Seminary’s history of service ensures its relelvance today

Volume One, Issue 20, February 9- 15, 2007

Talking Point

By Rev. K. Dennis Winslow

I write in response to the “Talking Point” by Tim Gay in last week’s issue of Chelsea Now, “Is General Theological Seminary Even Relevant Today?” to correct the many misrepresentations about General Seminary contained in that article. Contrary to Mr. Gay’s assertion, the Seminary has a long history of service to Chelsea, the broader city, and indeed the nation and the world.

First, a bit of history. I know personally that for decades the Seminary has been deeply involved in the civil rights, women’s and LGBT movements, along with other movements for social justice. In the 1960s, the Seminary sponsored students’ participation in the March on Washington and the Selma to Montgomery March, and as Freedom Riders and workers in the south during the summers.

In the 1990s, General Seminary was the first Episcopal Seminary and the first mainline seminary in America to change its housing policy to allow gay and lesbian couples to live together on campus, both students and faculty. Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, recalls that when he was executive director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, the Seminary provided sanctuary for victims of gay-bashing when no one else in Chelsea would. Many now middle-aged AIDS activists recall the ACT-UP meetings that were held on the Close in the early days of that organization. I have been told that Queer Nation met there as well. One of the largest, predominantly LGBT 12-step meetings in the city has been held at the Seminary for more than 30 years. In short, the Seminary has been a leading voice in the church and in society for the full inclusion of LGBT persons, as exemplified by its graduate and former trustee, Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first gay bishop with a partner in the Anglican Communion.

The Seminary’s good works have directly benefited Chelsea. Countless block and community organizations have met at the Seminary over the years, including the West Chelsea Dog Owners Association who, with State Senator Tom Duane, held meetings at the Seminary when that group was organizing for a dog run on the piers. When Holy Apostles Church was destroyed by fire in 1990, the Seminary opened its campus so that the congregation had a place to worship until their church was restored. It was a fragile time for that parish, and without General Seminary there would probably be no Holy Apostles Church or feeding ministry in Chelsea today. Most tellingly, in the 1960s, when the Chelsea district was red-lined by banks, General Seminary made more than 60 below-market-rate loans to property owners in what is now the historic district. One can argue whether the Chelsea Historic District would even exist today had it not been for this action by the Seminary.

The Seminary’s history of service extends to the city at large. Following the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, General Seminary opened its campus to all who would seek a place of respite. On the morning of Sept. 12, the Seminary began working with Seaman’s Church Institute in lower Manhattan to provide workers, food and water for the rescue efforts at Ground Zero. By Wednesday night, the Seminary’s phone number was on the Internet, and people were calling from all over the country to provide help. That ministry was moved on Saturday to St. Paul’s Chapel, where General Seminary served as a staging area and coordinated volunteers and supplies through November, when Trinity Church could take over these activities.

Many of the Seminary’s faculty and students continued to serve as chaplains at Ground Zero throughout the crisis. Without General Seminary’s support, there may not have been a rescue ministry at St. Paul’s Chapel, a ministry known throughout the world for its heroic support of the rescue and recovery efforts.

Today, the Seminary hosts a homeless shelter and sponsors a clothing ministry in partnership with The Church of the Holy Apostles (this week, the Seminary will provide more than 300 coats for the soup kitchen participants). The Seminary also runs an acclaimed daycare center that is open to everyone in the neighborhood. In recent years, the Seminary has provided summer jobs for teenaged residents of Fulton Houses. It is also an institutional member of Manhattan Together — a part of the Industrial Areas Foundation, a grassroots community organizing agency. As part of its commitment to inclusiveness, the Seminary hosts Mission San Pablo, a Hispanic congregation that meets in the Seminary’s chapel on Sundays. This congregation would be incalculably diminished were the Seminary not present.

Unlike many, the Seminary does not toot its own horn about these activities — it simply goes about God’s work quietly. And remember that providing social services and taking stands for justice is not the primary mission of the Seminary. The primary mission is to educate those who will be leaders in the Church, leaders who will be bold in speaking out concerning injustice and active in responding to the special needs of their communities. General’s graduates go on to lead parishes, dioceses and social service organizations that increasingly, in this time of government retrenchment, provide the social safety net for people across the country and the world. We can be proud that the General Theological Seminary is located in Chelsea.

Rev. Winslow, currently Rector at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, was a plaintiff in the recent suit in New Jersey Supreme Court, which led to the decision that the state had to provide equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian New Jerseyians.