Lesbian Ordained In Lutheran church

Monday, November 19th 2007, 7:13 am

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) -- A Lutheran church in Chicago has ordained a 27-year-old lesbian pastor who refuses to take a vow of celibacy, becoming the first to test a new resolution that gives bishops leeway in disciplining such violations.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America requires vows of celibacy for homosexual but not for heterosexual clergy -- a policy Jen Rude calls discriminatory.

Jen Rude said her call to ministry has now been "affirmed not only by God but the people of God."

At a national assembly in August, Evangelical Lutherans urged their bishops not to defrock gay and lesbian ministers who violate the celibacy rule, but they also rejected measures that would have permitted ordaining gays churchwide.

Chicago Bishop Wayne Miller did not try to block Rude's ordination, but he also didn't attend the weekend ceremony.