wfn.org | ELCA Seminary Measuring Effect of Mccormick Decision to 'Disengage'

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: ELCA Seminary Measuring Effect of Mccormick Decision to 'Disengage'
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>July 2, 2009  

ELCA Seminary Measuring Effect of Mccormick Decision to 'Disengage'
09-146-FI

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC)
asked a special finance task force to assess the impact of a decision by
the board of neighboring McCormick Theological Seminary. McCormick will
initiate a process to "disengage" from a real estate arrangement with
LSTC as early as June 2010.

LSTC is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA).  McCormick is one of 10 seminaries of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.), which became a full-communion partner of the ELCA in
1997.

"LSTC will always give thanks for the partnership of the two schools
in the ministry of theological education," said the Rev. James Kenneth
Echols, LSTC president. "The seminary also regrets the strained financial
circumstances that have led McCormick to make its decision," to pursue
an "orderly disengagement" from the real estate portion of its
relationship with LSTC, he said.

LSTC's board appointed the special finance task force in 2008. The
task force is considering plans that include potential building
reconfigurations and new campus partners.

In 1975 McCormick moved its campus alongside LSTC in the Hyde Park
area of Chicago, and the seminaries began sharing academic, library and
housing facilities. In 2003 McCormick constructed its own administration
building on the campus, but now that building will be put up for sale.

A report in Crain's Chicago Real Estate Daily said McCormick's
capital program, which included construction of its administration
building, left the seminary $30 million in debt with annual bond payments
of $1 million.

"We are simply spending a disproportionate and, unfortunately,
growing share of our resources on occupancy-related costs," said the Rev.
Cynthia M. Campbell, McCormick president, on the seminary's Web site. In
addition, McCormick funds 70 percent of its budget from the school's
endowment, which recently lost about 30 percent of its value, she said.

David Crawford, McCormick vice president for administration and
finance, told Crain's the seminary's decision to sell the administration
building is part of a long-term plan to meet its financial challenges.
-- -- --

The home page for the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is at
http://www.lstc.edu/ on the Web.

The full statement of the Rev. Cynthia M. Campbell is at
http://www.mccormick.edu/content/view/776/630/ on the McCormick Web site.

The report by Crain's Chicago Real Estate Daily is at
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34441 on the Web.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog