The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

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GJ - I want to offer my thanks to all our military, past and present, who have given us the freedom and prosperity we enjoy today. They and their families have sacrificed a great deal to serve the country they love.

We often think of the soldier's sacrifice, but their spouses and children, parents, brothers, and sisters also pay a price. They miss their loved ones serving abroad in many different countries. We get to have more family time, but they feel the separation more acutely, on Independence Day and all other holidays.

Lefty Piscy Sems Losing Students, Funds, Faculty

Bow! Bow! To the Rainbow PB Elect!

Faculty at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary to lose jobs

Officials at Evanston Episcopal school insist it is not closing

By Manya A. Brachear | Chicago Tribune reporter

April 25, 2008


Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, one of 11 schools in the U.S. dedicated to preparing Episcopal priests, told tenured faculty on Thursday that their jobs would end next year.

Officials at the Evanston seminary insist the school is not closing, but that it is redefining its approach for preparing men and women for priesthood. Earlier this year, the school stopped accepting new candidates and advised first-year students that they should enroll in other seminaries if they wish to earn their degrees from an Episcopal institution.

For more than a century, seminarians have traditionally enrolled in a three-year residential program to earn a master's of divinity degree that prepares them for the priesthood. Seminary officials said the school would explore the possibility of offering the degree in other formats such as distance learning or short-term residential stints.

"We want to bring the traditional excellence and depth of residential theological education to the new challenges and realities of the 21st Century," said Rev. Gary Hall, dean and president of Seabury-Western. "People can't afford to come here. We need to figure out how to bring it to them."

Of the nation's 11 accredited Episcopal seminaries, three have taken steps to downsize. In recent months Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., sold some of its campus to Lesley University in Boston. And Bexley Hall Seminary closed its campus in Rochester, N.Y. to consolidate its program in Columbus, Ohio in partnership with Trinity Lutheran Seminary.

Seabury-Western is the only school to stop admitting students.

Experts say its fate highlights the challenges facing many shrinking mainline Protestant denominations. Some also suggest that it's a symptom of the theological polarization within the church since the 2003 approval of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson—the church's first openly gay bishop.

On Thursday, the seminary's board of trustees declared an imminent financial crisis, a required step in order to end the employment of tenured faculty. The seminary's budget is projected to run a $500,000 shortfall for the current fiscal year. Annual expenditures are projected to run $2.9 million. Seabury-Western also carries a $3.5 million debt.

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Lane Hensley shares his thoughts

I’m writing as an alum of Seabury as well as a Trustee. Those of us who are trustees are hearing good, honest, and difficult questions about Seabury’s major announcements and about its future. Chief among those questions has been, “Why should anyone give money to Seabury now, if Seabury is getting out of the residential M.Div. business? Does the Seabury I know even exist anymore?”

Yes we do, and I want to offer my own thoughts to explain why I think it’s imperative that everyone continue to give to Seabury. It’s this simple: Seabury still has 20 M.Div. and 35 D.Min. students enrolled, students who bring valuable gifts and hopes for ministry that everyone preceding them did. They deserve the same high-quality educational formation for ministry that Seabury has been giving and continues to give, and the church deserves to have them equipped as leaders for Christ. We need to make that happen.