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| Lutheran Seminary President Richard Bliese (r) resigned from his office immediately, mid-year, in the face of a $4 million shortfall. Luther is the largest Lutheran seminary in America. Bliese is a Seminex graduate. Apparently, graduating from the first gay Lutheran seminary is a career advantage in ELCA. WELS UOJ expert Richard Jungkuntz chaired the awkwardly nicknamed school. |
The earlier story about Richard Bliese is here.
bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Head of Luther Seminary in St. Paul resigns amid f...":
The latest Concordia Seminary St. Louis publication, Winter 2013, is entitled "The Challenge of Student Debt" and is subtitled "When debt distracts pastors, congregations suffer."
On p. 4 it says on Call Day 2013, half the pastors will have $39,000 in total debt. It gives the breakdown as:
1 in 4 will owe $4 grand.
2 in 4 will owe $39 grand.
1 in 4 will owe $80 grand.
The weighted average of the above figures are $40.5 grand.
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| Richard J. Foss is the interim president of Luther Seminary. He is a former ELCA bishop. |
LUTHER SEMINARY ANNOUNCES INTERIM PRESIDENT
St. Paul, Minn—(Dec. 14, 2012)— The Luther Seminary Board of Directors is pleased to announce they have named Richard J. Foss as interim president of Luther Seminary.
Rick Foss has been at Luther Seminary since 2008, when he became director of Contextual Learning. He previously served as bishop for the Eastern North Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), a position he held since 1992.
Foss holds a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.; a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary; and a Master of Theology from Luther Northwestern Seminary. He was ordained in 1971 and has served congregations in Minnesota, North Dakota and Washington. In 1995, he was named as one of three finalists for presiding bishop of the ELCA. He has served the governing boards of Luther Seminary; Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.; and Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, among others.
“We are so fortunate to have found such a strong leader who already understands and believes in the mission of Luther Seminary,” said Board Chair Jim Lindus. “While we considered many candidates from around the country, Rick was clearly the right choice.” Foss will assume the responsibilities of interim president on January 1, 2013.
One of Foss’ top priorities will be to work with Dr. Bill Frame, interim CFO, and others to resolve the short-term fiscal issues. Progress has already been made as new financial controls and managements systems have been introduced. A plan will be implemented to enhance the seminary’s financial strength and viability, leveraging the strong financial assets that are already in place.
“We thank Rick for his willingness to lead in this time of transition and are pleased to work with him in this capacity,” said Lindus. The seminary looks forward to embracing challenges and opportunities while continuing to live out its mission.
***Rick Foss has been at Luther Seminary since 2008, when he became director of Contextual Learning. He previously served as bishop for the Eastern North Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), a position he held since 1992.
Foss holds a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.; a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary; and a Master of Theology from Luther Northwestern Seminary. He was ordained in 1971 and has served congregations in Minnesota, North Dakota and Washington. In 1995, he was named as one of three finalists for presiding bishop of the ELCA. He has served the governing boards of Luther Seminary; Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.; and Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, among others.
“We are so fortunate to have found such a strong leader who already understands and believes in the mission of Luther Seminary,” said Board Chair Jim Lindus. “While we considered many candidates from around the country, Rick was clearly the right choice.” Foss will assume the responsibilities of interim president on January 1, 2013.
One of Foss’ top priorities will be to work with Dr. Bill Frame, interim CFO, and others to resolve the short-term fiscal issues. Progress has already been made as new financial controls and managements systems have been introduced. A plan will be implemented to enhance the seminary’s financial strength and viability, leveraging the strong financial assets that are already in place.
“We thank Rick for his willingness to lead in this time of transition and are pleased to work with him in this capacity,” said Lindus. The seminary looks forward to embracing challenges and opportunities while continuing to live out its mission.
GJ - Luther is the fourth or fifth ELCA seminary to be in serious financial condition. The Berkeley seminary already announced a plan to merge into other educational structures, since their campus is worth a fortune. Southern is also merging, even though it is the seminary for several denominations. Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago lost a big client, McCormick Seminary, which was renting from them, and the president of LSTC left there too.
The old Loehe Seminary, Wartburg, in Iowa, declared a financial emergency some years ago and fired some tenured professors. My classmate in graduate school at Yale, Stan Olson, is president there.
The LCMS could easily close Ft. Wayne and get along swell with St. Louis.
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| We had almost as many guys in the Bad Habits Lounge at Mequon. This is the entire Bethany student body in plenary session! |
Bethany Lutheran Seminary hardly exists, but they had time and money to promote the NNIV, with deer-in-the-headlights Wendland selling his favorite apostate paraphrase...again. Can you believe how low they have sunk, to offer that as The Bethany Reformation Lectures?
The Sausage Factory will soon be known as The Little Smokies Factory.
Higher education in Lutherdom is overbuilt, over-priced, and under-bodied. Luther Seminary is suffering from the costs of maintaining an enormous campus. Soon Bethany will regret all the Marvin Schwan guilt offerings.
