wfn.org | ELCA Seminary President Reisz Plans to Retire in 2006

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 19, 2005

ELCA Seminary President Reisz Plans to Retire in 2006
05-175-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. Frederick Reisz announced Aug.
28 his plans to retire Aug. 1, 2006, after 14 years as president
of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS), Columbia, S.C.
LTSS is one of eight Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) seminaries.
     "It has been a great privilege to know the women and men
students who are sacrificing so much to answer God's call.  How
blessed I have been to live among these students and be inspired
by them," Reisz said.  "Our church will be blessed by their
ministries," he said.
     "I am most proud of the strength of our faculty.  I have
learned much from my faculty colleagues and have been challenged
in my theological growth and understanding of the Bible," he
said.
     "All but one staff person and nine of the sixteen faculty
members have come to our seminary during my presidency.  With
many people helping, we have built a strong community centered on
God's mission and passionate about forming pastors and lay
ministers," Reisz said.
     "Baptism, Eucharist, the Bible and preaching are central to
our seminary's daily life.  The worship life of the campus is
vibrant and nourishing."
     "During these 14 years, we have vastly improved the
seminary's facilities, brought it into the computer age and
almost tripled its endowment," he said.
     Reisz was born May 13, 1939, in Baltimore.  He graduated
from Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa., and the Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, both institutions of the
ELCA.  He earned a master's degree and doctorate from the
University of Chicago.
     Ordained in 1969 in the former Lutheran Church in America,
Reisz served as campus pastor for Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, Pa.; associate pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church,
State College, Pa.; pastor to university, Wittenberg University,
Springfield, Ohio; and pastor, University Lutheran Church,
Cambridge, Mass.
     During his 14 years in Cambridge, Reisz served as an adjunct
professor of systematics at Harvard Divinity School, advisor to
Lutheran students at Harvard and advisor to Lutheran seminarians
in the Boston Theological Institute Schools.
     Reisz succeeded the Rev. Mack C. Branham Jr. as president of
LTSS in 1992.
     "Since all my ministries had been in the North, I was
apprehensive about coming to Lutheran Theological Southern
Seminary.  I wondered how a 'northerner' would be accepted.  I
found that people in the South trust people who are dedicated to
others and those who love their institutions and care for them,"
Reisz said.
     "I have stayed at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
because I have come to love the great 250-plus year history of
Lutheranism in the South and the respect for Christianity as a
defining part of people's lives.  This is a close seminary
community in which my wife May and I have been nurtured, cared
for and loved," he said.
     Reisz is an accomplished magician, a poet and the author of
"On the Wilderness Way: Meditations for an Advent People" and
"Paul Tillich's Doctrine of God as Spirit: A Dynamic View."
     He and his wife May, a professional artist and art
instructor, are the parents of two adult daughters.
-- -- --
     The home page of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary,
Columbia, S.C., is at http://www.ltss.edu/ on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news