U.S. Evangelical Lutheran church installs first transgender bishop
This April 2021 selfie photo shows the Rev. Megan Rohrer, at the Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Rohrer was elected bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Sierra Pacific synod on Saturday, May 8, 2021, becoming the first transgender person to serve as bishop in the denomination or in any of the U.S.' major Christian faiths. (Meghan Rohrer via AP)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America is set to install its first openly transgender bishop on Saturday.
The Rev. Megan Rohrer will lead one of the church's 65 synods, overseeing nearly 200 congregations in Northern California and northern Nevada, following the installation service at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
Rohrer was elected in May to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod after its current bishop announced his retirement.
"I step into this role because a diverse community of Lutherans in Northern California and Nevada prayerfully and thoughtfully voted to do a historic thing," Rohrer said in a statement. "My installation will celebrate all that is possible when we trust God to shepherd us forward."
Rohrer, who uses the pronoun "they," previously served as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco and a chaplain coordinator for the city's police department, and also helped minister to the city's homeless and LGTBQ community. They studied religion at Augustana University in their hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, before moving to California to pursue master and doctoral degrees at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.
Rohrer became one of seven LGBTQ pastors accepted by the progressive Evangelical Lutheran church in 2010 after it allowed ordination of pastors in same-sex relationships. Rohrer is married and has two children.
The church is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States with about 3.3 million members.
------
Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police: Buffalo gunman aimed to keep killing if he got away
The white gunman accused of massacring 10 Black people in a racist rampage at a Buffalo supermarket planned to keep killing if he had escaped the scene, the police commissioner said Monday, as the possibility of federal hate crime or domestic terror charges loomed.
Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'
Pierre Poilievre is denouncing the 'white replacement theory' believed to be a motive for a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., as 'ugly and disgusting hate-mongering.'
Ontario driver who killed woman and three daughters sentenced to 17 years in prison
A driver who struck and killed a woman and her three young daughters nearly two years ago 'gambled with other people's lives' when he took the wheel, an Ontario judge said Monday in sentencing him to 17 years behind bars.
What we know so far about the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting
A former police officer, the 86-year-old mother of Buffalo's former fire commissioner, and a grandmother who fed the needy for decades were among those killed in a racist attack by a gunman on Saturday in a Buffalo grocery store. Three people were also wounded.
Documents show a pattern of human rights abuses against gender diverse prisoners
Facing daily instances of violence and abuse, gender diverse people in the Canadian prison system say they are forced to take measures into their own hands to secure their safety.
White 'replacement theory' fuels racist attacks
A racist ideology seeping from the internet's fringes into the mainstream is being investigated as a motivating factor in the supermarket shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York. Most of the victims were Black.
LIVE SOON | Ontario party leaders set to face off in election debate
The Ontario election leaders debate is happening on Monday night. Here's how to watch it live.
Amber Heard says she feared she would not survive Johnny Depp marriage
'Aquaman' actor Amber Heard told jurors in a defamation case on Monday that she filed for divorce from Johnny Depp in 2016 because she worried she would not survive physical abuse by him.
Russia faces diplomatic and battlefield setbacks on Ukraine
Moscow suffered another diplomatic setback Monday in its war with Ukraine, with Sweden joining Finland in deciding to seek NATO membership, while Ukraine's president congratulated his soldiers who reportedly pushed back Russian forces near the border.
Canada
-
Ontario driver who killed woman and three daughters sentenced to 17 years in prison
A driver who struck and killed a woman and her three young daughters nearly two years ago 'gambled with other people's lives' when he took the wheel, an Ontario judge said Monday in sentencing him to 17 years behind bars.
-
'Absolutely disgusting': Team leader critical of RCMP mental health support after N.S. shooting
The RCMP's treatment of their tactical team in the days following the April 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia was characterized as "absolutely disgusting" Monday during testimony before the public inquiry examining the killings.
-
Documents show a pattern of human rights abuses against gender diverse prisoners
Facing daily instances of violence and abuse, gender diverse people in the Canadian prison system say they are forced to take measures into their own hands to secure their safety.
-
Canada Day celebrations moving from Parliament Hill
The Canada Day main stage will be at LeBreton Flats park just west of downtown Ottawa this year, not on Parliament Hill.
-
LIVE SOON
LIVE SOON | Ontario party leaders set to face off in election debate
The Ontario election leaders debate is happening on Monday night. Here's how to watch it live.
-
Federal commitments still outstanding, nearly a year since first residential school burial site discovery
Almost a year since the first reported discovery of a burial site at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, the federal government provided an update on the promises it has made since to 'lift up the truth,' many of which are still a work in progress.
World
-
White 'replacement theory' fuels racist attacks
A racist ideology seeping from the internet's fringes into the mainstream is being investigated as a motivating factor in the supermarket shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York. Most of the victims were Black.
-
'Copycat' mass shootings becoming deadlier, experts warn after Buffalo attack
An 18-year-old white man suspected of fatally shooting 10 people in a Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, appears to be the latest in a line of 'copycat' gunmen carrying out deadlier mass shootings inspired by previous attackers, experts warned.
-
Police: Buffalo gunman aimed to keep killing if he got away
The white gunman accused of massacring 10 Black people in a racist rampage at a Buffalo supermarket planned to keep killing if he had escaped the scene, the police commissioner said Monday, as the possibility of federal hate crime or domestic terror charges loomed.
-
Greece: Man, believed homeless, crushed in 'robot dumpster'
Authorities in northern Greece say a man has been killed in an automated dumpster after opening the bin and looking inside, apparently in search of food.
