Staffing upheaval at Luther Seminary
The following statement was issued today by Rick Bliese, President of Luther Seminary in St. Paul (Minn.):
Dear Friends,
I have the following difficult announcement to make.
Dean of Students
I want to announce to the Seminary community that Patricia Lull, Dean of Students, has informed me that in light of differences about enrollment goals and the best strategies for achieving them at Luther Seminary, she has decided to leave her position effective the end of the month.
I will convene a process that will immediately begin the search for a leader for the admissions/student services area whose experience and gifts are closely aligned with the Seminary’s strategic goals and needs.
In the meantime, Erica Kennedy, Assistant Director of Financial Aid, will serve as Interim Dean of Students. She will focus on student life and activities and serve as a member of the Administrative Cabinet.
Seminary Pastor’s Office
Although we have seen strong support in donor gifts, tuition income and support from the ELCA and partner synods is significantly down, with shortfalls larger than projected. Since we expect these shortfalls to continue for many years until the church regains financial strength, we need to make difficult choices to balance our operational budget.
(CONTINUED)
With regret, and due to budget constraints, the office of the Seminary Pastor will be downsized. We are eliminating the support staff position, currently held by Laurie Mandery, and reducing the pastoral position to part-time status.
In light of this, John Mann has chosen to resign and pursue other pastoral opportunities. He will continue to serve until the end of January. I will be appointing a part-time, interim pastor to this position to help us finish out the academic year. After January 31, please direct any concerns regarding chapel to Kris Rongstad.
I believe Luther Seminary needs a more robust pastoral office than part-time staffing will provide. Nevertheless, financial realities force us to make difficult decisions. With only a part-time position in place, we will need to re-imagine how to organize our care of the community and worship life. I will be working closely with the faculty to achieve this end.
Transition
These changes have been discussed with Laurie Mandery, as well as Patricia and John and their respective staffs. As a community we will offer them our support, counsel and prayers during these transitions. Faculty members Theresa Latini and Gary Wilkerson have made themselves available to the Seminary community for conversation, care and support. Please feel free to contact them.
I will make myself available in the OCC Boardroom during lunch on Tuesday, January 19th for public conversation about these changes to the Cabinet. I will also be attending Community Lunch on Wednesday, January 20th, and would be happy to speak then. Naturally, you may also call or send me e-mails at any time.
I would welcome the chance to talk.
Pax,
Rick Bliese
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Tags: Bliese, dean of students, Lull, Luther, seminary
January 15th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Ouch. Somehow, Susan, I get the feeling you’re going to be reporting a lot of stories like this in the months to come.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
The leaders of the ELCA never counted the cost before the vote last August. They also are disconnected from the reality of what the laity believes. It is not the number of churches leaving, it is the number of people walking out the doors, congregations in conflict, and divided churches.
I think ultimately if one of the largest ELCA seminaries is going through this, some of the smaller ones on the margin will close.
In our synod, there are several churches that used to have over 400 in attendance that are laying off staff and may actually go bankrupt. That doesn’t count the six that are leaving, most of them very healthy and vibrant churches.
And so it goes.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Sorry to hear this news, especially sad to hear about Laurie Mandery. She has been a faithful employee of the Seminary from back in the “old days” of Luther Northwestern … seems a shame to treat someone who has worked there for over 20 years this way.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Rick Bliese is one of our strongest leaders and I trust his judgment in difficult times.
This is just the beginning of what Rick says in his letter may be “many difficult years” ahead.
The truth is, there is (substantially) less support for the post CWA ELCA than there was for the pre CWA ELCA. Thus the vote in Minneapolis put the church in a position that is (much) less supported. People give voluntarily and have lots of choices about where to give. They support causes about which they feel strongly.
The CWA vote put many Middle America ELCA members into a feeling of ambiguity all the way up to hostility toward the new direction of the church. Ambiguity and hostility do not produce offering dollars.
To tell them that they are obligated to give toward something for which they feel deep misgivings is patronizing.
Also, to tell them that this is not a “gospel” issue is patronizing. It simply is a deal breaker for many people and everyone is entitled to a few good deal breakers. That’s called having good boundaries.
Our national church will survive this. We have something of value which the Lord will bless us to preserve.
But our current corporation and its structure may not survive.
January 15th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
I think David is right.
That’s also why I don’t … and can’t … serve among “Middle American Lutherans” anymore.
