With a laying on of hands, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Sunday welcomed into its fold seven openly gay pastors who had until recently been barred from the church's ministry.

The ceremony at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco was the first of several planned since the denomination took a watershed vote at its convention last year to allow noncelibate gay ministers in committed relationships to serve the church.

"Today the church is speaking with a clear voice," the Rev. Jeff R. Johnson, one of the seven gay pastors participating in the ceremony, said at a news conference just before it began. "All people are welcome here, all people are invited to help lead this church, and all people are loved unconditionally by God."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/us/26lutheran.html?_r=1&th&emc=th