Minnesota Seabury-Western Seminary Trustees Issue Statement

The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota
February 26, 2008

Seminary announces it will eliminate programs, suspend admission

Dr. Barbara Elliott, St. Paul's Church, Duluth, and the Rev. Dr. Michael Hanley, St. Christopher's Church, Roseville, have issued a statement regarding Seabury-Western Theological Seminary's recent decision to make major changes in its academic program and enter into a time of discernment about the future of the seminary. Elliott and Hanley are members of Seabury's Board of Trustees, elected by the Diocese of Minnesota.

On February 20 Seabury-Western announced that the school will stop offering the traditional version of a Master of Divinity degree and would soon develop "a detailed plan for the future operation of Seabury, including a financial plan that brings expenses in line with revenues."

The decision by the Board of Trustees came during its regular February meeting, according to a statement posted on the Evanston, Illinois-based seminary's website.  

"Like many other Episcopal Church institutions, over the past two decades Seabury has both confronted and thought hard about how it can adapt to the challenges and opportunities of the present moment," the statement said. "We believe that the church does not need Seabury in its present form; there are a number of other schools who do what we have traditionally done as well as we do. But we also believe that the church very much needs a seminary animated by and organized around a new vision of theological education -- one that is centered in a vision of Baptism and its implications for the whole church, one which is flexible and adaptive and collaborative in nature."

The immediate impact of the decision, according to the statement, will be the elimination of the Master of Divinity degree "as a freestanding three-year residential program." The program may be offered in some other format in the future, the statement said. The majority of priests ordained in the Episcopal Church earn a Master of Divinity degree.

In addition, the seminary will "immediately suspend recruitment and admissions to all degree and certificate programs in this time of discernment."

The statement from Elliott and Hanley is as follows:

As the two elected board members to Seabury-Western Theological Seminary from the Diocese of Minnesota, we would like to let members of our diocese know that we have been part of the deliberations and decisions these past weeks. The decision to discontinue recruitment and education of those seeking MDiv training in residence at Seabury has been carefully, prayerfully and deliberately considered. The form that Seabury will have in the future, as it strives to continue meeting its mission, will be determined in the near future.

The Diocese of Minnesota has five members among the Seabury Western Board of Trustees. We are the two elected Trustees; the Rev. Brad Hauff and Mr. Dan Panshin are Trustees who were elected to that role by the Seabury Board. In addition, Bishop James Jelinek is also part of the Board of Trustees, as defined in the seminary charter.

If you have questions or concerns about what is happening at Seabury, you are all encouraged to contact the Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean and president of the seminary. A planning committee of the board is working now to define further plans and expectations and a special board meeting is scheduled for April. 

We will keep you informed as plans take form.

Dr. Barbara Elliott, St. Paul’s Church, Duluth
The Rev. Dr. Michael Hanley, St. Christopher’s Church, Roseville.

Seabury-Western Seminary was created in 1933 by the merger of Seabury Divinity School, Faribault, Minnesota, and Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois. Seabury was founded in 1858 by the legendary Episcopal missionary James Lloyd Breck. Its mission would be greatly enhanced under the leadership of Minnesota's first Episcopal bishop, Henry Benjamin Whipple, who oversaw the building of the school's first permanent home, Seabury Divinity Hall, completed in 1864. The building still stands in Faribault and houses medical offices. Seabury remained in Faribault until the time of the merger.

Soon after the merger, Minnesota's third bishop, Frank Arthur McElwain, was appointed dean of the seminary, a post he held concurrently. From 1938 to 1943, Bishop McElwain commuted by train from Minneapolis to Evanston during the week, while Suffragan Bishop Stephen Keeler managed the day-to-day affairs of the Diocese of Minnesota.

Since the merger, Seabury-Western has maintained ties with the Diocese of Minnesota through membership on its board of trustees, including elected representatives and the bishop diocesan.