Minister Celebrates 20 Years

It was 20 years ago today that the Rev. Dr. Katrina Foster was ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Morgan McGivern

Dec. 4, 2014

Christopher Walsh

The Rev. Dr. Katrina Foster, pastor of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett and Incarnation Lutheran Church in Bridgehampton, marks the 20th anniversary of her ordination today. A celebration of the occasion will happen on Sunday at the 11 a.m. service at St. Michael’s, with the Rev. Dr. Gary LeCroy serving as guest preacher.

Ms. Foster, a native of Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island near Jacksonville, Fla., was ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She began her service on the South Fork on July 1, 2010. She serves on East Hampton Town’s Anti-Bias Task Force and the board of the East Hampton Food Pantry. She is also vice-president of the St. Michael’s senior citizens housing development, located on the church grounds, and is a member of the East Hampton Clericus, the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Clericus, and the Bridgehampton Fire Department.

The pastor’s recognition of a call to serve came early, she said last year. “I started acolyting” — performing ceremonial duties — “when I was 4. I got to wear a little robe, light the candles and extinguish them, and carry the cross, carry the Book,” she said. “I would stand up there and sing louder than the pastor. I knew the entire service and absolutely loved it.”

Ms. Foster served the Fordham Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx from 1994 to 2010, and was a recipient of the Bronx Borough President’s Citation of Merit in 2000 and 2004. She was awarded the N.A.A.C.P.’s Women Who Make a Difference Award in 2001.

In 2007, she risked defrocking by coming out as gay at a time when the Lutheran Church allowed openly gay pastors but forbade same-sex relationships. Two years later, she, along with her wife, Pamela Kallimanis, and their daughter, Zoia, were featured in a documentary, “One Baptism, Many Gifts: The Story of Three Lutherans Called to Ministry.” The documentary was sent to eligible voters attending the church’s national gathering, a move Ms. Foster said was instrumental in effecting change. “People went from seeing this as an issue to seeing this as people,” she told The Star last year. “And in 2009, we changed the policy of the church,” when it voted to recognize the call of gay pastors and to recognize their families.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recognized her with the Dr. Richard Lee Peterman Good Steward Award in 2007.