A synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made history May 5 by electing Patricia A. Davenport as the denomination’s first female African American bishop. The next day, a synod 900 miles away elected the second, Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld.
Delegates chose Davenport for the office of bishop in southeastern Pennsylvania. In the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin, delegates voted for Thomas-Breitfeld to become bishop.
The votes mark an inclusive step forward for the “most white” of the nation’s mainline Protestant denominations, according to Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton.
