Task Force Reports on Evaluation of Seminarians
Diocesan Press Service. October 20, 1975 [75369]
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- An ad hoc Task Force on the Evaluation of Seminarians has issued a report to the Episcopal Church's Board for Theological Education (BTE) calling for a "radically deeper understanding of the place of evaluation in the education of clergy."
In its report to the BTE on October 3, the task force, chaired by Bishop George M. Alexander of Upper South Carolina, noted that the Church entrusts the evaluation of Candidates for Holy Orders to the seminaries and, in certain cases, to presbyters who supervise the Candidates in their studies.
The evaluation must provide diocesan bishops, standing committees, and commissions on ministry with sufficient information to enable them to make "a proper judgment about ordination" of the candidates, the report said.
Each student should be evaluated, the task force pointed out, on the basis of his knowledge of the content of subject matter, his ability to articulate and use that knowledge, and "other personal qualities which suit him for ordination," such as "his response to authority" and "his emotional maturity."
The student should examine himself, the report said, especially in the area of his "spiritual growth and the approach to holiness."
A survey conducted by the task force indicated that 55 of the 85 responding bishops visit their seminarians annually at the institutions. In most cases members of diocesan standing committees and commissions on ministry do not visit the seminarians, largely because of financial reasons.
The task force received a number of specific suggestions from bishops about how evaluations could be improved, it reported.
Members of the task force are: Bishop Alexander, chairman; Rowland L. Collins, Rochester, N.Y.; the Rev. J. Lloyd Edwards, Nashville, Tenn.; the Very Rev. W. Roland Foster, New York City; the Rev. Dr. Rowan A. Greer III, New Haven, Conn.; the Rev. Dr. Robert C. Gregg, Durham, N.C.; the Rev. Peter G. Keese, Durham, N.C.; Mrs. Eloise E. Lester, Sewanee, Tenn.; Mrs. Alice D. Memmer, Chicago, Ill.; the Rev. William M. Tully, New York City; and consultants, the Rev. John C. Harris, Washington, D.C., and the Rev. Almus M. Thorp, Rochester, N.Y.
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