Faith

Pennsylvania Lutheran synod to install its first woman bishop Saturday

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania • October 29, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: a woman bishop in a white alb and red stole standing at the altar of a historic church before a congregation

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

The Rev. Jennifer K. Dee will be installed on Saturday as the first woman bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, a regional body covering more than 235 congregations.

Dee will be installed as the synod's fifth bishop on October 31, Reformation Day, at the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem. ELCA Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry, who became the denomination's first Black leader last year, is scheduled to preach at the service and install her. Dee began her six-year term on September 1.

Dee was elected in June on the fifth ballot at the synod assembly in Lake Harmony, receiving 215 of 308 votes cast — more than the 155 needed — ahead of Pastor R. Zachary Labagh, who received 93 votes.

Ordained in 2008, Dee served as pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church in Loogootee, Indiana, from 2008 to 2011, then as associate pastor and later lead pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Robesonia, Pennsylvania, from 2011 until this year. She earned a bachelor's degree from Keene State College in New Hampshire in 1996 and a Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 2007.

“This new call comes with joy, hope and humility,” Dee said, as quoted by the synod. “It is a gift to serve the larger church, connecting people and congregations across the synod.” The ELCA, the more liberal wing of Lutheran churches in the United States, has ordained women since 1970; the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, which represents conservative Lutherans, does not allow female ordination.

Sources: Christian Post (Oct 26, 2026); SRN News (Oct 28, 2026); Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod.