Survey Reveals Seminary Faculty Are Active in the Life of the Church
Episcopal News Service. March 10, 1994 [94051]
A recently released survey conducted by the Board of Theological Education (BTE) found that the majority of Episcopal theological seminary faculty are active in the life of the church on the local, diocesan and national level. The Rev. Preston Kelsey II, executive director of the BTE, said that the study "gives us a better idea than we had before of the seminaries as a collective resource for the whole church."
The survey was prompted by the 1991 General Convention resolution A224a calling for the BTE to review "the covenanted relationship between the several Episcopal seminaries and the dioceses, parishes and institutions of the Episcopal Church...." According to the survey report, "The questions were prompted by the fact that, unlike other examples of graduate school training and education, seminary faculty are not practitioners of the occupation for which they are preparing their students.... Seminary faculty are not, by the very nature of their activities, parish clergy. Nor could they be."
Warren Ramshaw, a lay member of the BTE and a sociologist, prepared the survey which was mailed to 155 faculty members at 11 institutions during the fall of 1992. Detailed responses were received from 129 faculty, a return rate of more than 83 percent.
According to the survey report, the study set out to answer the following questions: "Are faculty in touch with the experience of the churchgoer? Do the faculty members of Episcopal seminaries participate in the life and work of parishes and congregations?"
The survey revealed that 90 percent of the faculty indicate they are Episcopalians or belong to other religious bodies in their communities, and that 63 percent attend services once a week or more. About 85 percent of the faculty participate in the liturgical life of the parishes, serving as preacher or celebrant or less frequently as lector, gospeler, chalice bearer, intercessor or oblation bearer. Nearly 80 percent are active in non-liturgical ways, such as teaching in the adult education program of the parish. Others serve on parish committees, provide pastoral counseling, teach church school and serve on vestries or as wardens.
The faculty also participate in the affairs of their dioceses and the national church. Sixty-three percent report that they are currently involved in their diocese, especially by serving on diocesan committees, participating as delegates to diocesan conventions, leading retreats, or participating in diocesan programs.
Thirty percent of the faculty report having current offices or duties in the national church, including service on General Convention commissions or committees, holding provincial offices or serving as deputies to General Convention.
Overall, faculty members who are younger and male are more likely to be active participants in the governance of their dioceses. Faculty who are younger and female are more likely to be involved in governance at the national level.
The survey also compiled demographic information about seminary faculty. Ramshaw noted that "one of the most useful outcomes of the survey is that the faculties of our 11 seminaries can be viewed as one, a single resource for the whole church."
A section of the report divides the faculty into the group which has taught in seminaries for 16 years or more and the group which has taught 15 years or fewer. The older faculty are about 83 percent ordained and 17 percent lay, 7 percent female and 93 percent male. The younger faculty are 60 percent ordained and 33 percent lay, 30 percent female and 70 percent male.
Therefore, the report concluded, "If hiring practices of seminaries continue as they have in the last 15 years, the proportion of ordained male faculty will decrease in the future, and the proportion of females in both orders will increase, advancing the already greater diversity which the seminaries are now experiencing."
Reacting to the survey, the Very Rev. William Petersen, dean of Bexley Hall in Rochester, New York, and chair of the Council of Deans, said, "There were a few surprises in this report for the seminary deans. We already had a lively sense of multi-level involvement of our faculties in the life and mission of the church as well as their growing diversity. It is good, however, to have this information confirmed by others and to share it with the whole church."