Bishop Eaton ordains 3 new ministers for region

Staff report

alliance

Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ordained three ministers July 17 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

The new ministers are the Rev. William Leitch, who will serve Living Lord Lutheran Church in Howland; the Rev. Amanda Raymond, who will serve both Emmanuel Lutheran in New Springfield and St. John Lutheran in Petersburg; and the Rev. Daniel Caruso, St. Paul Lutheran in Ravenna.

The Rev. Mr. Leitch graduated from Trinity Seminary in Columbus and served an internship Zion Luthern Church in Lima. He was at Living Lord Lutheran on July 18.

Mr. Leitch and his wife, Ronda, have been married for 36 years and have three adult children and eight grand children. He served 20 years in the U.S. Army and 11 years with Ohio Department of Transportation District 3 out of Ashland. They will live in Howland.

The Rev. Mrs. Raymond is married to the Rev. Lou Raymond of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church of Salem. She has a master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University of New Orleans, certificate in pastoral counseling from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and is a graduate of Trinity Seminary in Columbus as part of its Theological Education for Emerging Ministries Program (TEEM). She has been serving as a synod authorized lay minister for Emmanuel Lutheran and St. John Lutheran, where she will be officially installed at both churches.

The Rev. Mr. Caruso graduated with a bachelor’s degree in medical technology from the University at Buffalo. For the past 16 years, he and his family have lived in northeast Pennsylvania, where he worked as as medical tecnologist, prosthetic and orthotic technician and automobile salesman.

He graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia with a master’s in Divinity and served an internship at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Dallas, Pa. He will be installed at St. Paul Lutheran. He is married with two school-age children.