Lutheran (EL
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Keep a Good Lent!
Posted on 03/15/2018 10:06:44 AM PDT by lightman
A prominent Lutheran seminary with two campuses in Pennsylvania is having a stormy moment of reckoning over the early-career, "conversion therapy" work by its first-year president.
That moment reached a climax at the United Lutheran Seminary Wednesday, with the school's board of trustees voting to end the Rev. Theresa F. Latini's tenure as president.
Latini, who answered some questions from PennLive via email Wednesday night, called the board's action unfair.
"I have been scapegoated by an historically divided institution resistant to unification," she wrote, "and have been given little chance to respond to the accusations against me."
United Lutheran Seminary is the modern-day result of a merger between longstanding seminaries in Gettysburg and Philadelphia. The jointure was approved in January 2016, and took effect this fall.
The controversy stemmed from Latini's work in the 1990s, according to this report on Philly.com, as director of One By One, a Pittsford, N.Y.-based organization that believed and taught that sexual orientation change is possible.
That information, the news site reported Wednesday, was made known to the seminary's board chairman during a presidential search process last year.
But the chairman, the Rev. J. Elise Brown, did not share that information with the rest of the board's selection committee, which subsequently hired Latini last summer.
As word of Latini's past leaked out in recent weeks, students, alumni, faculty and staff have pushed back against the presidential search process, the lack of transparency surrounding it, and related issues.
The pushback continued through a board "listening session" in Philadelphia last week, and culminated in Wednesday's actions.
The vote count on Latini's termination was not immediately available.
But besides Latini's departure, four school trustees tendered resignations at the start of Wednesday's meeting. Four others, including Brown, resigned at its close, the school reported Wednesday night on its Web site.
That shake-out leaves the board with 14 continuing members. Here's an extended excerpt from the board's announcement:
"This decision (regarding Latini) was made based on the board's concern that the ongoing controversy surrounding her naming as president made it extremely difficult to overcome the issues related to trust as the president of this institution.
"With the understanding that there is much work to be done in healing... the board recognized that her ongoing tenure would present a significant obstacle to moving forward.
"We recognize that this decision will not satisfy many of our constituencies, but our responsibility as a board is to make decisions that we believe will best strengthen and sustain ULS. Through prayer, thoughtful discussion and active listening, we have reached the conclusion that ending our relationship with Dr. Latini will be the most positive approach to our process of healing and to the health and well-being of ULS...
"These were very tough decisions to make, and we can assure you, they were not made lightly. We are aware that many of you will applaud our choices, while many others will be bitterly disappointed.
"We ask you all to be mindful that these issues are complicated and multi-faceted and, as such, there can be no 'one right or true answer.' We affirm that all points of view are valid and meaningful, and we ask that you recognize on good faith that we did our best to take all into full account as we endeavored to find the best answer for ULS."
A board spokesman said there would be no further comment from the school at this time.
James Dunlop, the bishop of the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, will serve as acting president of the seminary while the board is rebuilt and a search for an interim president begins.
The synod is the regional body for the denomination, encompassing 234 churches through South Central Pennsylvania. Theresa LatiniFormer United Lutheran Seminary President Theresa LatiniCharles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com
Latini, whose presidency started with the schools' jointure, came to Pennsylvania from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Mich., where she served as associate dean of diversity and cultural competency and a faculty member.
The ousted president, for her part, has renounced her work in the conversion therapy field, which she said was influenced by her "fundamentalist upbringing."
According to Philly.com., Latini, 47, was involved with One By one from 1996 through 2001.
She noted in a letter to the school community that she has worked vigorously in the last 12 years for full inclusion of gays, lesbians and transgender persons in the church.
She also apologized, in her missive to the school community dated March 13, for how this part of her past came to light.
But she had also clearly hoped to stay.
"I had been eager to help this newly-combined organization to flourish," Latini said in her email to PennLive.
"However, given the long-standing, historic divisions between the predecessor schools and what I believe to have been a politically-based whisper campaign against me and other members of the board, it became clear that certain parts of the organization were not going to stand behind me and that I could not be effective as president."
Latini also sent this email to trustees after Wednesday's vote, a copy of which was obtained by PennLive:
"I was saddened to learn today that the Board of Trustees has elected to terminate me as president of United Lutheran Seminary.
"Since I became President in July 2017, I have poured every ounce of myself into leading this newly-consolidated and profoundly polarized school to overcome the longstanding divisions that have been, and continue to be, the primary impediments to building a vibrant and sustainable institution.
"I have enjoyed my association with wonderfully talented students, staff, and faculty who share in the mission of educating faithful, creative public leaders for service in congregations and communities. To them and to all of you, I offer my best wishes and, as always, my prayers."
