CDSP [The Episcopal Seminary of the West] Announces Two Dean Candidates

Rev. Dr. Mark Richardson…  is a Senior Theological Advisor for Trinity Wall Street…. “My career has exposed me to many aspects of the Church’s life,” said Prof. Richardson, “and its relationship to intellectual culture. If I am called to be at CDSP, I would want to make the most use of my networking and leadership skills, as well as my strengths in developing imaginative programming.

Clown Eucharist anyone?

Not a word about Christ’s message in their comments.  That means they are immeninently qualified!!

I’m curious about the financial health of CDSP, since so many seminaries have faced enormous financial pressures in recent years, and some haven’t survived.  I went on the CDSP website, but couldn’t find any relevant information, not about even the current number of students. 

Can anyone give us an inidcation how the only TEC seminary in the West is faring in terms of recruting students and meeting its budget?

David Handy+

Haven’t seen Gary Commins in ages.  He was, when I knew him, theologically orthodox (had no problem affirming the real, physical resurrection of Christ) and very liberal politically.  He was rector of a very ethnically diverse parish.

Gary Commins is a wonderful guy, and has a heart of gold. Undoubtedly he will therefore be passed over, alas.

Rev. Dr. Gary Commins is the rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach, California which is listed on the Integrity Site as one of their “Believe Out Loud Episcopal Congregations.”

Gary Commins is a good guy and I count him my friend.  He is my old rector and mentor in the Episcopal Urban Intern Program—the program he founded.  He has had a part in many vocations, at least one of which is an ACNA priest.  He led a truly ethnically, linguistically, culturally, economically and theologically diverse parish in Inglewood, California that thrived and grew when he led it.  He had no problem relating to either rich or poor, but I think he is a little down market for the Trinity, Wall Streets and All Saints, Pasadenas of the Church.

Now, for what SFIF folks are especially interested in: he is unabashedly politically and culturally progressive.  As such, he is the natural leader of the Diocese of LA’s delegation to General Convention.  Whatever that would mean to the Episcopal Church if he is chosen as dean of CDSP I don’t know.  I hope Gary would be more naturally sympathetic to conservatives and working people than the guy from Trinity, Wall Street.  FWIW, I’ll root for Gary the underdog in this race.

David+:

Since I am one of the resident Alumni of CDSP here on SFiF, and until last July resident till in the East SF Bay here is what I know about the current state of CDSP.

I have not heard of them selling any property yet but I have no idea the status of the Dean’s House on Arch Street.  What I do know is that the Easton Hall which used to house a partner school (The Dominicans) in the GTU, has had a major make over during the spring las year and conversion to a Conference Center with the… wait for it The Most. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori Great Hall!!!  I dated a woman who worked across the road at Cal, so she took me to see it during it’s open house, and I will say it was very well done.  Saying that though would still rather have the Domincans there.  You have to really search for info on the website as CDSP is usualy loathed to broadcast any financial problems, but it hasn’t been the happiest place in terms of endowment for nearly 20 years. 

The Dean prior to the one retiring, The Very Rev’d Charles Perry, was hired deloberately to raise money, and student welfare was never a high point of his, and indeed even vindictive.  I remember him being furious that the VP of Finance had leased an empty married quarters to my ex wife and I whilst I was working at Holy Innocents, Corte Madera, and that in itself is indicative of the issues facing CDSP as that was 15 years ago.

What saved CDSP then and perhaps now is the fact that CDSP has one of the few Dorms available for students at CDSP and GTU.  When I was in residence, less than 30% of a 54 person dorm as it was then was a CDSP student (and we wont go into the percentage of Straight/homosexual), with the rest being a serious sprinkling of non Order students from the RC Religious Houses of Study (OP, SJ, OFM, etc) and the other liberal protestant schools except not surprisingly the Presbyterians and Lutherans as their GTU linked schools campuses were close to the main GTU area of ‘Holy Hill.’

