Seniors recently gathered for a celebratory dinner

Latina Bishop to address
Seminary’s 64 graduates May 18

Margarita Martinez

The Rev. Margarita Martinez, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Caribbean Synod, will be the keynote speaker when The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) hosts its 139^th commencement program Sunday, May 18. Sixty-four seminarians will receive degrees or certificates during the commencement, which begins at 3 p.m. The ceremonies will be held at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1000 West Main Street, Lansdale, PA.

Bishop Martinez is the first Latina to hold the office of Bishop in the ELCA. She was elected Bishop by an overwhelming majority on the second ballot of the synodical assembly in June 2001. She is a 1989 graduate of LTSP.

Born in New York City of Puerto Rican parents, she moved to Puerto Rico with her parents and family when she was still in grade school. In 1979 she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from World University of Puerto Rico, and in 1981 from the same school was awarded a Master’s Degree in Business. Her professional career led her to serve with the government in Puerto Rico in managerial positions and with the Evangelical Seminary in Puerto Rico, where she served as an Assistant to the President in Administration and Finance.

Following her graduation from seminary in 1989, she was called to serve Bethel Lutheran Church, a small congregation in the rural Puerto Rico town of Dorado. In 1994 she was called to be pastor of San Marcos Lutheran Church in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. In 1997, the ELCA’s Division for Global Mission called her to serve in churchwide offices in Chicago as Associate Director for Global Events. In 1999 she returned to Puerto Rico as a pastor developer for a new mission field. She served in that capacity until her appointment as Bishop.

During the commencement exercises 36 seminarians will receive M.Div. degrees qualifying them to serve as ordained pastors. Three will receive Master of Arts in Religion degrees, qualifying them for another kind of rostered professional position in the church. Two seminarians will receive certificates of study. Twenty-three scholars will be awarded advanced-level degrees, either the Master of Sacred Theology or the D.Min. degree. Nine M.Div degree recipients will graduate with honors. Five M.Div. students will graduate with a concentration in urban ministry Three will be awarded degrees with a Latino concentration. Four, including one of those graduating with honors, have been part of the school’s Urban Theological Institute, a part-time program offering classes on evenings and weekends, primarily for African Americans.

David Wartluft

Another highlight of the exercises will be the conferring of an honorary degree on the Rev. David Wartluft. Wartluft served the seminary for decades as director of the Krauth Memorial Library and was secretary of the faculty. A long-time resident of Philadelphia’s East Mt. Airy section, Wartluft retired at the end of 2002 and now lives in Robesonia, PA.

The graduating class has celebrated many marriages while at LTSP. Nine of the seminarians receiving the M.Div. degree have gotten married during their four years at seminary and one, Leah Cook, a Minnesota native, will be married in the seminary chapel the day before commencement. Another of the graduates, Frank Sayford of Philadelphia, is engaged with plans to be married this summer. One of the young couples had a first child in seminary. And another graduate is expecting her first baby in mid-July.

June Wilkins

Does the class have a kind of personality? June Wilkins, one of the graduating class’s co-presidents, says her classmates have talked about the importance of outreach in their ministries ahead. "I think we’re concerned about widening the borders of the church," said Wilkins, an honors scholar with an urban concentration. She is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, New York, NY.. "We don’t want to be thought of as expecting that people will only come to us to be served. We hope to find new ways to go out to where people are and reach them with the Good News of Christ."

Related link:
Senior Class Dinner