November 9, 2011

CHICAGO – Kathryn M. Lohre was installed as president of the National Council of Churches Nov. 9 at a service held at the Lutheran Center here. A member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Lohre is the first Lutheran and ELCA member to serve as president of the council and the youngest woman to serve in that role.

While her presidency marks these two historic firsts, it will also be the first time a woman succeeds a woman as president of the council.

Lohre said her presidency also provides a unique opportunity for the ELCA. It will "visibly demonstrate (this church's) commitment to the ecumenical vision, as well as its commitment to lifelong ecumenical formation, leadership development and women's leadership," she said.

Lohre joined the ELCA churchwide staff in October as part of the ecumenical and inter-religious relations team under the leadership of the Rev. Donald McCoid, assistant to the presiding bishop, ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations.

The installation was a service of word and sacrament. McCoid was the presiding minister and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson preached the sermon.

Reflecting on the Book of Amos, Hanson told the assembly, "God's promise, justice and righteous will flow like refreshing waters of the highest mountain, it will flow abundantly upon you and through you and me, flowing into the life of the world just as the light of Jesus will now flow into your life through bread and wine."

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary for the National Council of Churches, presided over the installation, which included the installation of other council officers for the organization. Ecumenical guests also participated in the service.

In addition to her positions with the ELCA and the National Council of Churches, Lohre represents the ELCA as a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.

Before joining the ELCA churchwide staff, Lohre was assistant director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, a research project on the changing religious landscape in the United States.

Lohre was a member of the ELCA Bishop's Communal Discernment Task Force and on the Bishop's Global, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relationships Roundtable. She served on the former ELCA Commission for Women Steering Committee and as an assistant to the 2000 ELCA Youth Gathering.

Lohre is a summa cum laude graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and earned a Master of Divinity degree at Harvard Divinity School. St. Olaf is one of 26 ELCA colleges and universities.

In May 2011, the Graduate Theological Foundation in Mishawaka, Ind., conferred an honorary Doctor of Divinity to Lohre, "in recognition of her election as president-elect of the National Council of Churches and also in recognition of her contributions to women's interfaith issues and pluralism."

ELCA News Service