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Pray for Peace
So many around the world need our prayers
All of us are coming to terms with our Board of Directors' historic decision to center our degree programs in Chicago beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year. In a few weeks, I hope to be able to share with you the details of new partnerships being forged in Chicago, which I believe will not just renew but also deepen Bexley Hall's long-time commitment to Anglican formation in a lively ecumenical setting.
In the next few months, I will be spending a lot of time in Columbus and southern Ohio, meeting with students, alumni, clergy supervisors and our many supporters as we both celebrate our ministry over the past 16 years and look ahead to the future--a future in which I trust that the two Ohio dioceses will play a significant role. I will be preaching at St. John's in Worthington (Bishop Chase's parish!) on December 13, and teaching an intensive course, Anglican Ethos and Spirituality, in Columbus, January 19-23. The course is open to all and can be taken or academic credit, or for continuing education credit or simply for enrichment--and it's easy to register online.
We are also planning a celebratory event in the spring, generously hosted by one of our emeritus trustees, around the time of Commencement. So please watch this space for times and places. And please keep our students, faculty and staff in your prayers during this time of transition.
But above all, pray for peace.
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An Iraqi refugee in wheelchair is among refugees and migrants
who traveled by dinghy to the Greek island of Lesbos.
(Reuters photo by Dmitri Michalakis)
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I was guest preacher at St. Stephen's parish on the Ohio State campus on Sunday, Nov. 15. As for anyone preaching on that day, it was clear that my sermon had to be rewritten to give the congregation space to reflect on what is emerging as series of horrific events that culminated in Paris this past Friday, and to do so in a place of safety. I would like to share that sermon with you all, as we continue to mourn the deaths in Paris, Beirut and the Sinai desert; to pray for the tens of thousands Syrian refugees and asylum seekers, now more endangered than ever; and begin to consider our own religious perspectives on the difficult days to come.
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Nov. 9 One Site Announcement Bittersweet
Plans developing to celebrate a long and fruitful partnership
MANY THANKS to everyone...
who has been in touch following the Board of Director's November 9 announcement of their decision to consolidate all Bexley Seabury programs in Chicago beginning with the Fall 2016 term. The announcement stirred many encouraging words but also a sense of loss.
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KJ Oh distributes communion at the weekly community Eucharist in Columbus
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We appreciate all the feedback we have received and collected, including the gracious response from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, our MDiv partner since 2004. We look forward to sharing more news with you soon from our ongoing conversations with current students and with potential partners as to how the Bexley Seabury MDiv program will take shape in Chicago.
May celebration planned
Former Director Bill Lane's generous offer to help organize a suitable celebration around the time of 2016 Commencement has sparked great interest. We have heard not only from alums in Ohio, but alums in other states and others who have been touched by the ministries of deacons and priests whose formation included time on the Trinity Lutheran campus.
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THANK YOU, Beyond Walls Task Force
We appreciate your leadership and hard work
As reported in our June magazine, the Beyond Walls Task Force has been working since May on ways to make a Bexley Seabury theological education more accessible-one of four key goals of the 2015-2017 Strategic Plan.
We deeply appreciate the time, energy, and enthusiasm that each of the Task Force members has offered. Please join us in thanking Task Force members for their fine work to date and to come.
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Beyond Walls Task Force Members (L-R) Director Melinda Rhodes-DiSalvo; Director Daniel W. Shannon;
Trustee Associate Roger Lumpp; Board Secretary Charlotte Reed; Director Gary B. Manning;
Director Sandra Ferguson McPhee; Board Vice Chair and Task Force Chair John E. Denson Jr.
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JOIN US in January...5-day intensives in Columbus and Chicago
Not for degree & diploma students only
Start 2016 by expanding your knowledge and your perspective. Our January term includes five 5-day intensives, two in Columbus and three in Chicago
 REGISTER NOW through December 14
with Roger Ferlo...meets in Columbus Jan. 19-23
To learn more and to register, follow the links above.
Each of these courses is available for academic credit ($1,620), continuing education units ($400), and enrichment/no credit ($375).
For more information about these and other 2015-2016 course offerings,
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Listening and Learning
Recent and upcoming Bexley Seabury visits
The weekend of Oct. 23-24 took President Ferlo to the Diocese of Iowa to attend and address its annual convention; Bishop Alan Scarfe serves on the Bexley Seabury Board of Directors. Meanwhile Registrar and Officer for Academic Affiars and Admissions Peggy Pearson visited with the people at the Diocese of Indianapolis annual convention; Bishop Catherine Waynick serves as a Bexley Seabury Director. Further west and north, Vice President for Advancement and Church Relations Conrad Selnick joined alums, supporters and colleagues at the Diocese of Michigan convention.
