The Seminary Explores

The YWCA in Gettysburg has a special relationship to United Lutheran Seminary. Its main facility has been located on the grounds of the Seminary’s Gettysburg campus since 1981.Gretchen Stuempfle and The Rev. Herman Stuempfle, Jr. (then president of the Seminary) proposed the site in the late 1970’s when the nonprofit was looking to expand. Two faculty members currently serve on its board of directors.

Just before the July 4th weekend The Seminary Explores caught up with the newest Executive Director of the YWCA Gettysburg & Adams County. Dotty Dalphon has her first year behind her, and what a year it has been! Leading a nonprofit with the broad scope of this particular YWCA’s offerings through a pandemic outbreak and a household move across state lines have made for a whirlwind of a welcome to Adams County. She’s pictured here with her daughter who completed her first half-marathon in Gettysburg.

Rev. Peter Kuhn, Director of Spiritual Care and Education, WellSpan Health joins The Seminary Explores for a conversation about spiritual care in some of South Central Pennsylvania’s hospitals. Like all hospital departments right now they are rapidly adapting to how they provide care and education in changing circumstances. Kuhn is an ACPE Clinical Educator and a Board Certified Chaplain. He studied Theology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. His Supervisor training is from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Award-winning vocalist, writer and multi-genre performing artist Queen Esther joins Katy Giebenhain for a conversation about her developing one person show and what’s been visible and not visible in her first impressions of Gettysburg. A winter artist-in-residence at the Gettysburg National Military Park, Queen Esther is based in New York City. Jazz, Blues, Black Americana, alt-rock, swing, gospel and beyond – these are the musical waters she swims in. Among her extensive collaborations is the avant-blues duo Hoosegow she formed with guitarist Elliott Sharp. Blues Matters Magazine calls her “… modern, yet not flashy while holding true to herself with firmness and a forthright approach and style.”

Many thanks to our host site for this interview, Waldo’s and Co. on the Square in Gettysburg.  The Artist-in-Residence program is made possible by the Gettysburg Foundation and The National Park Arts Foundation, with support from the National Park Service.

Special thanks also to The Seminary Ridge Museum.

Jason Hatch is a retired U.S. Army soldier who served for 20 years including in Iraq and later as a military attaché at embassies in sub-Saharan Africa, before retiring as a major in 2013.  Jason shares his personal journey and how his experiences led him to advocate for those children who find themselves caught in the horror of war as victims and even as soldiers themselves. His recent work includes a drama called Rope Tension about two Civil War drummer boys, one Union and one Confederate, thrown together one night after a battle.  Jason was the Artist in Residence at the Gettysburg National Military Park in early 2020.

Additional thanks to the Seminary Ridge Museum on historic Seminary Ridge in Gettysburg, PA.

Haya Mohanna came to the United States from the Gaza Strip in Palestine to study at Gettysburg College. She was sponsored by LE.O (Leonard Education Organization) which supports nearly 60 qualified students in American universities. Even with this support, she experienced the difficulty of leaving occupied Gaza, and the frustration of not being able to visit her family whom she has not seen in seven years. She has flourished in America even while she continues to make adjustments as a Muslim woman to her new environment. She believes that this country is a beacon of hope that must come to terms with itself as a cultural mix where no religion, culture, or race can be privileged.

Dr. Darlis Swan, the Ecumenical Representative of the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), details the ecumenical movement in the United States. She defined “ecumenical” and went on to share her interest in ecumenism from her seminary studies to her work in the Office of Ecumenical Affairs of the ELCA. She also discussed:

• The transition from the ecumenical movement from the U.S. to the global context.
• Suggested readings on the ecumenical movement
• The involvement of congregational members in ecumenical work
• Ecumenical relationships of the ELCA

Interfaith Connection’s executive producer and host Jackie Fuller joins Katy Giebenhain for a conversation about Fuller’s interfaith work in the Washington, D.C. Metro area and the upcoming Religion Communication Congress 2020 which is sponsored by The Religion Communicators Council.

The March 17-21 Religion Communication Congress 2020 includes speakers:

• Wajahat Ali, CNN Contributor and Contributing Op-Ed Writer to The New York Times
• Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism
• Amelia Kegan, Legislative Director, Domestic Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation
• Dr. Simran Jeet Singh, Senior Religion Fellow for the Sikh Coalition and a Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Center for Religion and Media and others.

Thank you to the Church of the Epiphany for kindly providing our interview site.

Seven years ago, Phoebe Doscher and her family experienced the shooting in Sandy Hook first hand. Phoebe’s younger sister attended elementary school there. Fortunately, she survived, but twenty other children and seven adults did not. When Phoebe arrived at Gettysburg College, the emotional impact of this experience came rushing back, and she resolved to respond by founding a chapter of Students Demand Action. Her top priority is “to get a conversation going” so that all sides can understand the need to take sensible steps--not the removal of all guns, but universal background checks and restrictions on automatic, military-style weapons.

Chaplain Palmer and Chaplain Meeker liken the role of Army chaplains to parish pastors insofar as they are responsible for Word and Sacrament but emphasize the role of “incarnational ministry” in their total involvement in the life of the soldier. Special challenges are the visits to families when a son or daughter is killed, and in recent years the need to address post-traumatic stress. For all this, chaplains must undergo a rigorous course of study in addition to basic training. Both Chaplains Meeker and Palmer encourage seminarians and others to consider a career in ministry to the military.

• Chaplain Glenn Palmer, Chief, Training Development Division, US Army Chaplain Center and School, Ft. Jackson SC
• Chaplain Karen Meeker, Chief, Recruiting Division, Office of Chief of Chaplains, Pentagon, Washington DC

Pastor Andrew Geib, Associate Pastor, St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, identified nine top stories in religion for the year 2019: ELCA Church Sanctuary issue, United Methodist possible split, Women in the Church, Collapse of Christianity, the burning of Notre Dame in Paris, and more. While the stories were mostly grim, he ends with word of hope for listeners.