[Magdalen] GTS

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Difficult situation as this Dean came on board charged with creating change 
and cleaning up. At GTS and EDS RADICAL things have been done to trim costs, 
sell property/buildings, all of which create huge friction around the 
history and treasured memories  of a place. Mix that unease with hard 
decisions, some good, perhaps some not so good and the recipe is almost 
always going to be hard to swallow.  When the person making the hard 
decisions is unable to hold things together because their default is to bear 
down and insulate themselves, that is their problem in my opinion, 
regardless of how everyone else reacts because a bold leader does not have 
to have an iron fist...and it is always sad when a church leader has an iron 
fist, miter, or biretta...

One of my concerns involves the radical change of worship on campus.  Last 
year when I visited I was a bit shocked that there was no longer a daily 
office.  On past visits I always prayed the office (MP & EP) with the 
community (along with others not affiliated with the seminary, in the area, 
in fact for many years there was a large sign out on 9th Ave welcoming 
people off the street to pray with the community, with times listed). Every 
seminary community that I visit regularly has daily worship (not just 'our' 
seminaries) which is also very tied into the curriculum.... and to be sure 
it is not always 'traditional' by any means. It is in many places a vehicle 
for experimentation. It is not molded after one person's idea of what 
worship should look like. It is a place of teaching as well as seminarians 
carry the idea of variety to their new assignments after they are priested. 
The move to so radically change and reduce time spend in worshipping 
together speaks to me of a sea change that is misplaced in a seminary 
setting.

As a 'convert' to TEC in my late 20s, I have seen so many of the pushes and 
pulls our whole church has experienced over the last 40 years as a big 
result of s-t-r-e-t-c-h-I-n-g our big tent to accommodate not only the 
'unchurched' inside but also 'refugees' from other denominations who felt 
called to become Episcopalians but just couldn't seem to  leave some of 
their 'cradle' theologies behind and some have brought us extreme 
fundamentalism of one sort or the other to a parish or parishes and even 
sometimes whole dioceses.

Many of the faculty at EDS voted 'no support' of their Dean at the end of 
spring term. I have not followed that closely and did not visit there this 
past year.  It seems as though the faculty at GTS was also triangulating 
because of the unique set-up at General where the national church, PB, etc 
are somewhat involved, which makes their actions look a bit like an end 
run... not a good place be either.

just sayin'... AND prayin'
Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck

Thomas Merton writes, "People may spend their whole lives climbing the 
ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is 
leaning against the wrong wall."

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Cantor03--- via Magdalen" <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 10:45 AM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] GTS

>
>
> In a message dated 9/30/2014 10:58:34 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> jguthrie at pipeline.com writes:
>
> And the  "strike" seems to have a certain element of "We're going to hold
> our
> breath until you stop being so mean!">>>>
>
> I think the only thing clear in this mess is that there can be no
> real winners:
>
> (1) In this scenario, the Dean and the faculty dissidents come to
>     some sort of middle ground and remain in  place.  I don't see how
>     there can ever be trust on either side, and the  wounds would be
>     very slow, if not impossible to heal.
>
> (2) The Dean resigns leaving the faculty intact.  Pity the new Dean
>      who must step over the war injured and  attempt to be leader.
>
> (3)  The Dean resigns and the dissident faculty resignations are  also
>       accepted, leaving a residual  carry-over faculty of three.  A
>       qualified and dedicated replacement  faculty would be difficult
>       to put in place to say the  least.
>
> Are there other options?  I can't think of any.
>
>
> David Strang - who thanks the Lord that I didn't end up at Nashotah
>                        Seminary, which was close to happening.
>
>