It was a reunion for Director of Doctor of Ministry and Life Long Learning Programs Suzann Holding, who represented the seminary at the Nov. 7 Diocese of San Diego convention, compressed to one day from two due to General Convention. That same weekend, Associate Professor of Anglican Theology Jason Fout was "Starting a Movement" along with the people of the Diocese of Western Michigan as their convention theme advocated.
Columbus Campus Office Manager Shirla Langknecht and Director of Field Education and Formation KJ Oh met with alums and current and prospective students at the Diocese of Southern Ohio convention Nov. 13-14, two days inspired by "Behold the new..." (Isaiah 43:19). Bishop Tom Breidenthal serves ex officio on our Board of Directors.
Also on Nov. 13-14, Vice President for Advancement and Church Relations Conrad Selnick represented Bexley Seabury at the Diocese of Ohio convention. Bishop Mark Hollingsworth serves ex officio on our Board of Directors.
President Ferlo was guest preacher and teacher Sunday, Nov. 15 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and University Center on the Columbus campus of Ohio State University.
Manager of Accounting and Human Resources/Event Coordinator Lynn Bowers and Assistant to the President Ron Fox will represent the seminary along with resident clergy at the Diocese of Chicago convention Nov. 20-21. The convention theme will be "Love Heals," inspired by keynote speaker the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of the Thistle Farms-Magdalene
community in Nashville. Bishop Jeffrey Lee servicees ex officio on our Board of Directors.
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Ordained and Called to DO MORE?
Perhaps 2016 is your year to begin a DMin
Bexley Seabury Doctor of Ministry programs equip strong leaders with new skills and pragmatic strategies to take their ministries forward.
- Your choice of concentration in Congregational Development or in Preaching
- Flexible, do-able scheduling: two- or three-week Chicago residencies in January and June (Congregational Development) or in June only (Preaching), plus ongoing work in your home parish and with peer cohorts throughout the year
- Knowledge you can easily apply: both programs integrate theory and practice and blend collaborative study in small groups with lecture/discussion and practicums.
If you or someone you know is considering a DMin, help us reach out to initiate a conversation. To explore the possibilities or to refer a potential student, contact Suzann Holding
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From the Archives
Dynamic Institution...Familiar Emotions...Continual Support
 Bexley Hall, Seabury, Western, Seabury-Western, and Bexley Seabury have each been dynamic since their inceptions. Twin principles of mission, along with the very highest education standards, have persisted with us. That is part of the reason our alumnae, alumni and other supporters, always taking time to adjust to new developments, have continually supported this seminary education. Thank you for being among those alums and other supporters.
Starting with a letter from earlier this month, and going back in our shared history, here is a peek at some of the institutional dynamism which punctuates the decades. I think today we have a sense of some of the emotions our fore-bearers experienced.
FROM THE ARCHIVES 1______________________________________________________ [November 9, 2015 letter from Board Chair Michie Klusmeyer and President Roger Ferlo]
Today,we are pleased to share new developments emerging from the Beyond Walls Task Force...
At the October 15-16 Board meeting, the Task Force presented its first set of recommendations. All were enthusiastically received, and all were unanimously approved by the Board.
First, beginning with the Fall 2016 term, Bexley Seabury will operate all programs--Anglican Studies, Master of Divinity, Doctor o f Ministry, and lifelong learning--from one site, in Chicago...
FROM THE ARCHIVES 2_______________________________________
[Moving Forward: 2015-2017 strategic plan; Bexley Seabury Magazine,
Summer 2015]
GOAL 1:
Increase access to theological education
Continuing to open our doors to more of the church is inherent in our mission.
- Assess our trajectory. Appoint a "Beyond Walls" task force to challenge where we are and where we are heading, ensuring sound long-range thinking and planning in the context of what we are learning through innovative platforms and partnerships...
FROM THE ARCHIVES 3____________________________ [Typewritten recruitment document, circa 1970's, Seabury Western]
SEABURY-WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY was formed in 1933 by the merger of the Seabury Divinity School of Faribault, Minnesota and Western Theological Seminary of Evanston, Illinois. Seabury with its strong missionary tradition and Western with its proven reputation for having the very highest educational standards were brought together in the midst of the Depression.
WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY was founded in1883 by Dr. Tolman Wheeler, a physician, at the request of Bishop William F. McLaren, D.D. It occupied a site on Washington Blvd. near California in Chicago. The aim of the founder was "to provide a school where western men could be trained for work in the Mid-west and where any layman could study theology".
In 1923 it accepted the joint offer of Northwestern University and the Garrett Biblical Institute of its present location in Evanston. Here, in 1929, it opened its new buildings to classes.
