By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
March 31, 2010
General Theological Seminary in New York City is in deep financial trouble. A source told VOL that the problem is a negative cash flow of anywhere from two to four million dollars.A press release from The Board of Trustees of the seminary of the Episcopal Church said they met recently and resolved to move forward in finding the financial resources necessary to meet fiscal challenges that have recently surfaced in connection with its search for a new Dean and President.
In December, the current Dean, the Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing announced his intention to retire once his replacement has been hired.
The situation is so critical that at the conclusion of the Board's meeting on March 29, Board Chair, the Rev. Canon Denis O'Pray, said trustees determined to ask the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, in response to her willingness to help, to convene a special think tank.
The think tank would be composed of board members and other Episcopal Church leaders. The group will address the Seminary's pressing financial concerns in the context of the Church's overall needs for theological education.
On hearing the news, Joel MacCollam, CEO of A Child's Hope Fund in Oceanside, CA, GTS '72, canonical Diocese of Albany tentmaker-priest serving 28+ years and CEO of several international humanitarian non-profits, wrote angrily to VOL, asking, "How can a Finance Committee of the Trustees not know about this sort of thing? Are they incompetent at GTS at the Trustee level? Are they independently audited? Do they have an audit committee? This is all part of what a non-profit organization is expected to have.
"Further questions include will the alumni/ae be advised of this situation as it stands today? Or do we need to wait for a conclusion to be reached and then a fundraising letter? The news as presented in this media release is distressing in multiple ways. One distress is that an outside consultant had to discover this, and not the Finance Committee. If a search process had not been started, when might this crisis have eventually been discovered?"
One of the seminary's more infamous students is former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, who resigned from office in 2004 after admitting he was homosexual, and subsequently found a welcome home in Chelsea, where he has been studying to become a priest in the Episcopal Church.
McGreevey enrolled in the General Theological Seminary and studied under David Lowry, director of GTS's Desmond Tutu Center for Peace and Reconciliation. The former governor expects to earn his Masters in Divinity next year.
