Seminary Glimpses

By including these stories in your newsletters or bulletins, you share a Glimpse of the seminary with your congregation. Thank you for helping us share our story and our mission with your congregation. These Glimpses can be cut and pasted directly into your publication,

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January 2003
New Year, New Beginnings

As the New Year begins, the seminary community reflects on new beginnings. Many of the students have left careers in business, law or health care to pursue a new calling as a church leader. Seniors, many of whom will be serving as pastors in less than a year, are thinking about the beginning of their ministry. And the seminary itself is looking forward to new beginnings. Later this year work will begin on a new Learning Center. This will be a state-of-the-art academic building with classrooms, offices, lounges and a large hall for major campus and regional events. In this New Year let us look forward to new callings, new ministries and new opportunities for the seminary and the church it serves.

February 2003

Matt Cimorelli
called to family, called to service

Matt Cimorelli, a senior seminarian and member of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Tabernacle, NJ, has a strong sense of his vocation. "My sense of call has been life-long. Literally, as a toddler growing up in the Roman Catholic Church I always knew I was going to be a priest, but I also knew I was called to be a husband and father." As an adult Matt transferred to the Lutheran church, where he was able to reconcile those two vocations. Matt entered the seminary at age 35 with his five-year-old daughter, Jillian, and his wife, Karen. They are very supportive of his vocation. "Ministry is just what our family is about – Karen is a pastor’s kid and Jillian (now 8 years old) even talks of becoming a pastor. We have just loved it here at the seminary."

March 2003
Cross-Cultural Training

Seeking to prepare leaders to take the Gospel to all peoples, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia offers a variety of opportunities for students to learn about ministry in other cultures. Every student is required to take part in a cross-cultural experience. For some students, that means participating in a Latino field education congregation. For others, it might mean a trip to John’s Island, South Carolina, an island whose inhabitants are the descendants of shipwrecked slaves. Yet others might participate in a biannual over-seas globalization trip to such countries as India, Guyana or El Salvador. Even if the experiences are brief, students are better prepared to serve as church leaders in our multicultural society.

Archive: Seminary Glimpses, October - December 2002