With a bit of trepidation and a lot of hope that it is helpful, I have just emailed this personal letter to Bishop Howard of the Diocese of Florida, with copies to Dean Dunkle, Bishop Sisk, Bishop Hirschfeld (my own diocese) and the Presiding Bishop. Later this morning I will send the letter with noted attachments via USPS. I note further that this letter falls a tiny sliver short of presenting a formal complaint under Title IV because I have no first-hand experience of the situation. Nevertheless, I have argued as strongly as I can to seek the reconciliation and peace intended by Title IV. First my emailed cover, and then my letter follows -- Bishop Howard, Dean and President Dunkle, Bishop Sisk, Bishop Hirschfeld, and for forwarding to Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori: Below and attached as a document please find copied a personal letter to Bishop Howard imploring him to use the Title IV canonical process concerning the allegations made publicly regarding Dean and President Dunkle. I have no first hand experience related to these allegations, and so I stop just a thin sliver short of lodging this letter as a complaint. And yet I believe I have provided more than sufficient reasons for why this action can and should be taken -- it is the most fair to all parties involved. Also attached please find the October 2, 2014 letter to Bishop Sisk and the Board of Trustees that has now been signed by 83 alumni/ae of the seminary. This letter, too, requests the Board to initiate Title IV proceedings through the deans diocese. A link to the October 1, 2014 New York Times article, Seeking Deans Firing, Seminary Professors End Up Jobless is provided at the bottom of page 2 and copies will be included with the letter mailed to you via USPS. A link to the web site where the significant documents containing the allegations brought by these eight faculty members is also included along with the sites index of those documents. I will mail this letter and attachments to you via United States Postal service later this morning. Many of us fear the seminary cannot recover from the various actions of recent weeks. We are saddened, hurt, angry and deeply, deeply disappointed. I believe the step I am asking be taken is a step toward healing and reconciliation -- and I believe it is absolutely necessary if The General Theological Seminary is ever to flourish again. My letter follows -- The Rev. Patricia E. Henking, Vicar Faith Episcopal Church, Merrimack, NH 03054 603-424-6806 ~ awesme@aol October 4, 2014, Being the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi The Rt. Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard (email [email protected]) The Hamilton West Diocesan Center 325 N Market Street Jacksonville, FL 32202-2798 CONVEYED BY EMAIL AND UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE; POSTED IN SOCIAL MEDIA Dear Bishop Howard: Amidst the cyclonic storm engulfing The General Theological Seminary, many voices have whispered or shouted about bringing Title IV of the Canons of the Episcopal Church into play. Thus I am writing to you both as a priest of our Church and as a member of General Seminary’s Class of 1979. In the midst of this storm, I have also collected some eighty names now signed to a letter requesting Bishop Sisk and the Board of Trustees to place the allegations of misconduct on the part of the Very Rev. Kurt Dunkle into your hands. Thus I feel responsible to transmit that letter as well as the letter written by eight seminary professors containing those allegations. I do so with the following convictions firmly in mind: v I believe that Dean and President Dunkle deserves the formal pastoral assistance Title IV can provide him in discerning the merit and weight of the allegations. I also think it would be most gracious for the discernment process to be opened in this manner in his own diocese – as a sports fan, the analogy of home field advantage comes to my mind. v I trust the canonical process: I hope that taking some of the need for discernment out of the “General Theological Seminary bubble” would help all the involved parties. Furthermore, I believe initiating a Title IV process has the potential to support the sustainability of the seminary itself. I hold this hope and trust because ecclesiastical discernment suits our lives as Christian and ordained people more faithfully and richly than the processes of civil law alone. v I believe the most vulnerable individuals in the midst of this storm are present students and recent graduates of the seminary. If there is any truth or merit at all in the allegations concerning the dean and president, these people, particularly those in the ordination process, deserve a safe and confidential place to turn if they count themselves as injured parties. It is both tremendously unwieldy and very daunting to expect such individuals to participate in or contribute to the investigation presently undertaken by the seminary board. Hence I am attaching for your records the letter to Bishop Sisk and the Board of Trustees over the names of three lists of alumni/ae who are signatories to the letter, and the letters with allegations from the eight members of the seminary faculty. I am sure you are fully aware of all these matters, and at a far more reaching fullness than I am. Nevertheless, it seems important to transmit these concerns to you on the part of members of the wider seminary community. Please know that I will be posting this letter to you in social media simultaneously with sending it to you electronically. That action is to satisfy and still the loud voices clamoring that, “someone please do this.” At this point I leave the decision to proceed in your hands and those of your diocesan Intake Officer. I cannot emphasize enough my belief that proceeding with the Title IV process is essential to the sustainability of The General Theological Seminary as well as providing the best opportunities for healing, reconciliation, justice and peace for all concerned. With all due respect and tremendous hope for the pastoral outcomes of writing to you, I am, Patricia E. Henking, GTS 1979 NB: The allegations brought forth by 8 members of The General Theological Seminary Faculty concerning The Very Rev. Kurt Dunkel’s leadership and behavior are documented in the following materials found at safeseminary.org/how-we-got-here.html -- Letters and Correspondence - Index by Date September 14, 2014 Faculty send a Letter to the Board outlining serious concerns over the Hostile Enviornment at General Theological Seminary. September 24, 2014 Reply of the Chairman of the Board September 25, 2014 Faculty again write to the Board, specifically requesting a face-to-face meeting at the next scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees, and begin a work stoppage to demonstrate the gravity of the situation at General Seminary. September 30, 2014 GTS issues a public statement accepting the resignations of the eight faculty members. The faculty had not, and have not, tendered their resignations from their positions. September 30, 2014 Statement in response to public comments by a Trustee, in which the Faculty detail attempts dating to October 2013 to resolve the escalating crisis. Attachments: Letter to Bishop Sisk and the Board of Trustees of the GTS dated October 2, 2014 signed by three groups of alumni/ae totally 83 names; The October 1, 2014 New York Times article titled, “Seeking Dean’s Firing, Seminary Professors End Up Jobless” (also found at nytimes/2014/10/02/nyregion/labor-dispute-leaves-professors-jobless.html?_r=1) Copied: The Very Rev. Kurt Dunkle, The Right Rev. Mark Sisk, The Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts-Schori and The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirshfeld (Bishop of New Hampshire – this writer’s diocese); and to the wider General Theological Seminary community via posts in social media
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 06:09:28 +0000
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