-
Passenger, cargo trains collide in Spain; 1 killed, 85 hurt
A cargo train smashed into a rush-hour passenger train in Catalonia on Monday, killing an engineer and injuring 85 people, Spanish authorities and the regional rail company said. Emergency crews said they were helping to evacuate about 100 people on the passenger train.
-
NY teen found dead after 13 years; SC sex offender charged
The body of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel, who disappeared while visiting South Carolina's Myrtle Beach on spring break 13 years ago, has been found and a sex offender has been charged with murder, kidnapping and rape, authorities said Monday.
Politics
-
Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'
Pierre Poilievre is denouncing the 'white replacement theory' believed to be a motive for a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., as 'ugly and disgusting hate-mongering.'
-
Federal commitments still outstanding, nearly a year since first residential school burial site discovery
Almost a year since the first reported discovery of a burial site at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, the federal government provided an update on the promises it has made since to 'lift up the truth,' many of which are still a work in progress.
-
Canada prepared to send ships to Romanian ports to help export Ukraine's wheat: Joly
Canada is poised to send cargo ships to ports in Romania and neighbouring countries to help Ukraine get its wheat to Africa and the Middle East, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Monday.
Health
-
Abbott says agreement reached to reopen baby formula plant
Baby formula maker Abbott said Monday it has reached an agreement with U.S. health regulators to restart production at its largest domestic factory, though it will be well over a month before any new products ship from the site to help alleviate the national shortage facing parents.
-
First patient in Quebec gets approval from Health Canada for magic mushroom therapy
In Montreal, a pioneering clinic in the emerging field of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is about to become the first health-care facility in Quebec to legally treat depression with psilocybin.
-
These companies will help staff in red states bypass abortion bans
Millions of women in more than 25 states face an abortion ban if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized the procedure nationwide. For many of those women, employers' benefit packages may be the only way they can soon afford a legal abortion.
Sci-Tech
-
Total lunar eclipse creates dazzling 'blood moon'
The moon glowed red on Sunday night and the early hours of Monday, after a total lunar eclipse that saw the sun, Earth and moon form a straight line in the night sky.
-
As Musk buyout looms, Twitter searches for its soul
A toxic cesspool. A lifeline. A finger on the world's pulse. Twitter is all these things and more to its over 217 million users around the world -- politicians, journalists, activists, celebrities, weirdos and normies, cat and dog lovers and just about anyone else with an internet connection.
-
Whale shark study finds collisions with large vessels may be factor in population decline
A new study out of the United Kingdom is pointing to collisions with large marine vessels as a possible reason for the years-long decline in whale shark populations.
Entertainment
-
Juno Awards celebrate Avril Lavigne, Deborah Cox and host Simu Liu's many talents
Sunday night's Juno Awards, hosted by 'Shang-Chi' star Simu Liu, honoured Canadian artists such as Avril Lavigne and Montreal singer-songwriter Charlotte Cardin
-
Amber Heard says she feared she would not survive Johnny Depp marriage
'Aquaman' actor Amber Heard told jurors in a defamation case on Monday that she filed for divorce from Johnny Depp in 2016 because she worried she would not survive physical abuse by him.
-
Machine Gun Kelly dedicates Billboard Music Awards performance to his 'wife' and 'unborn child'
Was Machine Gun Kelly trying to tell us something? During his performance of the song 'Twin Flame' at Sunday's 2022 Billboard Music Awards, Kelly said 'I wrote this song for my wife.'
Business
-
CREA reports home sales down in April as mortgage rates rise
Increasing mortgage rates slowed home sales in April from the frenzied pace they started the year at, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday.
-
-
Energy stocks lead broad rally to lift S&P/TSX composite up for second straight day
A broad rally led by the energy sector pushed Canada's main stock index higher for a second-straight session after six days of losses.
Lifestyle
-
Quebec teen breaks national record for fastest Rubik's cube solve while blindfolded
A Quebec teen has broken a national record for the fastest time to solve a Rubik's cube while wearing a blindfold.
-
Ontario retiree buys 'cheapest home in the GTA'. This is what she got
A retiree in Ontario has just purchased what is being called the 'cheapest home in the GTA'—a caboose located on a commercially zoned parking lot near Milton.
-
Potted plant 'performs' music at Indigenous art gallery on Vancouver Island
When Rande Cook first spotted the potted plant, he 'hired' it on the spot. There was something about the snake plant that seemed to speak to him.
Sports
-
No. 2 Medvedev back on ATP tour after Wimbledon ban
Watching the recent news from Ukraine is 'very upsetting,' No. 2-ranked tennis player Daniil Medvedev said Sunday of the war that led Wimbledon organizers to ban him and other Russians from their tournament.
-
English soccer player Jake Daniels says he is gay
English soccer player Jake Daniels said he is gay on Monday in a trailblazing moment for the European men's game.
-
Battle of Alberta to come as Flames outlast Stars in OT to seize series win
The Calgary Flames have defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 in overtime in Game 7 of their first-round NHL playoff series Sunday night to advance to the second round.
Autos
-
Renault sells Russia's Avtovaz stake, but leaves room for return
Renault will sell its majority stake in carmaker Avtovaz to a Russian science institute, the French carmaker said on Monday, adding that the deal included a six-year option to buy back the stake.
-
Leclerc crashes Lauda's historic F1 Ferrari in Monaco
Formula One championship leader Charles Leclerc again crashed in hometown Monaco, this time in a historic Ferrari.
-
Saudi man charged after Maserati driven down Rome's Spanish Steps
A man who this week drove his rented Maserati down Rome's Spanish Steps now faces charges for allegedly causing damage to the landmark, according to police in the Italian capital.
