General Seminary to sell unspecified properties to stay afloat

from The Lead by Jim Naughton

The latest news from General Seminary is not as specific as one might like. The Seminary's board has apparently taken decisive action to keep the institution afloat, but it is difficult know at this point just what that action is.

A press release says the seminary is selling "several properties," but doesn't say which ones. Still, Bishop Mark Sisk of New York, the new chairman of the seminary's board likes the plan, and he is nobody's fool.

He said: "The adoption of this plan represents a comprehensive solution to financial challenges that have been a drain on morale and a serious impediment to the Seminary’s mission for many years, GTS trustees today took a bold but very carefully considered step to leverage assets through the sale of residential properties. The payoff is the substantial if not the complete elimination of all General’s debt.”

The release continues:

“At the crux of our financial crisis we realized that this plan was the only alternative for a comprehensive solution that was achievable in a few years,” said the Rev. Lang Lowrey, the Interim President of GTS. “Someone at the table mentioned that our journey in the next few years would be similar to the years the Israelites spent in the desert and it called to mind a passage in Deuteronomy about choosing life and so the name for the comprehensive approach was born.” Lowrey admitted that in enacting the Plan to Choose Life, General will have a very busy and difficult eighteen to twenty-four months ahead. The trustee action enables the school to complete negotiations for the sale of the properties and the complex process of relocating students and faculty residents to newly renovated housing.

We suspect that the name of the plan may cause some confusion because the anti-abortion movement has all but copyrighted the phrase "Choose Life."