ELCA Seminaries Plan 2003 Commencement Exercises

Chicago (ELCA)-FI — The eight seminaries and one seminary program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) plan to conduct commencement exercises at the end of the 2002-2003 academic year. The dates, speakers and locations are listed:

May 16

Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa. The Rev. Michael L. Cooper-White, president, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg Abiding Presence Chapel, Seminary Ridge (seminary campus), Gettysburg

Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C. The Rev. Thomas E. Ridenhour, vice president of academic affairs, dean and professor of homiletics, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary Ebenezer Lutheran Church, Columbia

May 17

Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif. The Rev. Edgar M. Krentz, retired, Christ Seminary-Seminex professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Chapel of the Cross (seminary campus), Berkeley

May 18

Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia The Rev. Margarita Martinez, bishop, ELCA Caribbean Synod, Dorado, Puerto Rico Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lansdale, Pa.

Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa Father Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian of the Melkite Catholic Church St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, Dubuque

May 20

Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest (LSPS), Austin, Texas Dr. Alan Gregory, professor of church history, Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (ETSS), Austin St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Austin LSPS is an extension of Wartburg Theological Seminary and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and is located on the campus of the ETSS. Commencement activities are conducted jointly with ETSS.

May 25

Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. The Rev. Marc Kolden, dean of academic affairs and professor of systematic theology, Luther Seminary Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis

May 31

Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio Dr. Larry L. Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York Mees Hall, Capital University, Columbus

June 8

Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago The Rev. F. Dean Lueking, retired pastor, Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest, Ill.; visiting professor, systematic and pastoral theology, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; and pastoral consultant, Opportunity International in the Eastern Europe Region, based in Oxford, England Rockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago