Spirit of a Liberal

The incoming President and President-elect of the National Council of Churches (NCC) both have Minnesota ties.  Episcopal priest, Rev. Peg Chamberlin, will serve a three year term as President beginning Jan 1, 2010.  She presently serves as Executive Director of the Minnesota Council of Churches, and she is a frequent contributor to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the state’s leading daily newspaper.  She also serves on President Obama’s faith council. 

According to a press release from the ELCA, the incoming President Elect is Kathryn M. Lohre, the daughter of Rev. John and Mary Lohre.  John serves as senior pastor at Saint Paul Lutheran Church, Pine Island, Minn.

The governing board of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC) elected Kathryn M. Lohre on Nov. 10 to become the 26th president of the NCC in 2013. Lohre is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and assistant director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Lohre becomes NCC president-elect on Jan. 1, 2010, and president three years later. The current president-elect, the Rev. Peg Chemberlin, will serve those three years as NCC president. They will be installed in their respective new positions tonight, Nov. 12, 2009, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis.

Lohre, 32, will be the second youngest president of the NCC since the Rev. M. William Howard, an American Baptist, became president in 1979 at the age of 33.