Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw News

MLS safe for a while
Posted by AMY PAYNE August 06, 2007 19:19PM
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has a financial plan to support its offerings -- including Michigan Lutheran Seminary -- but there's no guarantee the synod won't revisit the possibility of closing the school.

"It was about keeping our ministerial education program strong," said Joel Hochmuth, communications director for the synod, of Thursday's decision by synod leaders to keep the school going at 2777 Hardin near Court on Saginaw's West Side.

"It's not one of those things where we're going to fund MLS into perpetuity."

The synod, will, however, extend the school's allocation into 2009. In fact, Michigan Lutheran Seminary will host the synod's next biannual conference in summer 2009, Hochmuth said.

***

Lutherans to ante up for Seminary
Tuesday, August 07, 2007AMY PAYNETHE SAGINAW NEWS
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has a financial plan to support its offerings -- including Michigan Lutheran Seminary -- but there's no guarantee the synod won't revisit the possibility of closing the school.

"It was about keeping our ministerial education program strong," Joel Hochmuth, communications director for the synod, said of Thursday's decision by synod leaders to keep the school going at 2777 Hardin at Court on Saginaw's West Side.

"It's not one of those things where we're going to fund MLS into perpetuity."

The synod, will, however, extend the school's allocation into 2009. In fact, Michigan Lutheran Seminary will host the synod's next biennial conference in summer 2009, Hochmuth said.

Delegates at the synod's convention, which wrapped up Friday, passed a $2 million addition to the ministerial education budget for the 2008-09 school year.

The synod allocates $2 million each year to Michigan Lutheran Seminary.

With more money for world missions as well, synod leaders said they would need

$3 million to $4 million more from congregations to pay for the expansion. The synod will ask members to contribute to a special offering to reduce the church's debt.

If the funding drive "doesn't bear fruit," the synod will trim from administrative budgets before cutting back on education or missions, Hochmuth said.

Closing Seminary remains a possibility, though, especially if the church still finds itself in financial trouble down the road.

"It's never off the table," Hochmuth said.

Thursday's decision wasn't the first time closure threatened Michigan Lutheran Seminary. Synod leaders rejected a similar proposal 15 years ago.

Amy Payne is a staff writer. You may reach her at 776-9687.


***


Friday, August 10, 2007
Welcome back, Michigan Lutheran Seminary.

Even though it never really closed up shop and left town, many of us were afraid it might.

Amen to decision about Seminary

Earlier this year, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod officials recommended closing the 241-student Saginaw high school after the 2007-08 school year because of a $2.3 million deficit in the synod's budget. Seminary's annual allocation is $2 million.


Last week, synod delegates in New Ulm, Minn., decided to keep the school open -- even if just temporarily.

Thank God.

In the 122 years since it opened its doors, the school on Hardin near Court on the city's West Side has graduated 700 future pastors and 1,400 future teachers from its hallowed halls.

Closure would've sent packing 60 staffers, all of whom live in Saginaw or Saginaw Township -- where they pay taxes, keep up their homes, spend money in the local economy and contribute to the quality of life of those around them -- and forced the school's 241 students to find an education somewhere else. Last year, Seminary enrolled students from five countries and Wisconsin Synod churches from all over the United States, which adds a bit of a cosmopolitan touch to the learning process.

Seminary is Saginaw County's third-largest private high school -- after Nouvel Catholic Central and Valley Lutheran -- and its oldest.

Sometimes people merely co-exist with students and schools near their houses. But in Seminary's case, its closure would've put a sword into the side of its tree-shaded, homey neighborhood, which benefits from the energy and stability the school provides.

Saginaw Mayor Carol B. Cottrell, obviously pleased upon hearing Seminary would stay, made no bones about the positive neighborhood impact the school has had.

"You can see the kids walking down to Fuzzy's (restaurant) or down to the Court Street Theatre," she told The Saginaw News. "When you have a building sitting shuttered, it affects the vitality of the neighborhood."

So, Saginaw certainly needs Seminary. There's still that $2.3 million, but the synod says it is working on it.

In any case, we all can give thanks, and amens all around, for the good news out of New Ulm.

GJ Note - Someone was outraged that I posted about the WELS Curia stabbling MLS in the back. My impeccable source, Diablo, told me about this. Above is the proof. Hochmuth sounds like a mouthpiece for President-in-Waiting Mueller.