Lutheran Bishop to Resign

Admitting that he had engaged in “ecclesiastical disobedience” by joining in the ordination of a lesbian, Southern California Lutheran Bishop Paul W. Egertson said Tuesday that he will resign.

His resignation will be effective July 31--a month before the expiration of his term as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s five-county Southern California (West) Synod.

The synod covers Los Angeles, Ventura, Kern, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Last month, Egertson became the first active bishop in the 5.1-million-member denomination--the nation’s largest Lutheran body--to join in the ordination of a noncelibate gay or lesbian.

The church will ordain otherwise qualified gay men and lesbians, but only if they promise to remain celibate.

The woman ordained by Egertson and others, Anita Hill, lives in a committed relationship with another woman, the church said.

“Acts of conscientious disobedience assume the willingness to accept whatever penalty may be rightly imposed as a consequence,” Egertson said in a letter to be delivered to the Synod Assembly this weekend. A new bishop is scheduled to be elected at the meeting.

At national church headquarters in Chicago, Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson, who asked Egertson to resign, called Egertson’s decision honorable.

“I respect Bishop Egertson’s integrity and his beliefs,” Anderson said.

“I do, however, regret that he participated in the ordination of a candidate who was not approved for ordination in the church, and therefore, violated church policy.”

By resigning now, Egertson, 66, said he will avoid any further disciplinary action.

Egertson, the father of a gay son, said he joined in ordaining Hill only after trying for years to get the church to change its stance against ordaining gay men and lesbians in committed relationships.

The ordination took place in St. Paul, Minn., where Hill for 20 years has led a ministry to gays and lesbians.

Egertson said he promised the church’s Council of Bishops in 1995 when he was elected Southern California bishop to resign if he ever felt conscience-bound to disobey church law.

On Tuesday, Egertson said he was torn between keeping his promise and forcing the denomination to enforce its policy.

He said hundreds of supporters, including the Southern California (West) Synod Council, had urged him not to resign. The purpose of disobedience, they said, is to force an institution to deal with “injustice.’

Egertson said he will teach in the religious studies department of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks after he resigns.