This follows a decrease of nearly $6.5 million (8.5%) in 2015.

"As the fiduciary stewards of EDS's assets and mission, we are obviously dismayed at the size of EDS's losses, but the news has redoubled our commitment to finding a more sustainable and prudent future for the seminary by the end of fiscal year 2017," Hall and Anderson wrote.

One of ten seminaries educating students for ministry in the Episcopal Church, EDS announced in July that it will cease granting degrees at the conclusion of the current academic year, citing "unsustainable" levels of spending. At the same time, the school's dean tendered his resignation.

At the time, EDS was thought to have the second-largest financial reserves among Episcopal seminaries. According to the school, EDS's investments were valued at approximately $53 million plus the real estate value of its campus, which is adjacent to Harvard University. More than half of the endowment is restricted.

The seminary, already among the smallest members of the Association of Theological Schools, disclosed today that it will only have 23 students remaining after the last degree-granted class is graduated in 2016.

In August, Hall wrote about the seminary's transition planning: "The endowment has been dwindling at an alarming rate (see Anthony Ruger's financial presentation to the trustees) in the last several years as we sought to maintain degree programs that are not sustainable."

In September trustees approve a severance plan that will cost approximately $2.5 million if all benefits are claimed. Arrangements for "teaching out" the EDS students who will not have completed their degrees by next May will likely involve another tiny liberal Episcopal seminary, Bexley-Seabury, which is housed at Chicago Theological Seminary, to complete the degrees of distributive learning students. United Methodist-affiliated Boston University School of Theology will take in EDS residential students.

According to Hall and Anderson, only seven of the teach-out students are Episcopalians in an ordination process; they come from three dioceses.

A committee tasked with reviewing proposals for EDS's future has culled a list of nine potential partners to three finalists; a final partner will be selected in February.

Episcopal Divinity School is regarded as one of the Episcopal Church's most liberal seminaries. The seminary's board describes EDS as "leaders in educational programs that are enlivened by theologies of liberation, especially the many voices of feminist, congregational, ecumenical, and global studies."

For more on the back story click here to read Episcopal Seminary Succumbs to “Unsustainable” Spending. https://juicyecumenism.com/2016/07/21/episcopal-seminary/

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