It is painting with a broad brush, but I generally find Pacific NW Lutherans more magnanimous toward the larger church, and willing to “cut them some slack” even if they don’t agree with the August vote. That may well be our more independent spirit out here in Seattle. The people I live and serve with don’t see this as a deal-breaker. Midwesterners are entitled to their opinion, but they also need to realize that their choosing not to give is hurting more people than just those within driving distance of Lake Wobegon.
January 15th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
To blame the downsizing of seminaries/the ELCA on CWA is such a narrow vision in my opinion. As we all know, things have been in decline way before CWA09. I will say that some of the withdrawal of funds have finally awakened people to make decisions that should have been made 10 years ago.
Let’s face it, the cost of seminary is high and there is a fairly big staff at each of the seminaries, yet are there that many people clamoring to go to seminary that 8 of them are needed? Maybe before the 60s there were, but the church as a whole (not just Lutheran) has been in decline since the 60s, yet we are still operating as if it were the 50s.
I remember talk 10 years ago when I went to seminary about 1 of them closing, but that never happened.
Personally, I think discussions around re-organization around the ELCA has been a long time coming, but to say that all of this is a result of CWA is just too shortsighted in my opinion.
January 15th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
“Upheaval” might be a strong word …
A difference in strategic vision has led the Dean to depart. The Dean’s position hasn’t been eliminated … it is just vacant right now.
Thus, the only “downsizing” is in the Seminary Pastor’s office – a full time call to a pastor and a full-time assistant have been downsized to a half-time call to a pastor. Sad, for sure, but hardly a crisis.
In fact, I attended two Lutheran seminaries during my years as a Master of Divinity student, neither of which had a campus pastor. Some students called for such a position, though the pastoral care task was filled by other (called, ordained) staff. Surely this is a loss for the Luther community, but let’s not go to extremes yet (I saw that there’s a new Facebook group for people concerned about the future of Luther seminary, for example).
The hard truth is that the seminary is not generating income as it used to, so something has to go. The good news is that most seminarians have home pastors, and/or mentor pastors, and professors who take their pastoral role seriously.
(This gets to the issue of the identity of our seminaries – are they degree-granting institutions, or places of theological and vocational formation? Surely the two are not exclusive, but I do think there is a tension on some of our seminary campuses, particularly when it comes to issues related to the importance of spirituality, worship life, and pastoral care of the community and students … but that’s stuff for another day.)
January 15th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Recession.
Recession.
Recession.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Susan, with all due respect, I was a CWA voting member. We were told during the report of the treasurer things were relatively good, despite the recession. Now we are told this is all due to recession. I agree with you, the recession has had an impact. But so has CWA, and much more than people generally think. I just wish more ELCA leaders like the Luther president don’t remain in denial and deal with it. Leaders need to lead in a crisis.
January 16th, 2010 at 9:14 am
A side comment with respect to the “campus pastor” versus “other” seminary faculty, staff, etc. assuming pastoral roles on campus. There is an issue here of confidentiality: a campus pastor, as with other pastors, is bound to keep confidential what is told to them under the normally understood ethical protocol. That is not the case with other faculty/staff. As employees of the ELCA, their first obligation and loyalty is to the ELCA (including candidacy persons and Board members), not to the one who comes before them. Individual ordained ELCA seminary employees may make individual decisions about that, but as a policy matter there is no expectation of confidentiality. Seminarians, family members, and others with a ‘stake’ in the seminary community and process should be very careful with whom they share confidences. I learned this lesson, and this role difference, painfully when the campus pastor position was eliminated during my matriculation.
January 16th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
It’s not just the recession. It’s not just CWA vote. It’s not just the move toward a post-denominational world. It’s not just our being out of touch with explosive global Lutheranism which is more or less Pentecostal. It’s not just our inability to reach out in the US past Anglo whites. It’s not just the rapid aging of the ELCA membership (in many of our churches we have a retired majority attending worship). It’s not just our strident Euro-centricity in our worship vibe. It’s not just the demographic move away from the Lutheran heartland in regional population patterns. It’s not just our inability to create meaningful branding. It’s not just elite, blue-voting leaders out of touch with the red-voting grass roots. It’s not just post-modernity. It’s not just that we Lutherans base our theology on confessions that have no explicit missiology.
It’s all of the above.
It’s the perfect storm.
It’s an ecclesiastical Katrina in slow motion.
But, like New Orleans, we’ll get through this.
