Ilze Kuplēna-Juarte
(born 1952 in Kilmarnock, Scotland, UK) – pastor and emerita dean
As a Latvian growing up in the UK, she often felt different—braided hair, a foreign name, traditions, and language. Yet these very experiences shaped her into a person committed to equality and justice for all.
She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a bachelor’s degree in social psychology, then studied theology at Oxford. Ilze was ordained in 1983, and her first posting was at the Latvian Lutheran congregation in London. In 1988, she moved to Germany, serving the congregations of Münster, Bielefeld, and Osnabrück, and teaching at the Latvian Gymnasium in Münster.
In 1990, Ilze gave lectures in Riga at the Theological Seminary (later the Faculty of Theology at the University of Latvia). She would have liked to live in Latvia with her family, but since women were no longer being ordained there, she would not have been able to serve as a pastor if they returned. Responding to the call of St. Andrew’s Latvian congregation in Toronto, part of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (LELBA), she moved to Canada, where she served from 1997 to 2020 before retiring. She held the office of dean of LELBA’s Canada Region and served as dean of the Eastern Synod center of the Canadian Lutheran Church in Toronto.
Since retirement, Ilze continues to lead worship, mainly in Canadian and Danish congregations, sometimes also in Latvian. Funeral ministry alongside her daughter Māra has been especially meaningful. She also offers personal growth consultations to clergy and helps congregations plan for the future. Her ministry and public work are closely tied to Latvian diaspora life and ecumenical relations within the church. She also serves as chair of the Latvian National Association in Canada.
Ilze believes that our deepest calling is to be authentic, and that the Church’s message in contemporary society is to teach us to hold together, respect and support one another, and to explore the unknown collectively.
Bible, Latvian edition, 1967, printed in London. Gifted to Ilze Kuplēna-Ewart on her ordination day, December 3, 1983, in Coventry, UK.
When I went to study theology, I had no intention of becoming a pastor. I resisted it with all my body and mind. Dean Ringolds Mužiks never once said anything against it. But when I realized I had to do it, he said: ‘Thank God, finally!’
The fact that he inscribed the passage from First Timothy about having no fear was very significant—he understood what it would mean for me as the first woman on this side of the ocean with a calling to serve and lead Latvian congregations. He foresaw that the path would not be easy. The gifted Bible became so dear to me that I could not use it—it was sacred to me. I had another Bible for daily use, which eventually fell apart, but not this one.
I can sit with someone in the final hours and minutes of their life. Once, a friend called me to a nursing home because her mother was dying. She said: my mother loved singing. We took a songbook and simply sang together until she passed. What could be more beautiful than that?
Order of worship
Author Reverend Andrejs Dombrovskis, published in Philadelphia, USA, 1957. Belonged to the first Latvian Lutheran pastor, Agnes Pone (1898–1977), ordained in 1974 in Esslingen, Germany. Ilze Kuplēna-Juarte donated the item from her collection for the purposes of the exhibition.Ilze Kuplēna-Juarte
(born 1952 in Kilmarnock, Scotland, UK) – pastor and emerita dean
As a Latvian growing up in the UK, she often felt different—braided hair, a foreign name, traditions, and language. Yet these very experiences shaped her into a person committed to equality and justice for all.
She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a bachelor’s degree in social psychology, then studied theology at Oxford. Ilze was ordained in 1983, and her first posting was at the Latvian Lutheran congregation in London. In 1988, she moved to Germany, serving the congregations of Münster, Bielefeld, and Osnabrück, and teaching at the Latvian Gymnasium in Münster.
In 1990, Ilze gave lectures in Riga at the Theological Seminary (later the Faculty of Theology at the University of Latvia). She would have liked to live in Latvia with her family, but since women were no longer being ordained there, she would not have been able to serve as a pastor if they returned. Responding to the call of St. Andrew’s Latvian congregation in Toronto, part of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (LELBA), she moved to Canada, where she served from 1997 to 2020 before retiring. She held the office of dean of LELBA’s Canada Region and served as dean of the Eastern Synod center of the Canadian Lutheran Church in Toronto.
Since retirement, Ilze continues to lead worship, mainly in Canadian and Danish congregations, sometimes also in Latvian. Funeral ministry alongside her daughter Māra has been especially meaningful. She also offers personal growth consultations to clergy and helps congregations plan for the future. Her ministry and public work are closely tied to Latvian diaspora life and ecumenical relations within the church. She also serves as chair of the Latvian National Association in Canada.
Ilze believes that our deepest calling is to be authentic, and that the Church’s message in contemporary society is to teach us to hold together, respect and support one another, and to explore the unknown collectively.
Bible, Latvian edition, 1967, printed in London. Gifted to Ilze Kuplēna-Ewart on her ordination day, December 3, 1983, in Coventry, UK.
“When I went to study theology, I had no intention of becoming a pastor. I resisted it with all my body and mind. Dean Ringolds Mužiks never once said anything against it. But when I realized I had to do it, he said: ‘Thank God, finally!’
The fact that he inscribed the passage from First Timothy about having no fear was very significant—he understood what it would mean for me as the first woman on this side of the ocean with a calling to serve and lead Latvian congregations. He foresaw that the path would not be easy. The gifted Bible became so dear to me that I could not use it—it was sacred to me. I had another Bible for daily use, which eventually fell apart, but not this one.”
I can sit with someone in the final hours and minutes of their life. Once, a friend called me to a nursing home because her mother was dying. She said: my mother loved singing. We took a songbook and simply sang together until she passed. What could be more beautiful than that?
Order of worship
Author Reverend Andrejs Dombrovskis, published in Philadelphia, USA, 1957. Belonged to the first Latvian Lutheran pastor, Agnes Pone (1898–1977), ordained in 1974 in Esslingen, Germany. Ilze Kuplēna-Juarte donated the item from her collection for the purposes of the exhibition.
