A synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made history Saturday (May 5) by electing the denomination's first female African-American bishop. One day later, a synod 900 miles away elected the second.
First, delegates chose the Rev. Patricia A. Davenport for the office of bishop in Southeastern Pennsylvania, a synod that includes Philadelphia. Then on Sunday, delegates voted for the Rev. Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld, a pastor in Beloit, Wis., to become bishop-elect for the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin.
The votes mark an inclusive step forward for the “most white” of the nation's mainline Protestant denominations, according to Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton.
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