CDSP, is and always has been, the tool of Province VII and as such from my view as an alum has both benefitted from and suffered from that scenario.  In a real sense they have a captive audience in that the Commission on Ministry of now all the Dioceses within the state of California would prefer you attend there, and in some cases really given no choice. In the early 90’s without the advances in internet technology that has rung the death knell of several seminaries, I knew several class mates who drove at least 100 miles each way to attend classes (and were masters of sensible scheduling), especially those from Nth CA and El Camino Real.

What I found interesting also was the number of students (—KJS among them and perhaps unusual then but more normative now) who only really did a year at CDSP having completed prerequisites such as Old or New Testament, some where closer to home, before say only a year in residence like—KJS (I believe she did most of her work at a Jesuit College in OR) to be episcoplianated. Saying that I can’t talk as I was there to do my year of Anglicanisation after getting my BD at Aberdeen.

The School for Deacons has also to the best of my knowledge been reaborbed once again by CDSP.  Like many Seminaries CDSP is suffering due to the internet and most Diocese in these here parts not relly caring if you have studied at an Episcopal Seminary more than in the results of the GOE’s (do they still have them???) and that is how they separate the wheat from the chaff there in a nationalistic sense.  Added to that the perception that CDSP has alwas been more a School than seminary; the Faculty basically had to be ordered to Community Night on Thursdays in my day and it was in vast contrast compared to say an English Seminary where you have the Faculty and student kids running around etc.  Heck there wasn’t even a Chaplain for the Students till 1993 when Liza Linley did it as part of a sabbatical.

The big names on their Faculty like Weil, Lyman and Countryman are now basically well and truly in the emeritus category so there is no big names to attract students who would say maybe choose the Divinity Schools of Harvard or Yales for the acadenic credentials or General do have a purple stripe painted down their back.

In conculsion, and these are meerly my observations from have been on the periphery of CDSP for over 15 years now is that it will like many of the TEO’s house of studies move into more a place to finish things having done much at a ‘feeder school’ elsewhere, where u don’t have to give up your job, move your family, etc.  Especially with all the online things they offer now.  I may be wrong but even though I knocked the dust of CDSP off my shoes a long time ago, I do feel for those who go there expecting so much from the TEO to find their hopes dashed.

Apologies for any typos or grammer errors.

Alasdair Harding+ BD (Aberd 91), CAS (CDSP ‘93)

“Dr. Diverse Diversity’s qualifications include being diverse, a promoter of diversity, a diverse medium waiting to have diverse material imprinted upon it, and a clearly diverse view of diversity as it relates to the diversity of diversities required for the effective operation of our (diverse) institution.”

“Our other candidate, Dr. Theo Theology is a theological expert in the theological arts, having consulted the ultra wealthy and the wealthy alike in all areas theological while networking with many consulting theological theologians on Wall Street.  He is an imaginative programmer of liturgy, even by 815 Stadards, and is ready to be called upon to run any (theological) insitution BeerKat Et Alia are ready to slap him into.”

Sorry, sorry, I know I’m in a bad mood but PUHLEEZE!!!  Aren’t there any candidates who are Christians for this position?  Anybody?

KTF!...mrb

Mike, 

Pretty good one there.  I guess the only hope is that diversity stretches far enough in TEC to include us.  (I know it stretches far enough to include our tithes, contributions and unpaid, silent labor)

still loyal opposition

I am confused. My step father-in-law used to fight wildfires. On the fire lines a change of clothes was sometimes unattainable for 3 or four days.They had one pair of boxer shorts that they would rotate inside then out…forwards then backwards for the duration so to “spread the wealth” so to speak.
Would that also make him “diverse” thus eligible for consideration?
Intercessor

Also while I have a brief moment…what is the difference between “being diverse” and blessing sodomy as holy and sacred as if moved by the Holy Spirit?
Thank you for your clarity.
Intercessor

Intercessor,

Your comments sound suspiciously like Mr. Beers’ in the video spoof on MCJ.

hangin’ in there in LA

#13-LO…I will freely admit that the videos of “Inside 815” are full of delicious humor…sorry if off topic.
Intercessor

First, I’m sorry to have seen the current Dean become the former Dean, Prof. Donn Morgan.
It is sad that I would perceive both these candidates as the search comm. and the trustee’s great hope for connection into larger circles (or re-connection) of both capital and applicants (whereas Dean Perry was hired for singular accomplishment in such).  That’s just my read.  I suppose that’s a large part of the job of any institution of higher learning’s presidency.  It just seems a more blatant “blast” approach to me with these two candidates.

As far as factual insight into the two candidates, I have almost zero.  I went to CDSP in between the two candidates presence at GTU. BTW, on Alistair’s comments above, probably just a typo, but it is Province VIII not VII, or as they say out here, the Province of the Pacific, or, of the Pacific Rim).
However, regarding the context, new to the faculty is Ruth Meyers (of Chicago Consultation infamy) to replace Louis Weil.  She is seen at CDSP by some as the current star in TECUSA and thus on campus.  This thread is not about Ruth, but some further background on CDSP can’t hurt.  Dr. Meyers was the Academic Dean at Seabury-Western, and in April, 2008, had to help former Dean Gary Hall notify the then faculty they had one year left (to June, 09) as paid faculty, and then Seabury-Western as then constituted would close.  Scramble.  In March, 2009, it was announced that Ruth would replace Louis Weil at CDSP, and she was on board as of July, 09.  And Donn had announced his resignation as President and Dean (no intent at implication there on my part).
Regarding the two finalists: There’s something about Richardson and his prior GTU time that I can’t put my finger on.
Gary Commins would be the popularist Dean and most likely to reclaim western resources that have generally receded (as most of the TECUSA-based seminaries have).
I have some suggestions for how to pray, but that’s not what was asked of in this post.  I’d like to see even more chime in on these two, first.

I was at CDSP at the same time Rob was—the very twilight years of the last of the “old faculty,” Sherman Johnson, Massey Shepherd, Sam Garrett, Norm Mealy.  It was a solid group.  Academically progressive but theologically orthodox.  Donn Morgan, who is and has been a personal friend for many, many years, was a young star.  In the later 80’s and early 90’s I “went back” to serve on the Alum Council and for a brief alum term on the Board of Trustees and so had a chance to see more of the new faculty (now themselves emeritus and emerita).  Of the new faculty I really have no idea, though my wife and I still contribute and I try to stay in touch.  I think Donn Morgan has been a very fine dean in many ways—and as I said to somebody the other day, CDSP has seemed at its happiest when its dean (Johnson, Borsch, Morgan) came out of the ranks of the theological faculty, at its unhappiest otherwise.  That might argue for Richardson, though from what I read here it sounds like Commins might be a marginally better choice.  The critical issue for CDSP is that it has a very modest endowment (many parishes in Pennsylvania have larger ones), and that the Episcopal Church in the West is tiny and precarious, without the advantages in resources that the patterns of establishment in the East have been able to provide over the years.  When the economy tanks—and it has been bad on the left coast for quite a while now—there isn’t much cushion.  I agree also that the residential, 3-year M.Div. student seems a rarer and rarer bird.  That also driven by issues of finance, including decisions of dioceses to seek local options and even to a turn to “ministry of the baptized” models that essentially eliminate the idea of seminary-trained clergy leadership.

Anyway: Holy Hill was a place of many happy memories and friendships, and I wish them well.

Bruce Robison

Here are two appropriate links with further info:
http://www.cdsp.edu/deansearch_apply.php
This shows the decision making process finishing in March.
and http://cdsp.edu/deansearch.php
This includes links to audio presentations, and compensation parameters.
Unfortunately, the deadline for further alum and student input was Shrove Tuesday at noon.  But picking up the buzz on CDSP may be translated into post-deadline consideration by search committee and trustees.
So,let’s keep up the buzz.
And Prayer.

SFiF readers may be surprised to know that I am a CDSP Alum (’71), but even more so that I got my evangelical grounding there! Dr. Frank Andersen was the professor of Old Testament at CDSP in the 60s and early 70s. Frank was an Australian, who switched from science to theology, learned Old Church Slavonic and a dozen other languages and studied under W.F. Albright. He wrote that immortal volume The Hebrew Verbless Clause in the Pentateuch and also the very fine little commentary on Job in the Tyndale series. I took a memorable seminar with him on Job and remember how tragedy struck his family with the death of one of their sons not long after writing the commentary. I took all the courses I could with Frank, including my M.A. thesis on Genesis (my other thesis reader was Norman Gottwald, quite a contrast).

After doing 2 years of voluntary field work at St. Mark’s Berkeley, I worked my final year at First Presbyterian Church, the InterVarsity home base, where Frank and his family attended.

Frank Andersen was the last and quite possibly the first Evangelical to serve on the CDSP faculty.

I also appreciated the faithfulness of Massey Shepherd and Sam Garrett (I took a reading course with Sam on Hooker’s Laws). My wife and I spent a lovely summer house-sitting the Dean Sherman Johnson’s mansion, later purchased by Jefferson Airplane when the Dean and his wife divorced.

During the roaring 60s, CDSP was probably the most “churchy” of the seminaries, which were being invaded by draft-dodgers. Also, in my time drugs were in but the gay lifestyle was still in the closet.

This is turning into a nice little tutorial on CDSP.  Perhaps this would be a good time for other CDSP alums who read SFiF to say when and where.
As noted above, Bruce and I were there at the same time in the early 80’s, along with such as Bob Brandt, Keith Andrews, Eric Kahl, Dave Roseberry, Dave Foster, Scott Danforth, Brian and Laurie Kellington.
My dad, who heard within the call to the ordained ministry through the preaching of Sam Shoemaker at a Canterbury Club national gathering, ca. 1949, graduated in 1955.  He was there during the young years of Garrett and Massey Sh. as Steve noted above; Robert Rodenmeyer taught prayer and devotional life and spirituality.

What kind of faculty and students will be attracted by either of the current candidates?

Steve, it was interesting to read that you did some field work at St. Mark’s.  George Tittmann was a great guy.  Virginia Evangelical, to be sure, but with all kinds of eccentric and interesting permutations.  I was around St. Mark’s as a grad student at Cal for several years in the mid-70’s and still have a number of dear friends from that time.  A very different place these days, of course, though still with great music.  I was in Berkeley on sabbatical in 2004 and was there for a Sunday morning service.  Following Rob’s question, my sense is that among CDSP’s “assets” will continue to be the very rich environment of the GTU and the proximity to Cal.  That makes the place attractive to folks who are interested in theological education in a high-end academic context.  My sense is that the current faculty don’t have quite the status that their predecessors have had, though that will necessarily be an ebb and flow.  The regional emphasis in Province VIII will continue to be mostly an asset too.  I went to CDSP, even though my initial thought was to go to Virginia, because +Jack Thompson of blessed memory told me that he, an episcopal member of the Board of Trustees, “preferred” his folks to do so.  That probably still happens a lot for pragmatic reasons.  Of course the downside of being the “Seminary of the West” is that the Episcopal Church in the far west is imploding in membership and resources.  Much as I loved Berkeley, and even though I still have good friends around CDSP, I would be very reluctant to recommend it to an aspiring seminarian.  Frankly I just have my doubts that the right mix is there to shape theologically orthodox and institutionally coherent leaders for the church.  I guess of the two candidates put forward Fr. Commins sounds marginally better, but I’m not sure this is really an issue about the guy in the dean’s office.  It’s the whole chemistry that seems off to me now.

Bruce Robison

Thanks to all who have contributed info on the interesting history of CDSP, including Alisdair (#), Bruce (#16), Dr. Noll (#18), and Rob (#19).  Much appreciated.  But one still is left wondering about the current state of affairs there, and why the website has nothing on it indicative of the size of the student body or the crrent financial health of the school.

David Handy+