Two seminaries in the Presbyterian Church (USA) have branched out to find new leaders, with one appointing a Catholic nun as dean and the other naming a prominent evangelical as president.
When Sister Elizabeth Liebert takes over as dean of San Francisco Theological Seminary on June 30, she will become the first Catholic nun to lead a PCUSA seminary, according to the school. Liebert has taught at SFTS for 22 years, and was the first Roman Catholic to receive tenure at the 138-year-old seminary.
“We are particularly pleased to be attaining a historic ecumenical milestone,” said SFTS President Phil Butin. “Dr. Liebert’s deanship is a sterling example of SFTS’s thoroughgoing commitment to ecumenical theological education.”
“Behind me is my whole religious community,” said Liebert, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. “I know they all stand behind me. They function as my family. We’re always talking and praying.”
Across the country, in Decatur, Ga., Columbia Theological Seminary appointed the Rev. Stephen Hayner as president beginning on July 1.
Hayner, who has taught at Columbia since 2003, has been an ordained minister in the PCUSA for 36 years.
From 1988 to 2001, Hayner was president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a prominent evangelical campus ministry. “I’m always leery of getting labeled,” he told The Presbyterian Outlook. “When I was appointed as president of InterVarsity, the word on the street was, `What has I-V done, putting a mainline Presbyterian in charge?”‘
Hayner has lent his name to a number of causes, including a letter to former President George W. Bush in 2007 from 30 evangelical leaders pushing for a two-state solution to the conflict between Palestine and Israel.
“The opportunities in a rapidly changing world are great,” Hayner said of his new appointment, “and the challenges will include holding strongly to our foundation in biblical faith, while identifying and joining God’s new work relentlessly and creatively.”
The PCUSA, which has 2.1 million members, has 10 seminaries in the U.S. and special arrangements with seminaries in New York and Puerto Rico.
By Daniel Burke
Religion News Service
Copyright 2009 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted June 23, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Will have to admit, a nun to head a Presbyterian Seminary is different. Will the Presbyterian’s be learning the Hail Mary soon and making the sign of the cross after prayers? I’ll have to ask my Presbyterian sister.
posted June 23, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Lots of seminaries and theology departments have been taking on a more ecumenical character for quite a while now. The Methodist seminary at Emory, where I got my masters degree, had special programs for Anglican and Baptist students I know (and maybe others), and there were faculty of all different backgrounds. My current Catholic department has Protestants on the faculty and is quickly becoming the best place to do doctoral studies in Eastern Orthodox theology in the entire country. Among theologians, most of the older, Reformation-era infatuation with denominationalism is disappearing, and I think that’s proving to be a good thing.
posted June 24, 2009 at 10:57 am
I think this ecumenicity in the seminaries is an extraordinarily excellent idea. Like DNA in the animal kingdom, Christians have far more in common than in distinction. The more we learn from and about each other the better for everyone. My own seminary had folks from a few various (but not all that different)persuasions. But this is a new high for other seminaries and divinity schools to achieve.
posted June 24, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Interesting post Nate. You know people are growing when they learn from each other and then work together.
posted June 25, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Wonder when she realizes that she and her group are not really Catholic? Lets see, pro women priests, pro choice, anti war of any kind, pro government programs that destroy the poor, etc.
posted June 25, 2009 at 11:04 pm
The nun is promoting and furthering the heresy of protestantism by assisting in anyway with people coming out of that institution as protestant ministers.
I agree with Greta…bet she’s not a real Catholic anyway.
posted June 26, 2009 at 5:12 pm
What is the true definition of a Catholic, Greta & Diane? Those that blindly follow Benny? IMO, those who think beyond 2000 years ago with the out dated rules.
posted June 26, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Pagan: The definition of a Catholic is someone who accepts and strives to fulfill the tenets of Catholicism. As for ‘outdated’ rules, truth does not change. If something was true 2000 yrs ago and was taught by Christ and His Apostles, then it is still true today, regardless of how unpopular it may seem now. Thank God for Catholicism…where truth is not subordinated to modern trends and whims (which change over and over and over…that’s no belief system…that’s reletivism)!
posted June 26, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Wow! Am I glad I’m not living by 2000 year old rules. Glad you like the “oldies” but goodies. Me, I like being able to vote, not be “owned” (thus no legal rights) by the man I married, being able to control how many children I want (not have a boss religious man tell me sex is only for making babies), and most of all, deciding for myself what is true or not when it comes to a relgious book, written by human beings to push their agenda…in this case the RCC version of the bible. I know they have a special one, because protestants have a non-real one!? Lots of advise and contradictions in that book…in all it’s versions. The RCC is a bit, no make that a lot, outdated in a lot of ways, not the least of which is thinking women can’t be priests. As as aside, how are unmarried men (priests) supposed to know and advise on marriage!?
Since you know truth is still valid after 2000 years…enjoy. It obviously floats your boat.