Jodi L. Barry

Jodi Barry's ordination by an independent faith group tests the ELCA's "refrain and restraint" policy.
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Jodi Barry, an openly lesbian pastor, was ordained Saturday at the Grace University Lutheran Church in Minneapolis as part of the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries efforts to test a new policy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church to avoid disciplining those who ordain openly gay people.
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Jodi Barry is not the first lesbian to be ordained into a Lutheran ministry. But her ordination Saturday was a new step toward what supporters hope will be greater acceptance of gays and lesbian pastors by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The ceremony was hosted by Grace University Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, where Barry has been a youth minister intern for a year, but it was conducted by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM), a national network committed to full acceptance of gay and lesbian pastors in the Lutheran church.
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"Change comes slowly," Barry said before the afternoon service at this church on the University of Minnesota's East Bank.
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Barry has been an uncredentialed chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids for more than five years. Her ordination will allow her to receive full credentials at the hospital.
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Barry, 41, who grew up in Maplewood, left the Lutheran church for several years, and tried out different congregations that are more accepting of gays before she returned to the ELCA in 2001.

"They weren't a good fit," she said. "The Lutheran church is my home. As a person of faith I have to hope for change, and to fight from within for it."

In addition to friends, family and co-workers, Barry's service had an historically significant attendee -- Phyllis Zillhart, one of the first three openly gay Lutherans to be publicly ordained, in San Francisco in 1990.

Jenny moved to the Twin Cities in 2005 to live with her partner Jodi Barry, and now works in program management in the nonprofit sector.

Please RSVP to Jodi Barry.

Chaplain Jodi L. Barry

Jodi Barry
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Jodi has been a chaplain at Mercy Hospital for the last 5 ½ years. Prior to that, she was an on call chaplain at North Memorial Medical Center and Regions Hospital. Jodi is also the youth director at Grace University Lutheran Church.

Jodi was baptized, raised, and confirmed at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Maplewood, MN. She graduated from Bethel College, St. Paul, MN with a B.A. in Literature (1990). Jodi has felt called to ministry since high school, and explains, "Once I started my "coming out" process regarding my sexuality, I thought my calling and my sexuality were incompatible. After college, Jodi went to Texas and left the church. Thankfully, she was invited to attend The Cathedral Of Hope, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC). "While I was at church that first Sunday, I cried through the whole service, and especially during communion. It was the first time I'd ever seen a woman preside, and the invitation to communion has stayed with me: "you don't have to be a member of this church, or of any church; all we ask is that you be seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. It was my first time back in church as an "out" lesbian, and I wondered where this new relationship with God would lead."

After moving back to Minnesota, Jodi attended United Theological Seminary (UTS) of the Twin Cities, graduating in 2001 with a M.Div. A year of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) residency followed, 2001-2002. Jodi is extremely grateful to her residency mates: Diaconal Minister Patty Lee, Rev. Karla McGray, and Rev. Pam Arends, and CPE Supervisor: Janet LaBrecque.
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Jodi and her spouse, Rev. Dr. Jenny Mason, live in North St. Paul.

Jodi Barry was ordained on the anniversary of the Reformation, and became the first member of the ELM Roster to be ordained to chaplaincy. Read more about this story.

Jodi Barry, Youth Director

Jodi Barry Youth director

Intern Jodi Barry Grace University Lutheran Church, ELCA

These include Jen Nagel, ECP, Pastoral Minister at Salem English Lutheran Church in Minneapolis; Jay Wilson, ECP; Jodi Barry, ECP Intern at Grace University Lutheran Church in Minneapolis; Brenda Froisland, Youth Minister at Bethel Lutheran Church in Minneapolis; and Matt Eichler, United Theological Seminary student.