After consultation with ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton and per the Sierra Pacific Synod Constitution (S8.54), the Sierra Pacific Synod Council has appointed Claire S. Burkat as its interim bishop. She hopes to begin working in the synod the week of July 10.
Burkat joins the Sierra Pacific Synod from the Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) Synod, where she served two terms as bishop. She is a 1978 graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and has served as a congregational pastor, assistant to the bishop, and mission director with the SEPA Synod, New Jersey Synod and the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.
Since her retirement as synod bishop in 2018, Burkat most recently served as interim chaplain of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., and stepped in as acting bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod during Bishop William Gohl’s sabbatical.
