Paul Seto, a pioneer in Muslim-Christian dialogue, was 85

by Alexa Smith, Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE -- February 27, 2004 -- The Rev. Paul S. Seto, a missionary who served in the Middle East and remained at his post in Tehran even through part of the Iranian revolution, died at his Santa Fe home on Feb. 21. He was 85.

Seto was born in Haney, British Columbia, a son of Japanese immigrants, and was known in his youth as "Susumu" -- "Susie," for short. He is said to have changed his name to Paul in honor of the writer of the epistles, but no one is quite sure when.

He left the West Coast in the 1940s, shortly before the U.S. and Canadian governments began rounding up people of Japanese ancestry because of World War II, but his parents did not escape internment. The family's land was confiscated, and Seto's parents worked as day laborers under police supervision while their son attended Garrett Theological Seminary in Illinois.

Seto found his calling in the mission field, devoting his life to crossing racial, political and cultural barriers to create community where there was none. He was sympathetic to to people of other faiths and facilitated Christian-Muslim dialogue without compromising his own faith.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 17, at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, NM, which he attended after moving to Santa Fe in retirement and joining the Presbyterian community at Plaza del Monte.

The Rev. Aurelia Fule, a fellow retiree in Santa Fe who worked for the PC(USA)'s department of theology and worship, said of Seto: "I knew Paul for 25 years. He was caring, truly loving ... in the deep sense of the word. He was the most remarkable person, and he shared something of what God's love must be like for human beings."

Seto earned a bachelor's degree at the University of California and graduated from Garrett in 1944. He later studied theology at Princeton and Hartford seminaries. He was ordained by New Brunswick Presbytery and in 1946 was assigned to Kermanshah, Iran, by the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

He and his wife, Genevieve Reynolds Seto, worked in missions until 1963, serving in Aleppo, Syria, and Beirut, Lebanon. Seto taught at Aleppo College and the Near East School of Theology and worked in a campus ministry in Beirut.

Seto's son, Ted, noting that his parents' 1944 marriage was interracial and therefore illegal in the United States, said mission service was an attractive alternative at a time when there was little demand for Presbyterian ministers of Japanese descent.

"The decision was clearly the right one," Ted Seto said. "In the field, he was no longer Japanese; he was Christian. That, of course, posed its own difficulties in the countries to which he was posted, but they were difficulties common to all missionaries. His extraordinary facility with languages and great interpersonal skills made him unusually effective. Race no longer mattered. …

"For him, creation of a world in which all could feel included and cared for was what the church was about, and his life and ministry reflected that."

In 1963, after his wife died, Seto married her sister, Selma, and they returned together to Iran, where they served until 1980. They were among six Presbyterian missionaries expelled from the country after the overthrow of the Shah.

Seto later worked as director of the Patterns of Ecumenical Sharing program at the Stony Point Conference Center in upstate New York. Before his 1991 retirement, he was a coordinator of mission programs for the PC(USA), serving in Louisville and New York.

The Rev. Peggy Thomas, who with her husband, Kenneth, served alongside the Setos in Tehran, said: "Paul Seto understood Jesus' words about love of the enemy to be at the heart of the gospel. There was nothing beyond which God could not reach in love -- a tough love that has consequences that God bears and that we bear, but a love that brings us into relationships without fear or boundaries."

Selma Seto died in Santa Fe last September.

A friend in San Francisco reports that "the Rev. Gene Huff died peacefully, surrounded by his dear Joan, children and friends around 6:45PM yesterday evening, Thursday, October 16. It was a graced and holy transition."

A Service Celebrating the Gift of Gene's life will be held All Saint's Day, Saturday, November 1 at 10:30AM, in the sanctuary of Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church, San Francisco.

Gene was an Honorably Retired Member of the Presbytery of San Francisco and former Executive Presbyter, San Gabriel and Western Reserve Presbyteries. He has been a long-time member of Witherspoon, a friend of More Light Presbyterians and That All May Freely Serve, and a tireless advocate for a just and welcoming church.

By Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service

[10-21-03]

A personal note from your WebWeaver: One of the delights of coming to the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area was getting to know Margaret Strodtz. Even as she struggled with the troubles of an aging body, she remained alert and vitally interested in efforts for peace and justice in our little corner of the world. She has been a long-time member of the Witherspoon Society, and we'll miss her, but we rejoice that her life ended as she would have wanted: pursuing knowledge and understanding in the company of good companions in the faith.

LOUISVILLE -- October 16, 2003 - The Rev. Margaret Strodtz, a retired Presbyterian Church (USA) minister from Minnesota , died suddenly in Geneva, Switzerland, while attending a clergy and laity seminar on the ecumenical movement sponsored by the PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division.

Strodtz, 83, was one of the first women ordained to the ministry by the former Presbyterian Church in the USA ("northern stream"). Ordained in the mid-1950s, Strodtz was a member of Twin Cities Area Presbytery at the time of her death.

Strodtz became ill Oct. 10 at the John Knox Center, a guest house near the Ecumenical Center in Geneva where seminar participants were staying. She was taken to a local hospital where her condition deteriorated and she died two days later, apparently of heart failure.

A memorial service was held in Geneva before the seminar concluded Oct. 15. Arrangements in the U.S. are pending.

Information for this story furnished by the Rev. Theo Gill, PC(USA) minister on the staff of the World Council of Churches in Geneva.