2005 Spring Convocation

April 4-6, 2005

Challenges, change and gratitude
mark seminary's 2005 Spring Convocation banquet

FORT WASHINGTON, PA (April 6, 2005) - In a "state of the seminary" address recalling boyhood memories of moving from one house to another in a challenging family time, President Philip D. W. Krey drew parallels to today's campus change involving the soon-to-be completed Brossman Learning Center.

The president recalled being a "lad of 9" when his family of 15 moved from a cramped dwelling to a larger "white elephant" style household in which his mother and pastor/father struggled mightily to make ends meet. "We had no collateral to buy a house, and no bank wanted to underwrite a large family with a bunch of hungry, noisy kids," he recalled. But as the story unfolded, Krey described how a family friend helped them make a down payment so the bank would listen. "We heard the bank president had a bet" that the family would be unable to make the payments, and the bank would soon be in possession of the "white elephant," a rambling eight-bedroom household with chickens, ducks and geese to go with the bunch of noisy kids.

"My father taught us a lot about sacrifice," Krey recalled. "In the next years we went without ice cream, trips to the movies and took on a lot of odd jobs to make ends meet." Three years later, my father went to the bank president and made the last payment on our $17,000 house." That kind of money, Krey said, was a lot in the 1950s.

Now to the current state of the seminary: The president reminded his listeners that the seminary "didn't have much collateral in the beginning. Banks were not interested in underwriting a growing seminary with students hungry for knowledge. But the Mission Investment Fund of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, an old friend, came to our aid the way my Dad's old friend once helped us. We need to continually say thank you here. We live and work out of your generosity, your gifts to our endowment, the proceeds you leave to us in your wills.

He reminded his audience of alums that the seminary faces a new tall order, the promise of a Kresge grant of $650,000 the school will receive if it raises $1.7 million by September 1. The seminary has raised more than $900,000 so far.

"We are an Easter people," he said. "We live in hope. We work hard here to make you proud." He went on to say that the seminary has an active teaching environment from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on most days, with 40-60 seminarians in most of its introductory classes. Add on-line classes, a revised curriculum to prepare learners for proclaiming a public witness to a changing world. He praised the seminary's dean, J. Paul Rajashekar, faculty members and staff for all their diligence and concluded with a warm tribute to Howard Kuhnle, the seminary's oldest alum who turns 100 this June. Kuhnle has missed only two Spring convocations during his career, which has included remaining remarkably active since he retired in 1970.

Reunion classes announced an impressive list of gifts for the reunion occasion: Class of 1940, $50; 1945, $1,150; 1950, $4,125; 1955 (50-year class), $35,709 plus $103,000 in gift annuities; 1960, $5,765.50; 1965, $5,320; 1970, $1,550; 1975, $2,600; 1980, $3,195; 1985, $1,450; 1990, $75; $1995, $1,440; 2000, $1,075; 2004, $663.50 for a total of $64, 163 ($167,163 if you count the gift annuities, too).

In remarks to the alums, Larry House, president of the LTSP Foundation, sounded the note, "The beat goes on!" He noted that a special gift had made possible the refurbishing of the Chapel, with flexible seating and new lighting. House highlighted the $3 million naming gift by Anne Brossman Sweigart for the new Brossman Learning Center. He recognized the many wide-ranging gifts from two to five figures in size. One congregation, he said, had made a gift of $260,000 toward the Learning Center. More than $300,000 has been raised for the Heinecken Room in the Center in an initiative directed by Pastor Frank Fry of Summit, NJ. Gifts of $50,000 have been generated for the Timothy Lull Room in a newer campaign. House said thank you many times during his remarks.

Two recent recipients of the Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Medal made remarks. The recipients in 2004 were the Rev. Rick L. Bair, pastor of St. Luke Lutheran Church, Ithaca, NY and Lutheran Campus Pastor at Cornell University and Ithaca College; and the Rev. Paul Collinson-Streng, campus pastor for Lutheran Campus Ministry in Baltimore, MD. The medal recognizes exemplary service in Regions 7 and 8 of the ELCA for either congregational or campus ministry.

Bair, a 1973 graduate of the seminary, said he was "absolutely shocked" and humbled by the award. When surprised with the presentation at last year's Upstate New York Synod Assembly, he said he had been unable to think in time to thank all those deserving of his gratitude. He thanked his family, colleagues and gratefully recalled Professors Robert Bornemann, John H. P. Reumann, LeRoy Aden, Theodore Tappert, William Lazareth and Martin Heinecken for their contributions to his skills as a pastor. "I'm so grateful to have been graced by the kindness of so many people and to stand amid the stream of witnesses I mentioned earlier. I'm just enormously grateful," Bair said.

Collinson-Streng, a graduate of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, gave thanks for 16 years of ministry in the Baltimore area and beyond. "I was surprised to be awarded this medal," he said. "And I'm thankful. The recognition of the ministry I'm a part of pays tribute to many changes the church has gone through. The church now is a more national and global family, and we are changing well in so many ways." He said he has been deeply touched through his ministry by "gospel communities not my own - Latino and African American communities…" He said he has been profoundly impressed by the "boldness of young people who want all to be invited into the church of Jesus Christ." He also called for the kind of sensitivity the seminary is demonstrating about "how to confess Christ in a pluralistic world." He said such a confession calls for learning how to negotiate difficult questions in a dialog with different cultures of faith.

Receiving the 2005 Distinguished Alum Award was Bishop Margarita Martinez '89. She is the first Latina to be a bishop in the ELCA, serving the Caribbean Synod. In addition to her MDiv degree, Bishop Martinez holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and a Master's degree in Business from the World University of Puerto Rico. She expressed deep appreciation for the recognition and said she was greatly surprised by it.

"Life has been good to me," she said. "I'm blessed to have been called to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. I've now been to all the pulpits on the synod's four islands, and when I preach I like to be part of a baptism ceremony, because I miss that part of parish ministry." Martinez noted she is a third generation Lutheran, and recalled that her parents had met in Luther League. She told the audience that her background in business together with her training as a pastor had helped her guide colleagues "to look in the same direction and see a vision for the synod." She noted that ecumenical work is a great part of her ministry. She talked about an "exciting new direction" with plans this Pentecost to commission 15 lay ministers for service to the church. Despite the smallness of the Caribbean Synod, Bishop Martinez said it has incredible influence and potential for the church at large. "Together we will contribute more education for ethnic groups and raise up new Spanish-speaking leaders for the church," she said.

About 100 alums and members of the seminary community attended the 2005 Spring Convocation banquet.