Bishop Sue Briner of the Southwestern Texas Synod has sent a letter to the synod with information about the situation with the bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod and the impact of these events on the whole church. Below is the bishop’s letter with links to relevant documents. The Listening Team Report in particular is informative and thorough.
June 2, 2022
Dear Friends in Christ:
While we would usually leave the business of other synods to themselves, we have discovered that the networked nature of our denomination sometimes results in the events in one synod rippling impacts into other synods, including our own.
As some of you are already aware, there has been great tension in the Sierra Pacific Synod regarding Bishop Megan Rohrer (they/he), the removal of a pastor, and subsequent related events. These events have indeed rippled out across the denomination since their initial catalysis in December and those ripples have found their way to our synod this week. This communication is intended to provide the clearest facts that we can procure about the situation and to explain the known impact to our synod.
The Basics
On December 12, 2021, Bishop Rohrer removed Pastor Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez and attended the service celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe which Nelson was scheduled to lead, placing Sierra Pacific Synod Staff in leadership of the event. The actions around this day disproportionately impacted a vulnerable ministry to the Latiné community in Stockton, CA as well as persons of color on the Sierra Pacific Synod staff. There is much more involved in the events of this day than can be mentioned here. To learn more of the details, we suggest looking at the Listening Team Report.
Almost immediately after the events of December 12th, the situation was brought to social media where the balance of truth and public opinion quickly became muddied and remained as such for several months. Over those months concerns about the events were brought to Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton who convened a Listening Team which held representatives of Churchwide, Bishop Rohrer’s, and the Latiné community’s choosing.
On May 27th Bishop Eaton returned with her decisions in response to the listening team’s report which was, at the time, confidential.
On May 28th the Latino Association of the ELCA, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, and the Listening Team all wrote dissent responses to Bishop Eaton’s decisions, urging the publicizing of the Listening Team Report and disciplinary action against Bishop Rohrer.
On June 1st, Bishop Eaton released the Listening Team Report which made available many previously unknown details as well as the Listening Team’s recommendations for moving forward. Bishop Eaton also is going to the Sierra Pacific’s Assembly, which is happening this weekend.
How This Impacts Our Synod
The initial events and the following responses have had repetitive negative impact on the Latiné community of the ELCA over the last six months. As a result, and after much discussion, the Latino Association of the ELCA has decided to act in solidarity with the Stockton, CA community that was most harmed by not being present at any more of the ELCA Synod Assemblies remaining this year. This includes Rev. Ruben Duran who had been scheduled as our ELCA Churchwide for Synod Assembly. We respect Rev. Duran’s choice to act in solidarity with his community and we grieve his absence from our assembly. Unfortunately, this means that our assembly will have no Churchwide representative. It also means that the workshop Rev. Duran was scheduled to lead at assembly has been cancelled.
Additionally, while we have not been the perpetrators of this particular trauma on a vulnerable and marginalized people, we do acknowledge that we exist in and benefit from the same systems which have allowed this harm to occur. We are taking the Listening Team’s recommendations to the Sierra Pacific Synod as though they were made to our own synod and are considering ways that we might learn and grow to be better institutional representatives of Christ in our territory. We are aware that these events playing out in the larger church have had an impact on the Latiné leaders in our own synod as well and are working to ensure there is adequate space, attention, and care for their responses.
There are also potential impacts to our territory which have yet to unfold as the situation has not yet come to its completion. We anticipate that there will be more to be said next week and are paying close attention. It is also not lost that this situation involves recommendations for the removal of the first transgender bishop in the Lutheran church during Pride month and we will work to make space for the grief of the LGBTQIA+ community as well, and particularly those who are at the intersection of LGBTQIA+ and Latiné identities.
We are grateful for your patience as we see how things unfold and how our synod might continue to feel the impacts of these events. We ask that you pray for the Sierra Pacific Synod as they experience a very complex synod assembly, for all directly involved in the events in Sierra Pacific, for Presiding Bishop Eaton as she attempts to navigate the issue, and for our synod as we use this situation as an opportunity for our own learning.
In Christ,
Bishop Sue Briner
