Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, again will take questions starting at 4 p.m. Sunday during a live-webcast "Town Hall Forum" from Chicago.
It's the third such forum Hanson has held; the first one was in December. The unusual format of a denominational head taking questions from a putative nationwide congregation of members was sparked by the controversy ensuing after the ELCA's national assembly voted in August 2009 in Minneapolis to OK the idea of clergy who are in committed gay and lesbian relationships.
The forum is an hour long and moderated; questions can be submitted online at www.elca.org/townhall .
Questions by e-mail or phone beforehand won't be accepted.
Since the 2009 decision, the ELCA's national office in Chicago has had to cut back on its budget at least twice, laying off employees and shuttering some programs, moves caused more by the national economic downturn than by the clergy change, church officials have said.
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On Saturday in St. Paul, three women who served as lightning rods for years on the issue as pastors made ineligible to be on the ELCA's clergy roster because they lived in lesbian relationships took part in a new "Rite of Reception," marking their official acceptance on the clergy roster.
It's one of several events in recent months in which regional church leaders celebrate the new clergy rules.
Previously, the ELCA required any unmarried clergy to refrain from sexual relationships. The new rule allows gay and lesbian pastors in lifelong, committed, monogamous relationships to be on the official clergy roster.
The decision also has prompted about 200 of the ELCA's 10,300 congregations to have taken the two required votes to leave the 4.5-million-member denomination, including a handful in northwestern Minnesota. Another 100 or more have voted once, getting a two-thirds majority to leave, including several in eastern North Dakota.
In Hanson's first three town halls, 2,000 to 4,000 computers hooked into the webcast, church officials said; some met in groups in homes and churches to watch it.
Hanson has taken about 20 questions each time.
