Split-second photos catch the reactions of Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton and Northeastern Ohio Synod voting members as results of the presid- ing bishop’s election are announceed.


 21


with Michael Cooper-White, presi- dent of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.). The fundraising campaign, linked to the ELCA’s 25th anniversary, will run 2014-2018 and seek to raise $77 million for various church projects over and above the anticipated $121 million for related work during that period.


Unlike the 2009 social statement on human sexuality, which drew much debate and narrow passage, the criminal justice statement found overwhelming support. It passed 882-25 (97.2 percent), a record approval percentage for an ELCA social statement.


Perhaps driving some of the


actions of the assembly was a signif- icant shift in the makeup of partici- pants. Of the 952 voting members, 150-plus were young adults (18-30) and more than 500 were at their first Churchwide Assembly.


Held every other year for the past 25 years, the Churchwide Assembly moves to a three-year cycle, meeting next in 2016 in New Orleans. The Lutheran’s c overage runs from page 20 through 29, plus a col- umn by the presiding bishop on page 50 and the editor on page 4. 


22 The Lutheran • www.thelutheran.org


A new presiding bishop


Eaton first woman to hold post, looks to sharpen message, open doors


E


lizabeth A. Eaton, bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod, was elected ELCA presiding bishop and will succeed Mark S. Hanson, who is finishing his second six-year term in office.


Eaton, 58, was elected on the fifth ballot at the Churchwide Assem- bly, with 600 votes to 287 cast for Hanson.


By the time of her election on the


third day, Eaton had addressed sev- eral issues facing the church in the years ahead, in question-and-answer periods and in a speech to voting members.


Before her election as synod bishop in 2006, Eaton served parishes in Ohio. Her husband, Conrad Sel- nick, is priest of St. Christopher’s by the River Episcopal Church, Gates Mills, Ohio. They are parents of two daughters, Rebeckah and Susannah. She is a graduate of the College of Wooster (Ohio) and Harvard Divinity


School, Cambridge, Mass. “What excites me about the ELCA,” Eaton said, “is that we are a diverse group who find our unity in Christ. When we do this, we are at our best. When the world can see that when people have disagreements, but come together to praise the one who unites us all, this is a sight that the world needs to see.”


Eaton saw a consistent increase in votes through the balloting. On the first ballot, where any pastor on the ELCA roster could be nominated, she received 23 votes. Other top can- didates on that ballot were Hanson, with 440 votes; Bishop Jessica Crist of the Montana Synod, 53; Bishop Michael Rinehart of the Texas- Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, 36; and Bishop Jon Anderson of the South- western Minnesota Synod, 26. Eaton’s votes increased to 87 on the second ballot, but the most went to Hanson, 369, and Crist, 272.


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