FROM THE ARCHIVES 4____________________________________ [Bexley Hall: 150 Years, A Brief History, Richard M. Spielmann, 1974,
CRDS/Bexley Hall/Crozer]
Beginning in February 1943 and continuing until the war's end, various army, navy, and air force units used the college's building for a variety of military purposes. The seminary was asked to relocate temporarily because the Bexley Hall building was needed for college and military purposes...President Chalmers designated Virginia Theological Seminary as Bexley's wartime home. The president, and the trustees, took great care to inform all concerned that "our students at Virginia are still Bexley students, accepted by us, under the supervision of our Dean, and candidates for the Kenyon degree...The original agreement was only for the 1943-44 academic year, but despite protests from Bexley alumni, it was renewed for 1944-45. Conrad Selnick
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On and Off Campus
Bexley Seabury senior Kevin D. Beesley has been named a Scholar by SIM (Society for the Increase of the Ministry) for the 2016-2016 academic year. He was the recipient of the Rev. Dr. Williams N. Penfield Scholarship. SIM grant recipients from Bexley Seabury included Br. Paul H. Castelli and Scott A. Steiner, also seniors.
The Rev. Susan Champion, part-time Seabury-Western MDiv student '86-'89 and '91 Bexley Hall grad, is rector of Christ the Lord Episcopal Church in Pinole, Calif. At the Diocese of California October convention, Christ the Lord became the first congregation to move from mission to parish status since 1993. In addition, Susan and fellow the Rev. Justin Cannon succeeded in their third attempt to gain approval for a resolution calling on the diocese to divest fully from fossil fuel. "It was my best convention ever!" Susan said.
Board, Staff & Faculty
Along with Board Chair W. Michie Klusmeyer, Roger Ferlo represented Bexley Seabury at the Installation of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry at Washington National Cathedral on All Saints Sunday. President Ferlo is pictured here with representatives of the nine other Episcopal seminaries.
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| | L-R: James Farwell, Professor of Theology and Liturgy, Virginia Theological Seminary; Cathy George, Associate Dean and Director of Formation, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale; Cynthia Kittredge, Dean and President, Seminary of the Southwest; Mark Richardson, Dean and President, Church Divinity School of the Pacific; Steven Peay, Dean and President, Nashotah House; Roger Ferlo, President, Bexley Seabury; Justyn Terry, Dean and President,Trinity School for Ministry; Francis Fornaro, Interim Dean and President, Episcopal Divinity School. |
Roger Ferlo preached Oct. 27 at the installation of former student the Rev. Gregg Morris, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Downer's Grove, Ill., at which Bishop Jeffrey Lee presided. President Ferlo has been appointed to serve on the Episcopal Evangelism Society Board of Directors. Bexley Seabury hosted the society's board meeting Nov. 3-4.  Barbara Wilson, Presbytery Community Organizer and executive staff member of the Presbytery of Chicago, Presbyterian Church USA, has joined our adjunct faculty. Following a career in the federal criminal justice system, Barbara earned an MDiv and DMin at McCormick Theological Seminary. She will be teaching "Community Organizing for Missional Living" in Chicago, June 13-17.
In Memoriam
 Alumnus and former Bexley Seabury Director the Rev. J. Stephen Bergmann (Bexley Hall '68) died Nov. 7 at age 73. Stephen was rector of four parishes in four different dioceses, an interim rector in three parishes, active in campus ministry and teaching, and served on numerous diocesan commissions and councils. The first parish he served was St. Alban's, Bexley, Ohio. After retiring from full-time parish ministry in 2006, Stephen served as pastoral assistant at St. Peter's Church, Ladue, Mo., until earlier this year when he joined the ministry team at St. Martin's, Ellisville, Mo. Our condolences to Stephen's spouse, Nancy; sister, Susan Bergmann Calhoun; step-son, Richard Hanlin; son, Michael (Tanya), and his grandchildren. Read the obituary
 Former Seabury-Western Chancellor James W. Gladden, Jr. died in Evanston on Nov. 3 at age 75. A graduate of DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., he graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude in 1964. He had a 41 year career at the Chicago law firm of Mayer, Brown, and Platt, retiring in 2005. He was a long time member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Evanston, and served as junior and senior warden. Jim is survived by his wife Patricia, three sons, Jay (Sheri), Tom (Kim), and Matt (Emily), two stepchildren, Henry Kuehn (Sherlyn) and Louise Peace (Rob), by seven grandchildren and four step grandchildren, by his sister, Margaret Hermann, and by his first wife, Dianne M. Gladden. Read the obituary
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