CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and McCormick Theological Seminary, a seminary of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), are completing construction this month of McCormick's new offices on the LSTC campus. Ceremonies on Feb. 27 and 28 will cap 18 months of construction and 28 years of collaboration.
Following a worship service and ceremonial walk to the campus on Feb. 27, McCormick faculty and staff will be welcomed by faculty, staff and students of LSTC. Faculty and staff of the Presbyterian seminary are to take residence in the new three-story, 40,000-square-foot facility Feb. 28.
The McCormick building will connect to the three-story, U-shaped Lutheran school, forming the northern border of the Lutheran Seminary's courtyard. The courtyard covers a new underground parking garage, equipped with a heated, snow-melting entrance and exit ramp, that the two schools will share. LSTC leased the land for the building to McCormick in 2000.
This latest cooperative venture continues a partnership which began when McCormick moved from Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood to the Hyde Park neighborhood in 1975. At the time the two theological institutions agreed to share classroom space and combine library resources for shared ownership of the Jesuit-Krauss-McCormick Library.
More recently the two institutions pooled Lilly Foundation grant money for upgrading technological resources for instruction and research. They now share a joint technology team and a three-year, $505,000 grant from The Teagle Foundation of New York to explore new ways to share administrative and physical resources and to encourage and assist neighboring Chicago seminaries to do the same.
In 1998 the ELCA entered into a relationship of "full communion" with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ. The agreement allows the exchange of ministers and encourages the denominations to share heritages of worship, service and education.
LSTC prepares pastors, lay professionals and theological educators for the church by offering degree programs leading to the master of arts, master of divinity, master of theology, doctor of ministry and doctor of philosophy. The seminary is affiliated with the University of Chicago and the Association of Chicago Theological Schools. -- -- --
The home page for the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is at http://www.lstc.edu/ on the Internet. The home page for McCormick Theological Seminary is at http://www.mccormick.edu/ on the Web.
* Kathleen Chekel is director for marketing and communications at the
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
