African-American female pastor named ELCA bishop
She hopes to make church more inclusive, diverse
As an African-American woman in a denomination that’s nearly all white, the Rev. Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld says she hopes to make the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America more appealing to minorities.
Thomas-Breitfeld, from Brookfield, was recently elected bishop for the ELCA’s South-Central Synod of Wisconsin, a region that includes Madison, Janesville, Beloit and many rural communities.
She’s just the second African-American woman pastor to be elected bishop in the church’s 65 synods that, combined, have about 10,000 congregations and nearly 4 million members in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The first, the Rev. Patricia A. Davenport, was elected bishop about a day earlier, May 5, for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod.
Thomas-Breitfeld, 65, is married to the Rev. Fred Thomas-Breitfeld, pastor of Jackson Park Lutheran Church in Milwaukee.
Born and raised in New York City, she’s lived in Wisconsin for decades and recently has been interim pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Beloit.
Thomas-Breitfeld will replace Bishop Mary Froiland, who is retiring.
The ELCA has been called the “whitest” of the mainstream denominations, according to Thomas-Breitfeld, with only about 3% racial minorities in the congregation.
The South-Central Synod of Wisconsin is more diverse, with about 6.5% mi-
norities, according to 2014 church data.
As a bishop, Thomas-Breitfeld says she wants to be a witness to the African-descent community.
“There may be some people who say let’s give Lutheranism another look,” she said.
The region is divided along political and cultural lines, from liberals in Madison to conservatives in rural areas who helped elect President Donald Trump.
Thomas-Breitfeld says she views that as an opportunity to make the church more inclusive and more appealing.
“People are people no matter what their political stance is. We are about being the people of God, and all people need to be served whether they are rural or urban,” she said.
“God’s love is paramount for us. And particularly in such a divisive time in our nation, we need to be witnesses to the kind of love that Jesus showed and has kept a movement going for more than 2,000 years,” she said.
Thomas-Breitfeld has been a pastor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and she’s been a chaplain at Milwaukee-area hospitals and the Brookfield police and fire departments.
“She has many years of serving in the Milwaukee area. I think her breadth of experience in a variety of ministry settings will serve her well,” said the Rev. Paul Erickson, bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod.
“There are possibilities for us to collaborate,” Erickson said.
Thomas-Breitfeld received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1974, graduated from McCormick Theological Seminary in 1979, and was ordained in 1980.
She worked as a therapist, in New York, but her ministry has been in Wisconsin.
Raised in Manhattan, her family was multiracial, Christian and Jewish.
“I grew up in a family where it was one God who blessed us all, so if something was happening with a family member who was Christian, or Jewish, the whole family went to that event. And being multiracial was valued,” she said.
Her family also taught her the importance of hospitality, with her mother setting an extra place at the dinner table just in case someone stopped by.
“I believe the church needs to be amazing at the gift of hospitality. Whether or not people find a welcome when they walk through that church door is what determines whether they stay or not,” Thomas-Breitfeld said.
“Our people are disciples, witnesses ... they have to show the love they’ve experienced, the grace they’ve experienced, from a loving God.”
In her new position with the church, Thomas-Breitfeld says she and her husband will keep their home in Brookfield, but that she will also have a residence in Madison so she’s in the South-Central Synod.
“We have served in different parishes for our entire ministry, so we have learned something about doing that,” she said.
Thomas-Breitfeld will spend a lot of time on the road, and will likely be in a different parish every weekend.
She has a strong interest in rural poverty and agriculture issues.
“Our family farms are really struggling,” she said. “How best do we minister to people who are in the midst of that situation? That is certainly a priority for me.”
She will also spend some time in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, helping with a sister synod.
Her biggest challenge personally, she said, will be keeping her focus in a job that’s demanding and could be allconsuming.
“I tend to be highly energetic, so I have to be aware of taking time for myself to be renewed. I need to take care of myself so that I can take care of others,” she said.