[Magdalen] Seminary news

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Judy, the year before the 'dust up' with the 6 tenured staff being fired, I 
was told that General was no longer letting vendors on their campus, on 
orders from the Dean. He was in the business of re-inventing the seminary - 
financially, property wise (inside and out) and creatively re-thinking 
seminary education with a 'brand' which I think has attracted seminarians. I 
think he looked on the presence of  Vestment Vendors as Biblical 'sellers in 
the Temple'. Seriously.

I started visiting/displaying there annually in 2002 and became very 
attached to the campus even though I stayed around the corner and down the 
street at The Leo House on 23rd st. I attended MP and EP and knew many of 
the Profs as they lived on campus. The year my display visit was declined 
initially, I contacted my 'contact' and sent a note about how much a part of 
the community I felt on my short annual visits, that I was a practicing 
Episcopalian and offered a service to the students... which apparently sent 
the Dean over the top as he thought/decided that all vendors had no place in 
an institution of learning (I heard from several, who I know well, after we 
were all forbidden to visit).

I do think that General is on a better financial footing than they were for 
a while after their hoped-for master plan did not happen (more on that 
below). They got tied up in the legal requirements of historical accuracy 
for their much-needed repairs on the chapel and original buildings, which 
almost bankrupted them. The Tutu center was sold maybe 6 years ago? to a 
large hotel name and fronts on 20th & 6th taking up a big corner on the SW 
part of the block. The frontage on 7th Ave was to have been a high-rise 
condo development owned by the Seminary, with income from sales benefitting 
the renovation but it was fought in court for a number of years (following 
the Donald Trump apartment high high-rises, also in the Chelsea area from 
the '70s that were much reviled due to their size) even though they kept 
lowering the number of floors until finally they sold the 7th Ave frontage 
which is now retail at street level and apartments or condos above but only 
moderately high.  Their main entrance (formerly the location of the dumpster 
access on 21st) morphed over the last 7 years and finally looks like the 
entrance to the secret garden but even when I visited to walk around the 
close last year there is still not a sign that is perpendicular to the 
building so that the location can be indentified by standing at either end 
of the long block... only a simple flat sign mounted over the entrance.  I 
think they are on a path toward a better financial situation.

For me, all of this was another growing pain of living into changes 
everywhere, when I wish there weren't so many. Sigh.

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

"Mercy and compassion are more than personal options. They are the antidotes 
to that fear and hatred." Mark Singel


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From: "Judy Fleener" <fleenerj at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2019 12:57 PM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Seminary news

> Do you visit General at all, Lynn?  When I read about Trinity and CDSP I
> was wishing it mifght have been General.  I'm not sure why.
>
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2019 at 12:31 PM Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> Did anyone read that Trinity Church NYC has bought CDSP? Interesting
>> development and life preserving for the seminary. Of additional note was
>> that EDS, late of Cambridge MA, had moved to Union Seminary in NYC (which 
>> I
>> was delighted to hear from a business standpoint and had just discovered
>> several weeks ago while poking around Union's website).
>>
>> Lynn
>
>
>
> -- 
> Judy Fleener, ObJN,SSH
> Western Michigan