Late last year Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota—the largest of eight seminaries in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—announced that its president and chief financial officer had resigned amid a $4 million budget shortfall and a hefty drop in the value of the seminary’s endowment.
Richard Bliese, president of Luther Seminary since 2005, made no public statement about his resignation, which was announced in a December 10 news release. The same announcement said that Don Lewis, vice president of finance and administration, resigned in November.
A flurry of news reports failed to explain why the changes were urgent. School officials and an outside expert maintain that the seminary is on solid footing.
