Rev. Heidi Lengler with Rome pastor Rev. Michael Jonas (left) and Rev. Carsten Gerdes, dean of CELI (right) during her ordination service on 7 September 2025. Photo: Aline Aurich
Brazilian-born Rev. Heidi Lengler serves small Lutheran communities in cities across the southern Italian island
(LWI) - Born in Brazil, of German origins, ordained in Italy to serve on the southern island of Sicily, Rev. Heidi Lengler sees herself as a missionary called to create a community for people of many different languages, cultures and religious backgrounds.
As one of the first women to train and be ordained for ministry in Italy, she is treading new paths and hopes to build bridges with the goal of spreading the gospel and nurturing new relationships. Like her predecessors in Catania, Sicily’s second largest city, she is responsible for Lutheran communities across the island, but unlike them, she will be ministering mainly in Italian, her second language after Portuguese.
Art, music and community service
“Most of the community members are older, with Italian husbands who have remained in the Catholic church, so I am trying to listen to their stories, to learn and understand the situation here,” says Lengler, who was ordained in Rome on 7 September. “They are used to living and worshipping in small, isolated groups so one of my first challenges is trying to bring everyone together to understand what the needs are.”
Born in Estrela in southern Brazil, Lengler studied art and theology at university, before teaching for 16 years in both Lutheran and state schools in the region. Her great grandparents had emigrated from Germany to Brazil in the 1880s and the family maintained their strong Lutheran identity. As a young girl, Lengler grew up in the church, taking on various leadership roles in youth ministry, music groups and community service.
Rev. Heidi Lengler kneels during her ordination in Rome on 7 September 2025. Photo: Aline Aurich
Rev. Heidi Lengler with the dean of CELI, Rev. Carsten Gerdes. Photo: Thiago Alves Compagnoni
Rev. Heidi Lengler is welcomed by members of Sicily’s Lutheran community. Photo: Lutheran community, Catania
"I was engaged in many aspects of church life, but it was a school coordinator who asked me if I had considered a vocation to ministry,” Lengler explains. “I went back to university in Brazil, but then I was invited to study for a term in Heidelberg in Germany and afterwards in Venice where I encountered the CELI. They offered me a curacy here and so I got to know the Lutheran community in Rome, but also in Milan, Naples, and Ispra-Varese on the Swiss Italian border.”
Her studies in Venice coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic but also offered opportunities to learn about the vibrant ecumenical and interfaith scene in the lagoon city. During her time there, she studied at the Institute of Ecumenical Studies and lived in a monastery with Franciscan monks, the only woman in a world of Catholic men. “I think in the beginning they were a bit scared of me, but we got used to each other and I was made to feel very welcome,” she recalls. “We also created an interreligious group of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Muslims, meeting monthly to develop deeper interfaith dialogue.”
Ecumenism is key to “opening doors and inviting others in to get to know our community better.”
Rev. Heidi Lengler, newly appointed pastor of the Lutheran community in Sicily.
That ecumenical formation was important for Lengler, preparing her for work in Sicily, which counts 17 Catholic dioceses and a significant Orthodox presence. “Ecumenism works well here in Italy,” she says, “and I was grateful for the many ecumenical guests who came to my ordination in Rome and my installation here in Sicily.” Her hope is to build on those relationships, “opening doors and inviting others in to get to know our community better.”
After just a few weeks in her new role, Lengler is still getting to grips with the culture, the dialects, the bureaucracy and ways of life which are often quite distinct from the rest of the Italian peninsula. “Everything has a different rhythm here and people were afraid it would be hard for me to adapt, especially as I don’t have an Italian driving licence yet and it is not so easy to travel around the island,” she says. “But I am not afraid, and I am learning a lot about life here.”
Traditionally, pastors serving in Sicily have been sent from Germany and ministered in German, a language which Lengler does not speak so fluently. “We will continue to sing hymns in German and also pray in German, but I will be preaching in Italian and many people who came to my installation were very happy to see a pastor who can speak their language well,” she reflects. “I hope this may help me to reach out to family members and interest others who may not yet be involved with our community,” she concludes.
