With the national Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) watching, Anita Hill was ordained April 28 by more
than 1,000 people in a unique service in St. Paul, Minn.
Hill has satisfied all the requirements for ordination into
the ELCA, but she is also a lesbian in a committed
relationship and therefore cannot be ordained by the church
under its current rules.
Her congregation decided to call her and ordain her outside
the rules of the national church. More than 200 clergy,
from Catholics to Presbyterians to Baptists, surrounded
Hill as she knelt at the altar, and with the laying on of
hands, they blessed her ministry.
She was then led to the
center of the sanctuary, where her congregation blessed her
and "ordained" her.
One of four bishops present, Lowell Erdahl, bishop emeritus
of the St. Paul Area ELCA Synod said, "I follow Martin
Luther. All I can say is, 'Here I stand.'"
By going outside the rules for ordination, St. Paul-
Reformation will face discipline from St. Paul Synod Bishop
Mark Hanson and the St. Paul Synod council. Options range
from a public reprimand to removal from the roster of ELCA
congregations. Hanson was not at the service.