources:
1) „Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia 2000” (SR, 1999), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
2) „Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia 2001” (SR, 2000), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
3) „Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia 2002” (SR, 2001), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
4) „Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia 2003” (SR, 2002), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses, In memoriam
5) „ Church Yearbook 2004” (Klints, 2003), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
6) „ Church Yearbook 2005” (Klints, 2004), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
7) „ Church Yearbook 2006” (Klints, 2005), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
8) „ Church Yearbook 2007” (Klints, 2006), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
9) „Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia 2008” (ELCL, 2007), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
10)„Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia 2009” (ELCL, 2008), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
11)„Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia 2010” (ELCL, 2009), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses
12)„Yearbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia 2011” (ELCL, 2010), sections Chronicle, Reviews, Addresses