The Rev. Leila M. Ortiz joins Saint Peter’s as Pastoral Theologian in Residence

Photo courtesy of Wagner College

Saint Peter’s Church is pleased to announce Bishop Leila Ortiz has accepted a call to serve as Pastoral Theologian in Residence. She will serve at Saint Peter’s for one year beginning October 1, 2025. On August 31, she concluded her service as Bishop of the Metro DC Synod of the ELCA.

Bishop Ortiz is one of the most respected leaders and theological voices not merely in the ELCA but across the Lutheran World Federation. A member of the LWF Council, she was recently elected as the Chair of the Augsburg 500 Committee that will help frame the preparations for the next LWF assembly. To be held in Augsburg, Germany in 2030, the Assembly will coincide with the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession.

Bishop Ortiz’ call at Saint Peter’s will help expand faith formation offerings that, since the pandemic, have largely been limited to persons preparing for confirmation, first holy communion, or baptism.  She will provide primary leadership for a weekly bi-lingual Mass for Peace on Wednesdays, beginning this Fall. Following the bi-lingual Mass, she will lead a bi-lingual adult study session. Mindful that Saint Peter’s engages in a number of efforts to address injustices in our world, Bishop Ortiz will convene a monthly reflection session to explore the “why” of this work and reflect on a spirituality of justice-making. Especially given her interest in wider cultural engagement, she will plan and launch a Faith and Film series.

Bishop Ortiz will join the Sunday presiding and preaching rota, regularly offer pastoral care across our community, engage in cultural reflection/sharing, and participate in community building and ongoing theological reflection. 

About Bishop Leila Ortiz

The Rev. Leila M. Ortiz is a pastor and theologian in The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and served until August 31, 2025 as the Bishop of the Metropolitan Washington D.C. Synod.

Bishop Leila completed graduate degree coursework and comprehensive exams at United Lutheran Theological Seminary of Pennsylvania and is currently “All but dissertation.” Her concentration was in Systematic/Contemporary Theology with a special interest in Protestant Latinx Liberation Theologies in the United States and the impact of Latina hermeneutics on Lutheran ecclesiology.

Given her particular perspective and call to the church, in the fall of 2012 Bishop Leila served as a representative from the United States at The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Global Theological Consultation in Wittenberg, Germany, to assess Lutheran heritage and the Reformation in defining what it means to be Lutheran in a fast-changing world. She served in this capacity again at the 2016 consultation in Geneva, Switzerland.

In the spring of 2013, Bishop Leila served as a member of the LWF Resource group, which prepared Lutheran Theological Education Network guidelines that would defi ne the goal, process, roles, and responsibilities of the network at different levels within Lutheran communion. That fall she was invited to participate in The Global Ecumenical Institute in Busan, South Korea; an initiative of The World Council of Churches that gathered theological students and lecturers for a major project promoting ecumenical leadership formation, intense theological learning, and mutual dialogue.

Bishop Leila is a contributing author in “Global Lutheranism: Vitality and Challenges,” co-authored a chapter entitled “Pentecostal Latinas: Engendering Selves in Storefront Congregations” in Faith on the Avenue: Religion on a City Street (Oxford University Press, 2014), and has published articles and commentaries in Gather Magazine, in the journal Dialog: A Journey of Theology (Wiley Online Library), and workingpreacher.org. Currently she serves as the Conference of Bishops liaison to the Association for Teaching Theologians of the ELCA and is on the board of Select Learning.

As a member of the Lutheran World Federation Council, she was recently elected as the Chair of the Augsburg 500 Committee that will help frame the preparations for the next LWF assembly. To be held in Augsburg, Germany in 2030, the Assembly will coincide with the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession.