Mary Froiland elected bishop of ELCA South-Central Synod of Wisconsin

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mary Stumme Froiland was elected Sept. 28
to a six-year term as bishop of the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Froiland was elected
during a special synod assembly Sept. 27-28 in Madison, Wis.
Froiland is pastor of Luther Valley Lutheran Church in Beloit, Wis.,
where she has served since 2000.
Elected on the fifth ballot, Froiland received 200 votes to 177 for
the Rev. Bryan Engfar, pastor of Trinity English Lutheran Church in Fort
Atkinson, Wis.
Froiland was human resources manager for Elder-Beerman in Beloit
from 1997 to 2000 and program director for the Beloit Public Health
Department from 1991 to 1997. She was associate pastor of Our Savior’s
Lutheran Church in Beloit from 1989 to 1991 and co-pastor of St. John
Lutheran Church in Petersburg, Ohio, from 1985 to 1989.
Froiland received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and
Philosophy in 1979 from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, and she earned a
Master of Divinity degree in 1985 from Luther Theological Seminary in St.
Paul, Minn. Augsburg is one of 26 colleges and universities of the ELCA;
Luther is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
Froiland is married to the Rev. John Froiland, chaplain at St.
Mary’s Janesville Hospital in Janesville, Wis. They have three grown
children and a grandson. Froiland will begin her term Nov. 1.
Information about the ELCA South-Central Synod of Wisconsin is
available at http://www.scsw-ELCA.org.