I am trying to find information about the following schools other than what is on their websites. St. Paul's College & Seminary Sanctus Theological Institute Ecumenical Theological Union I believe they all have Florida Addresses. They state that they are accredited by the International University Accrediting Association and the Virtual University Accrediting Association. Never heard of these either. Does anyone know anything about them? Thanks, Robert
The accrediting agencies are not recognized by the USDoE. These schools may serve your particular purpose but there are many other accredited schools that will more than likely meet your criteria. Things have changed drastically in the past few years and unaccredited schools, even the good ones, may not serve in the best interest of anyone. Be cautious and be careful.
I am trying to find information about the following schools other than what is on their websites. St. Paul's College & Seminary Sanctus Theological Institute Ecumenical Theological Union I believe they all have Florida Addresses. They state that they are accredited by the International University Accrediting Association and the Virtual University Accrediting Association. Never heard of these either. Does anyone know anything about them? Thanks, Robert Robert, You may want to check with Counsel for Higher Education Accrediation http://www.chea.org or the http://www.ed.gov for recognized accrediting bodies. Also check with the Association of theological schools http://www.ats.edu HTH, cbryant
Great minds think alike, Mr Lewis. Although I have never actually run a degree mill or a fake denomination, and thus (unlike some) cannot speak from experience, I did spend some time just yesterday looking at this very site. The gentlemen who have assembled this congeries of "schools" appear to be what is called in the trade "episcopi vagantes," or wandering bishops. These are men who claim to possess episcopal succession deriving, through various twists and turns, either from the Old Catholics in Europe, the Nestorian (sic) Church, or one variety or other of the Thomas Christians of south India. Generally their orders are not recognized by "validity"-concerned churches. Quite often they do not in fact head an actual denomination with parishes, but preside either over a single congregation (usually small) or perhaps only over a closetful (unhappy term) of ecclesiastical millinery. It is very common for these gentlemen to accumulate for themselves several "lines" of succession, together with increasingly splendid ecclesiastical titles, orders of nobility, etc., etc., ad inf. et ad naus. Almost none of the gentlemen associated with this website possess theological degrees from genuinely accredited schools, although a few hold degrees in other fields (nursing, theater) from legitimate schools. The accrediting body is most certainly not USDE or CHEA recognized; less-than-wonderful is the canonical term used hereabouts to describe such organizations. In short, everything about this school is less than it appears to be. I can assure you point blank that neither this school nor its faculty have any authentic connection to the Old Catholics of the Utrecht Union, to breakaway traditionalist Roman Catholics, or to any of the various small but reputable bodies which have left the Episcopal Church in conservative protest. There are real seminaries named for St Paul, but they can be readily distinguished from this site. However, I have never heard of a real seminary named for a chunk of chant, such as the Sanctus. At one time there was another fake St Paul's seminary, most of whose web traces have been erased by its sometime proprietor. However, it catered to low-church and anti-trinitarian protestants, in consort with spurious "denominations" of that general labeling associated with its proprietor, not to the independent catholic (free-lance, often gay) clientele of the site in question. The only things in common would be persistent folie de grandeur and a horror of reputable ecclesiastical organizations. I would be happy to share with you further information regarding real and not-so-real Old Catholics. Since that's not germane to distance learning, please use the private message (pm) service should you have further questions along those lines. Although I do not share their theology, I have the highest respect for the authentic variety of Old Catholics, and even have known a couple of honest and well-intentioned e.v.'s, too. Welcome to the board, and best of luck to you in your inquiries. Cordially, Janko
Uncle Janko, don't you think it's time to stop these pathetic, childish attempts to bait me into verbally attacking you so I will get banned? In my opinion, your amateurish psychological bullying games signify an impoverished personality reminiscent of Peer Gynt or The Lady of Shallot. I will not fall prey to your antics. There is nothing surreptitious about what you are trying, with marked desperation, to accomplish as it's so obvious. There will be no efficacy in your neurotic attempts! I appreciate the numerous "second chances" I have been given to participate on the forum and I WILL NOT go back on my word, again, to behave myself! I was hoping the moderators would catch this and call you on it.
Hey Unk Why don't you tell us how you really feel? And Rich accused me of attacking him in an indirect manner. Perhaps I could introduce you to someone majoring in conflict resolution. Oh!
I am, Jerry, I am. I should feel very badly had I failed to warn young Mr Lewis (young in posts, at any rate) that the highfalutin' folks on the website in question (and I do mean high, brethren) are less than meets the swinging censer's arc. I should also feel very badly if Mr Lewis failed to make a distinction between two fake schools with nearly identical names, and wind up attributing to anyone a theological position he does not hold, simply because a website involving two kinds of flummery--fake seminaries and fake denominations--happened to be under discussion. The world of what is now often called independent Catholicism can be most confusing, involving as it does a very wide continuum on matters both theological and ethical, terrifically complicated and often outright competing nomenclature, a historical cast of characters ranging from the genuinely well-intentioned to convicted felons, and a present-day roster of participants who come and go and go and come with great speed, secrecy, passion, and petulance into one evanescent ecclesiastical hidey-hole after another. I have, I think, discharged my responsibility to Mr Lewis. Whatever analogies others wish to suggest or announce is up to them. As Rev Martin Luther King, Jr once said, though he was not half the preacher his daddy was, "the arc of history is long but it bends toward justice."
Uncle, Thanks for the information. Just to be clear why I am asking has to do with my being the chair of a clergy certification organization and having already had my own doubts about these organizations from the information I was able to find - I was attempting to find out if there was more information available. I am well aware of the independent catholic bodies here in North American and this was another reason I was asking about these Schools and accediting organization. Every year our organization receives several applications from independent catholic clergy and many of them have theological degrees from un-accredited or accredited by unrecognized organizations. I have even gone as far as having a few degrees from these schools award to my dog to prove my point that there is no accountability at some of these schools. He has even been ordained by a church (not an independent catholic church as far as I know, at least they are not that lax) who all they asked for was a date of birth (which I gave the correct date of 9/22/2002) and a picture (which I sent an actual picture of the dog wearing sunglasses and a necktie. Since the organizations I listed were new on our radar-screen, I was trying to find more information on them than was provided on their own websites. So far, it seems that my first impressions are correct. Robert
