# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1947_S145
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES 148

instruction or more a week and consequently finds no time to
do any private research work in any particular branch, nor any
special brushing up. Their task is all the more difficult because
our institution is in a transition period as far as language is
concerned. Formerly the majority of branches were taught
through the medium of the German language, in which the two
older professors are well at home, but today most branches must
be taught in Spanish, a foreign language to each of the three
professors, acquired only in later life. Moreover, Lutheran text-
books in Spanish are practically non-existent. Thus the pro-
fessors quite naturally have plenty of handicaps to overcome
and need more time for preparation.

Students. — Since our institution was founded only in 1942,
our enrollment is small. In 1944 we had an enrollment of nine
students and one special student, a Jewish lay missionary from
a special Jewish mission society. One class of four, however,
was out doing supply work in the mission field. Among these
nine students there were five special students from our circles,
namely, five former teachers, who had decided to take up the
study of theology, since parochial school work was completely
crippled by numerous restrictions and other obstacles. In No-
vember, 1944, these five special students from our circles finished
their three-year theological course and received their diplomas.
It was a day of great rejoicing for our Argentine Lutheran
Church, because in all its history it never had received such a
large addition to its missionary forces at one time. All five can-
didates were placed in important parishes and missions, since
we were very short of men.

During the school year 1945 we had an enrollment of only
five, the second class being needed as supply workers for a
second year, owing to a great shortage of pastors, We might
add here that this class did some very fine work out in the field.
However, in 1946 our enrollment suddenly mounted to 13. Dur-
ing the year 1946 the Boards of Control in Crespo and Buenos
Aires consulted with Synod’s Board of Directors and with the
various conferences in Argentina on the question of transferring
to Buenos Aires the upper class at Crespo, covering the 5th and
6th years of our pretheological course in order to make room
for more preparatory students at Crespo and to give students who
intend to take up the teaching profession a chance to visit a
normal school in Buenos Aires in order to acquire a national
teacher’s certificate. With the consent of Synod’s Board of Direc-
tors and the consent of all the conferences in Argentina the
transfer was made. So at the beginning of the 1946 school year
(in March) we find at Buenos Aires: (a) the class in 3d year
of theology (returned from supply work), (b) a class in Ist year

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