Dean of St. George's College in Jerusalem Resigns
Episcopal News Service. July 27, 1995 [95-1184]
(ENS) The Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, appointed as dean of St. George's College in Jerusalem a year ago, has resigned in the wake of a reported clash of personalities with Bishop Samir Kafity, the president-bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.
Kafity's diocesan offices are located with the college in the close of the Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyr. The college is supported by the Diocese of Jerusalem and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Schmidt served as an appointed missionary of the Episcopal Church in the United States, as did his immediate predecessors. He replaced the Rev. Canon John L. Peterson who left St. George's College to become secretary general of the Anglican Communion.
In his letter of resignation to Kafity and Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning, Schmidt said, "I came to Jerusalem with the greatest enthusiasm for the task of guiding St. George's College through the next stage of its development. However, given the many changes taking place here in Jerusalem and the direction I had hoped my ministry would take, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that I would be more suited to another direction."
Kafity, in responding, wrote that "since it is now apparent that the direction in which you had hoped your own ministry would develop does not coincide with that of the college's development, I believe that you have made a wise, if difficult, decision in opting for one which would be more suited to yourself."
While not describing the specifics of the conflict, the Rev. Patrick Mauney, director of Anglican and Global Affairs for the Episcopal Church said simply that in directing the college "what Schmidt wanted to do was not what the bishop wanted him to do." He added that "I don't think you can say there was a right side and a wrong side."
Others close to the college said the conflict threatened to polarize staff and disrupt the college's world-renowned program of continuing education. The college specializes in offering a complete "Jerusalem experience" that includes academic instruction, worship and travel. While the college does not award degrees, students from around the world attend for continuing education in a wide range of subjects related to religious studies in the Middle East. The college's teaching and administrative staff are largely drawn from churches within the communion and are funded by a variety of mission agencies.
A management team of lay and clerical college staff members will administer the affairs of the college over the next several months. Members of the search committee for a new dean will include: Kafity; Bishop Charles Duvall, bishop of the Central Gulf Coast; the Very Rev. John Tidy, dean of St. George's Cathedral; and James Rosenthal, director for communication for the Anglican Communion Office in London.