The episode is the latest in a long string of aftershocks as major American religious institutions continue to wrestle with and acclimate to fast-moving shifts in attitudes regarding issues of sexual orientation.
Many denominations are still in their first generation of openly welcoming gays and lesbians as full participants in church life, just as the nation is in its first generation of legalized, same-sex marriage.
Conversion therapy, in particular, aims to suppress same-sex attraction and change one's sexual orientation.
It has been rejected by groups including the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association as not only ineffective, but also psychologically harmful.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with which United Lutheran Seminary is affiliated, is the largest of North America's Lutheran denominations. It has called for full participation in church life by gays and lesbians in 1991, and has ordained ministers of all sexual orientations since 2010.
The denomination, according to the Washington D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, gives individual churches and their pastors autonomy in deciding whether or not they want to celebrate same-sex marriages.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Keep a Good Lent!
And the NAZI purge continues...
I thought that the church’s entire mission was “conversion therapy,” conversion from sinner to saint, from darkness to light, from separation to fellowship, from bondage to freedom, from death to life.
The mainstream churches have gone over to the left, and are no longer churches.
Conversion therapy obviously works — there are thousands of therapists assisting formerly normal people to “come out” as homosexual.
She’s burning bridges in front of her too.
Darn shame.
ELCA = Heresy.
She could have went to work for another Lutheran organization who rejects the narrative that being labeled a “fundamentalist” is absolutely a bad thing.
As a member of a real Lutheran body, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, I resent them corrupting the name “Lutheran”. They are Lutheran in name only.
Oft thought but ne’er so well expressed.
"Wm F Buckley Republican"
WWWFBD?
Amen I wish they would call themselves something else
The long prophesied falling away is well underway. I pray that my church will hold fast to the truth as all churches who still preach the real Gospel. God will preserve a remnant for Himself. Stand fast and look up for our salvation draweth nigh
In the Holy Bible the book of Jude is located right before Revelation.
It just seems so applicable to the current siuation.
This is happening, it has happened before too so...we just don’t know the whens but, we do know the hope and the truth about it.
It’s jaw-dropping, isn’t it, the groups which are falling into apostasy.
Fortunately we were warned that this does not surprise us. Still the breadth and swiftness of the collapse is astounding
Not really because the only thing the LCMS and ELCA have in common is the name, which is a travesty but other than that, there is nothing Lutheran about the ELCA and the two denominations have nothing to do with the other.
They sure don't have a problem with it going from straight to gay.
It's only going gay to straight that pushes the libs over the edge.
As if someone's sexual orientation is anyone else's business.
If someone wants to go straight, last I heard, this was still a free country and if they want to go for therapy to go straight, I don't see that it's anyone's business.
https://unitedlutheranseminary.edu/pastoral-letter-dunlop/
MARCH 15, 2018
Pastoral Letter to the United Lutheran Seminary Community
Dear Friends in Christ,
Yesterday, the Board of Trustees made important and difficult decisions about the future of our seminary. One of those decisions included electing me as your Acting President. I humbly accept this position with an awareness that there is much work to be done to bring about healing and restoration. Though this position is only temporary until an Interim President can be identified, I want you to know that I am fully committed to working together in earnest to heal divisions and unify our ULS community.
As we approach the coming days and weeks, I look forward to meeting with our community as we begin our work together to build a new, unified Seminary. I will be in Gettysburg today and Philadelphia on Friday to meet with various people. Let me assure you, I will listen with an open mind and heart to the stories and perspectives of all the seminary stakeholders, including LGBTQIA+ members, our African American members and any others who feel as if their voices are not heard.
These are difficult times; but in such times, we cling to God with trust and hope. This hope will guide ULS leadership and our community to a greater and deeper understanding of our undeniable faith. Together, we will make decisions that will strengthen and sustain ULS. I pray for this outcome because we must create a community where all feel safe. Nothing less is acceptable.
The story of United Lutheran Seminary is only just beginning. Despite our infancy, The United Lutheran Seminary is a vibrant, compassionate and loving community that has already overcome many obstacles. While we have a long way to go, through God’s grace, I trust our story is Christ’s story, a story of death and resurrection. Through continued prayer, thoughtful discussion and active listening, I am prayerful that out of these recent painful and difficult events will come new life.
I invite the ULS community to join me in prayer for God’s light and guidance for healing, trust, wisdom, and compassion.
Bishop Jim Dunlop
Acting President
United Lutheran Seminary
The Modernist/Marxist/Secular revolution has set in and has been successful.
The authentic remnant holds fast amongst all the smoke ...
Pray for each other, brother ....
You're being a little naive about this, metmom. No, they DO NOT want such therapy to be available to anyone who want's to "go straight." They started out with this goal in KKKalifornia, but had to scale back to a "protect minors" position. Now, they are going for the gold and trying to prohibit ANY such therapy, even for adults.
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