Elizabeth Alvina Platz is an American Lutheran pastor and was the first woman in North America

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

by a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church body. Platz was born and raised in Pittsburgh, in a family that attended church regularly, but was not religious. She won a scholarship to attend any college in Pittsburgh, and chose to study at Chatham College, where she graduated in 1962 with a degree in history. While there, she became interested in studying theology. After graduating, she enrolled at

Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Gettysburg Seminary) was a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; ) is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Adams County, Pen ...

, which was the only Lutheran seminary that would accept woman. While the other four women enrolled were all on the education track, Platz was able to persuade the administration to allow her to take on the Bachelors of Divinity program. After graduating in 1965, Platz served as

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

for the Lutheran Campus Ministry at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

. In 1970, when the

Lutheran Church in America The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was an American and Canadian Lutheran church body that existed from 1962 to 1987. It was headquartered in New York City and its publishing house was Fortress Press. The LCA's immigrant heritage came mostly fr ...

(LCA) moved to allow women's ordination, Platz was one of the few women determined to be eligible for ordination immediately. In November 1970, she became the first woman to be ordained into the LCA. She continued to work at the University of Maryland for the rest of her career. While there, she advocated for better conditions for many groups, including graduate students and the custodial staff. She also was devoted to interfaith programming and established a fund in memory of her husband Wofford K. Smith, who had been the university's Episcopal chaplain. Platz retired from UMD in 2012, having worked 47 years as the

at the Lutheran Campus Ministry The

ordination of women The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination ...

, approved earlier that year by both the LCA and

The American Lutheran Church The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States and Canada that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters were in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, The ALC designated Augsburg P ...

(ALC) was controversial. The ALC ordained its first woman as a pastor, Barbara Andrews, in December of the same year. The ALC and LCA merged in 1988 with the

Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) was a U.S. church body that existed from 1976 through the end of 1987. The AELC formed when approximately 250 dissident congregations withdrew from the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS ...

to form the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of December 31, 2023, it ...

(ELCA). At the 2005 Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, a special program was held in honor of the 35 years since Platz's history-making ordination.

References

External links

ELCA page on ordination of Platz
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American Lutheran clergy 20th-century American Lutheran clergy University of Maryland, College Park faculty Women Lutheran clergy {{lutheran-stub