ELCA elects first Black presiding bishop, calls Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide
Yehiel Curry (Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Chicago Synod)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America elected its first Black leader on Wednesday at its churchwide assembly meeting in Phoenix.
Yehiel Curry, bishop of the ELCA’s Metropolitan Chicago Synod since 2019, will serve a six-year term as the denomination’s presiding bishop, the top leadership role. He succeeds Elizabeth Eaton, who has served two terms as presiding bishop.
The 2.7 million-member Protestant group also passed a strongly worded resolution calling on members “to petition U.S. leaders to recognize and act to end the genocide against Palestinians, halt military aid to Israel used in Gaza, and support Palestinian statehood and U.N. membership.” The resolution, called a memorial, passed overwhelmingly, 742-38.
