Traditionalists Prepared to Determine Future of Nashotah House
Episcopal News Service. June 12, 1991 [91138]
After 15 years of factional strife, Nashotah House, the Episcopal Church's seminary in Wisconsin, has either found its true identity -- or it is headed for oblivion. It all depends on whom you ask.
The future course of the seminary was set on May 24 when the church's traditionalists demonstrated that they are in charge. By a 15-to-10 vote, the school's trustees reaffirmed the ban on women priests celebrating the Eucharist on campus, and in a "Statement of Identity," they advocated a return to a traditional and orthodox program of formation for the male-only priesthood, according to a news release.
The board said the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate "is still an open question in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion." "Today there is hope for the Episcopal Church," said Bishop Donald Davies, retired bishop of Dallas and Ft. Worth and one of the founders of the Episcopal Synod of America (ESA) and head of an ESA house of studies in South Carolina. "The ESA led the way, and now Nashotah House has chosen the better path."
"The question is whether traditionalists can now rally together to raise up their own clergy who are well-formed in the tradition of Anglican and Catholic faith and practice," Davies added. "We have tried compromising with the enemies of traditional Christianity within our own denomination, and it hasn't worked."
"This was not an attempt to make Nahotah an ESA seminary by any means, but to have compatible good bishops who would guide it well and be supportive," said Bishop William Stevens of Fond du Lac, new chair of the board.
"There should be one seminary in the church that stands for authentic Anglicanism," said Bishop Stanley Atkins, acting provost of the seminary and a member of the traditionalist movement. Atkins admitted that enrollment has plummeted during years of controversy over the future of the school, but he doubted Nashotah would be forced out of business since it has a $5 million endowment. He said several bishops have threatened to withdraw their students. He estimated that this fall's enrollment will be between 28 and 33 full-time students.
One evening, after the board's action, a funeral procession of five cars drove to the cemetery on the campus and placed a tombstone next to the grave of the seminary's founder, Bishop Jackson Kemper. The tombstone said: Nashotah -- born 1842, died 1991.
The burial service is "just the tip of the iceberg," said Bishop Roger White of Milwaukee, who serves as an ex officio member of the board. He estimates that 80 percent of the alumni, including some conservatives and members of the ESA, are "very angry" because the board has ignored them.
White is writing a letter to bishops outlining recent actions of the board, including elections at the May meeting. He said the nominating committee rejected candidates such as Bishop Richard Grein of New York and Bishop Edward Salmon of South Carolina and chose only ESA members.
"When 90 percent of the board belong to the ESA, then the place is being captivated by the synod," White told the Milwaukee Sentinel. He is predicting that the seminary will become a "school of theology" for the ESA.
White said some alumni are investigating legal options for removing the trustees, on the grounds that they are not acting in the best interests of the institution or the constituencies. "My fear is that they will pilfer away the assets of the institution," meant to benefit the whole church, not a small faction, White said. He has serious "moral and ethical questions" about the financial responsibility of using endowment funds to educate a handful of students.
In a stinging open letter charging financial irresponsibility, Bishop Francis Campbell Gray of Northern Indiana estimates that the seminary will run a deficit of $550,000 next year if it enrolls 20 students. "With a $2 million proposed budget, the approximate cost of educating each student could be $100,000 per year," he said.
The board plans to transfer endowment funds to the operating budget for use as scholarships for students -- after raising tuition from $6,100 to $13,000, according to Gray. By using this "highly unethical way to circumvent the restrictions" for use of the endowment funds, the board is violating a trust by its "irresponsible fiscal behavior."
Gray, who has three degrees from Nashotah House and whose grandfather was on the board, said that the ESA control of the board will eat away at the "financial, spiritual, and moral corpus of the seminary." Unless the situation is resolved, "this once-lively seminary will die of spiritual cancer from within -- or she will perish by being rendered irrelevant and useless by the church she seeks to serve."
Gray urged the ESA to start its own seminary, as a group of evangelicals did 10 years ago when they established Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. "They did not try to take over an existing seminary and mold it in their image," Gray said. "If the ESA and the majority of the present trustees want to espouse a particular theological position, let them found their own seminary with newly raised money." Gray concluded his letter by demanding, "Don't destroy 150 years of work for one theological principle."