January 18th, 2010 at 8:52 am
A few comments about some of the responses here (in reverse order):
@David Housholder: That is a great summary of our situation—indeed, “the perfect storm.” As to your final comparison with New Orleans, and having just been there, that too may fit but perhaps not in the way you intended—though maybe it is. NOLA is still there and functioning but also still seriously wounded.
@Leslie: I have no doubt what you say is true but what a sad comment on the state of ordained ministry. Every ordained pastor is bound to respect the confidentiality of conversations, regardless of their positions. As an alternative, at the very least they should make clear that positions they hold may require them to disclose information they receive in such conversations and/or request permission of the person involved to disclose such information. Nonetheless, Leslie, as I said, I know your experience is not unique. How do we forget the most basic standards of pastoral ethics?
@Jeff: The financial report presented at CWA09 may have been accurate at the time. The affects of a recession are rolling and are experienced at different levels at different times. Hence, unemployment typically remains high long after a recession is officially declared to be “over.” That seems to be especially true in this case and my impression is that many congregations did not see a significant drop in contributions until this past fall—and not just Lutheran ones. While the actions of CWA09 are a part of the problem, I think it was also just coincidental that the recession’s wave crested (if it has!) at about the same time.
One last observation: As I see these events rock the church one after another, I keep wondering: Where is the leadership? (The silence from Higgins Road after the Augsburg Fortress pension fiasco was deafening.) It must be obvious by now that the ELCA is in need of a major makeover: Who is going to lead that? Right now is doesn’t seem like those currently in leadership positions have the vision or the energy for the task.
January 18th, 2010 at 10:35 am
While David is right that the ELCA and the US are in the midst of a “perfect storm,” as someone in higher ed who just heard a state of the university report this morning, I can tell you that this is not just an ELCA seminary issue. All of us are facing enrollment issues matched with a question about how much to discount our tuitions to retain enrollment/retention numbers while not undercutting ourselves out of business.
This is much more dire for institutions like our seminaries and Ivys like Harvard that rely on their endowments for operational support. I was in seminary 2002-2005 and my husband was in seminary from 2001-2004. We heard during our entire tenure the difficult financial situation that seminaries were facing because of the pressure to keep student debt as low as possible while maintaining a balanced budget. When the first early signs of recession were showing in 2002, endowments were showing unrealized strain. However, the need to discount tuition was also growing greater than ever with parish salaries also dropping.
I heard the “we’re ok” reports at CWA with the ear that I have developed listening to financial reports in seminary and in my work in higher ed. We’re doing ok means that we’re stable at this moment. We’ll figure it out tends to be the continual mindset. They didn’t know what was going to happen for sure until the 20th day after the start of fall semester when official matriculation numbers are available.
Students are more and more unwilling to embark on graduate school that will not return on the investment. Especially when the system expects great expenses on relocation multiple times during the education process.
What I see is a need to reevaluation of the ministry equipping process within the framework that all higher education is facing a need to restructure to face a new economy and learning environment. It will be interesting to see what evolves to meet this new day.
January 18th, 2010 at 11:24 am
With all due respect, CWA ’09 cannot be ignored as a major cause of ELCA’s financial woes. Since the vote, I have not contributed one dime that could end up going to the Churchwide organization. I continue to support my congregation but have re-directed all of my giving to restricted funds that will stay in my congregation; in addition, I now send some of my contributions directly to charities I support. I personally know others who have done the same, and I know that Lutheran CORE and other groups are encouraging people to act similarly.
For me, this is a “make or break” issue. I have no plans to give to ELCA ever again. In my opinion, ELCA is teaching a heterodox message that is unacceptable and that I will not support. This is non-negotiable until somebody can convince me that the Bible does not say what it means and mean what it says. I believe that when CWA acted as it did it was doing nothing less than encouraging people to sin rather than to seek forgiveness for their sins, and I believe that leading others to sin is a serious sin in its own right. Rather than being compassionate to sinners, ELCA has effectively given them false hope and encouraged them to further destructive behavior. That is not the type of church organization I will support.
An organization that relies on voluntary contributions from members cannot act as the ELCA did and still expect people to continue to contribute at the same level. When CWA acted as it did, its action led to an all too predictable reaction. This is not to say that ELCA should always act in the way that it most popular or most likely to cause giving to increase; however, it is to say that ELCA cannot sow seeds and then ignore or decry the crop that grows as a result of the seeds that were sown.