Revised ECTENE Plan Approved
Diocesan Press Service. February 28, 1974 [74057]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Board of Trustees of the General Theological Seminary at their recent Annual Meeting gave positive approval to a previous action of the Faculty recommending adoption of the revised plan for the Episcopal Consortium for Theological Education in the Northeast (ECTENE) which acknowledges plans for the physical merger of the Philadelphia Divinity School with the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass., with the General Seminary remaining an independent but cooperating member of the Consortium.
In this action the Trustees also re-affirmed the previous faculty decision to remain in New York City and to use the resources available in this great urban center to provide a truly comprehensive program of theological education. The Trustees were emphatic in their desire that the General Seminary be a truly cooperative and active partner in ECTENE feeling that GTS has a vital role to play in working out joint programs and endeavors.
The plans for merger are well underway with the new institution to be known as Episcopal Divinity School (EDS). A member of the General Seminary faculty, the Rev. Dr. Richard W. Corney, is actively engaged as a member of the joint committee considering the curriculum of the new institution.
The decision on the ECTENE proposal was made after a careful and thorough study initiated by the Board at its meeting in May 1973. At that time a special committee was formed which met through the summer and fall of last year to discuss and evaluate the implications of the plan for GTS. The morning of the day of the recent Annual Meeting was devoted to a discussion of the proposal by the entire Board. Some 35 members of the Board took part in the discussion and final decision.