June 3, 2022

Dear Members of the New England Synod,

Last Friday, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton released a Report to the Church regarding the situation in the Sierra Pacific Synod.. (click here to read).

Following the release of her report, the Listening Team issued a statement encouraging that the full report be made available publicly. The statement can be found here (provide link). A few days later, Bishop Eaton then released the full report of the listening team for publication. (Click here for the full report).

All of this occurred while I have been on a week-long bike and camping vacation in the Appalachian Mountains. I’ve returned today to all this news. I’m aware that while some of you are unfamiliar with these events (hence including all the links above), others of you are quite familiar.

The events related to the situation in the Sierra Pacific Synod have consumed much attention over these past six months. As I wrote to the Pastors and Deacons in February I have been reluctant to comment on matters in another synod. I recognize that some would have preferred I speak out sooner, but I have chosen to honor the Bishop’s Relational agreement and allow the process Bishop Eaton has led to reach this point.

I have certainly thought about how, if it were me, I might have handled this differently. But I have been cautious about speaking about that publicly out of respect for the Office of Bishop and the position of our Presiding Bishop, granting her the opportunity to follow the process she chose. If I were in her shoes, I would value the same courtesy.

Here are some of my reflections following the news of the past week:

I lament of so many aspects of this situation. The range is too great to list all of my grief and anger, but they include the way this event and its subsequent fallout have pulled at the fabric of our denomination. In brief, I lament………

the racism,

the hubris,

the impatience,

the misuse of power, and

the lack of wisdom by so many involved in this situation.

Lament is not a place where we Americans sit well, but it is where ancient peoples went when life got hard. Perhaps we need to learn from the Psalmists of old.

Our society continues to grow ever more divided and vengeful . We seek quick answers and easy fixes to problems that took decades, if not centuries to form. Our impatience and inability to hold the pain in the hope that some resurrection might birth out of that tension is, in my view, our greatest challenge.

I have long believed that being as transparent as possible is always best, and I am glad that the listening panel’s report is now public. I am also grateful for their advocacy which resulted in its release. I appreciate their process and their sensitive listening as well as their naming the deep hurt and racism that have occurred in this process. Reading the panel’s report is painful and infuriating, but information we need to hear and absorb as the church in order to understand the ways in which we have hurt and continue to hurt communities of color. In the long run, I believe releasing this report in its entirety is the right choice.

The process now moves forward, and it is my understanding Bishop Rohrer is weighing their response regarding the recommendation to resign. I cannot speak for Bishop Rohrer but will say that leading in the best of circumstances is hard, leading in this kind of situation is one I would be hard pressed to do myself.

That said, given that which has transpired over these last months which has caused deep hurt and anger in the Sierra Pacific Synod and beyond, for the sake of the Church and in order for everyone to move forward and for the needed healing to begin, I believe that Bishop Rohrer would be well advised to resign their position. That is what I would do given the report of the Listening Panel.

In conclusion, I want to remind all of us that we have our own work to do. A friend in Alcoholics Anonymous reminds me often that while we have influence on others, but the people we have the most influence on is ourselves. Therefore, let us focus on ourselves, our ministries, and our synod.

Let us continue the hard work of understanding our own racism, hubris, impatience, misuse of power and lack of wisdom .

We have work to do, let us do it. May God grant us the will, strength, and conviction.

Sincerely

Bishop James Hazelwood

New England Synod