I used to kid about Martin Luther College being turned into an old age home and live bait shop.
The live bait shop is not included in the motion, but I was clearly prophetic:
ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
1] A.03 MLC/THLA Joint Senior Housing Project 1
Motion made and carried that while the SC acknowledges and appreciates the efforts to think creatively, we are not convinced that the construction and operation of a Joint Senior Housing facility clearly fits with the mission of MLC.
4 comments:
I Googled this up (see bottom of post).
What in the world is going on when the MLC teams up to build a retirement home? I hope synodical mission dollars are going toward this venture. I can see the proposal write-up now: Church & Change will evangelize a captive Baby Boomer audience (in wheelchairs) with Rock & Roll/contemporary Christian music.
Also, is the college campus being used as bank collateral in case the retirement home goes bust, or what? That would be a new and funny way for a WELS college to close:
Martin Luther College and The Lutheran Home Association
Joint Senior Housing Study Committee
Established 5/18/07
http://www.mlc-wels.edu/home/administration/offices/ma/srhousing/srhousingtskfrcmemb/
There was a debate on campus about a year or so ago that when they build this new chapel(should read if they build it) should the residents of one of the nearby retirement homes be included in worship services. They also want to hold Sunday services there because some members of the WELS churches in New Ulm don't take kindly to the students. That is pretty obvious when New Ulm residents drive by the campus at night and hurl apples and rocks at MLC students walking around campus.
President Mark Zarling spoke to this issue directly. He said that this study in no way means that this retirement facility is definitely going to be built. He said all they are doing is looking into the possibility.
Also, President Zarling said he's not overly sold on this idea himself. He said it could potentially pose a problem in recruiting students for the ministry as they see a nice, new facility for elderly residents, while these prospective students see that they are going to have to reside in an old, outdated dorm facility. That was just one of his apprehensions. From what I gathered from Zarling, and his thoughts on this, it doesn't seem all that likely that this idea will ever be more than that: an idea.
I've heard the complaint before that the New Ulm campus is overcrowded, and they have satellite dorms some ways off campus. And here they want to build a retirement home right next to the campus?! Typical WELS planning. Basically, anyone with a load of cash to spend gets his way in the WELS whether it makes sense or not. And then it ends up costing the WELS a lot of cash in the end. It's sort of like the people who donate eternal candles or decorative landscaping lights to the church, but then don't donate any paraffin or money for the electricity bill!
Of course, the retirement facility next to the college would put into graphic terms just how moribund the WELS is, and how its only growing demographic is senior citizens! Anyway, they should build a dorm instead of a retirement facility, and move the seminary to New Ulm where it could share in the big library and be accredited to boot. Also, the seminarians could date the female students, too. The price of gas is not going to stay low for long, meaning the 400-mile trek to New Ulm will be out of reach for most seminarians, unless they sell their Book of Concord for gas money, that is.
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