ELCA bishop joins North American heads of churches for annual meeting

​     CHICAGO (ELCA) – The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is gathering with North American Lutheran and Episcopal leaders in Washington, D.C., Sept. 24-25 for the annual heads of church meeting. Joining Eaton are the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and National Bishop Susan Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
     The heads of church meeting takes place as U.S. Lutheran and Episcopal church leaders are in Washington, D.C., for an advocacy convening. During the convening, church and community leaders from across the country will meet with more than 60 congressional offices to advocate for federal funding for environmental protections, emphasizing the impact climate change has on the most vulnerable. Discussions will also focus on increased resources to address humanitarian crises around the world.
     Prior to the Sept. 24 visits with congressional leaders, the ELCA hosted a prayer brunch attended by convening participants, members of Congress and leaders from Lutheran partner organizations. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, served as honorary hosts for the event.
     In welcoming the group, Eaton told those gathered that this week’s advocacy convening provides an opportunity for faith leaders and others to help impact policy decisions by shedding light on the impact of climate change and the effect it has especially on those who experience poverty and hunger.
     “Climate change is not the boutique issue of the few but a faith issue of the many,” Eaton said.
     Speakers during the brunch included Brown, Whitehouse and Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif.
     During the event, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., honored the Rev. Ralph W. Dunkin, who is retiring after serving six three-year terms as bishop of the ELCA West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod. The Rev. Matthew L. Riegel, who has served as chaplain of Lutheran Campus Ministry at West Virginia University in Morgantown since 2000, will be installed as bishop Sept. 26.
     Eaton also honored Jefferts Schori for her “remarkable service and witness” as presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church. Jefferts Schori will retire after serving a nine-year term. Her successor, the Rt. Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, will be installed Nov. 1.
     The four heads of church will participate in two interfaith events sponsored by Coming Together in Faith on Climate. The events, one tonight and one tomorrow morning, will be held at Washington National Cathedral.
     In a Sept. 23 opinion piece published in USA Today, the four leaders called for politicians, churches and society to take action on climate change.
     “Daily we see and hear the evidence of a rapidly changing climate. We witness in too many instances the Earth’s natural beauty, a sign of God’s wonderful creativity, being defiled by pollutants and waste. With this reality, we question humanity’s willingness to answer God’s call to care for the well-being of God’s good creation. With our faith at the forefront, we must do what is necessary to protect and care for creation,” the leaders wrote.
     “Right now, faith communities around the world are coming together in energetic ways to call on world leaders to address the impacts of climate change on our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, and to protect God’s creation as part of a new global agreement on climate change.”
     The article urged world leaders to support an agreement at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris in December. “We must protect those living in poverty by protecting the climate,” the leaders stated.
     “The stakes are high, but the opportunities for cooperation among individuals, churches and governments are significant. Over the past century, we have burned fossil fuels with little concern for their impacts. This moment is a critical one so we must act together in solidarity with God’s good creation and in hope for our shared future.”
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 3.8 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of “God’s work. Our hands,” the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA’s roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.

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Candice Hill Buchbinder
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