And I’ll go back to the 60’s (because I can 😀) to add that the city was much more agrarian back then while the proportion of Lutheran to Catholic churches was probably about the same as it is today. The difference in 60+ years is Valparaiso’s demographic evolution into an upscale bedroom community. And as 72 said, a nationally recognized university fits well within the city’s upscale demo and provides a draw for potential new homeowners. Padilla’s ham-handed (faculty unrest, budget cuts, art sale fiasco, etc.) 5 year blip is history, and Konkol is already in the process of righting the ship. When he goes out into the Valpo community, his demeanor, personality, conviction and presence sends a compelling message locally.
I think David81 outlined this summary, or perhaps ChatGPT did it and did it well.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is generally considered the most theologically and socially progressive of the major Lutheran bodies in the United States. Official positions include:
- Ordination of women.
- Ordination of clergy in same-sex marriages and LGBTQ relationships.
- Permitting same-sex marriage.
- Generally affirming transgender individuals in church life.
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In 1925 and even in 1985, these issues were not stridently argued publicly. In practice, a university does not need to put these issues at the forefront. I don't find these issues to need a university megaphone on either side. They can simply serve their students individually in their personal spiritual journeys.
But item #2 is the deal-breaker that has driven over 1/3 of the congregations to leave the ELCA. The membership of these churches is even larger since most large ones are in the midwest. None of the other three has inflamed the level of disagreement as #2 as ELCA lay people in the departing congregations balk emphatically at ordaining gay clergy as leaders of a church. The reality that these clergy are far louder and dominate the bureaucracies. If you study the mass ELCA congregation church departures, you can see that they happened immediately following that decision. Just take the rainbows off the office doors and let it simply be one of many issues in personal lives.
Naturally this is a deal-breaker for any LCMS group or congregation to specifically endorse Valpo. In demographics and enrollment, you can't just ignore the LCMS-led high schools or students who belong. And now the ELCA has split itself into two campus, forcing another active dispute. Valpo is best served by staying silent on this "endorsement" issue publicly as a university. Just serve students equally. But universities typically rush to the vanguard of these culture issues. The creation of the advertised LCMS high schools admissions position is a wise strategically. Just try not to let unnecessary political statements get in the way.
@realist77 - very good post. No way should Valpo or Konkol get engaged in this conversation. We need students with different backgrounds and beliefs, while keeping the Valpo identity of being faith based.
OK, this may settle the question. I found this in Dr. Baepler’s book “Flame of Faith, Lamp of Learning” page 272
”The VU student body remained 75 to 80 percent Lutheran throughout the 1960s before it began to drop toward 50 percent in the next decade.”
This is a good summary statement. If you want to look more specifically
Year Total UG % Lutheran
1960 2605 85%
1970 3794 70%
1980 3545 51%
1990 3198 52%
2000 2984 40%
One other point is that OP Kretzmann retired in June of 1968 and the UG population was 76% Lutheran, and that percentage declined quite a bit in the years after he was no longer president. I think VU had the idea to target about a 50% Lutheran student body, and maintained that until the early 1990s.
The second big decline started under the Heckler administration. Heckler took office in the summer of 2008, and that fall, there were 969 (33.6%) Lutheran UG (including 530 LCMS, 370 ELCA and 50 other Lutheran students). When President Heckler left in the fall of 2020, there were 503 (18.4%) Lutheran UG (including 184 LCMS, 86 ELCA and 215 other Lutheran students).
The third big decline was under president Padilla - in the fall of 2025, there were 205 (9.9%) Lutheran UG (including 48 LCMS, 38 ELCA and 114 other Lutheran students.) In last fall's class first year class, there were 12 (twelve!) LCMS students and 9 (nine!) ELCA students 36 other Lutheran students. That incoming class of 57 out of 645 (8.8%) were Lutheran.
Those numbers are deeply concerning. Just when I thought they could not get worse, they have. They speak for themselves. Now the question is to what extent and how quickly those legacy ties can be reconnected.
As others and I have said, Pres. Konkol has more VU passion, more credentials, and more natural empathy than any candidate I would have believed existed. To the extent any human being can rebuild he Lutheran decline, I genuinely think he is the best suited to try.
Lutheran is fractured in all the ways I cited earlier today. But again, it's the purpose for which we were founded.
The second big decline started under the Heckler administration. Heckler took office in the summer of 2008, and that fall, there were 969 (33.6%) Lutheran UG (including 530 LCMS, 370 ELCA and 50 other Lutheran students). When President Heckler left in the fall of 2020, there were 503 (18.4%) Lutheran UG (including 184 LCMS, 86 ELCA and 215 other Lutheran students).
The third big decline was under president Padilla - in the fall of 2025, there were 205 (9.9%) Lutheran UG (including 48 LCMS, 38 ELCA and 114 other Lutheran students.) In last fall's class first year class, there were 12 (twelve!) LCMS students and 9 (nine!) ELCA students 36 other Lutheran students. That incoming class of 57 out of 645 (8.8%) were Lutheran.
To be fair, this was the same time the LCMS was moving right and the ELCA was moving left. Valpo was caught in the middle.
It didn’t help that while this was happening, Valpo broke from traditional roots and hired Heckler and then Padilla. Instead of being a rock in a storm, they decided to be all things to all people (ie lukewarm) and prospective students spat them out.
Hiring Konkol was the right move and hopefully we get back on track.
@vu72 - I was wrong, my bad. I went to Valpo from 1980 to 1984, where the majority of Lutherans likely dropped below 50%.