Academic Catalog

Meadville Lombard joined with other theological schools in Chicago to create the Association of Chicago Theological Schools and its offshoot, the Hyde Park Cluster of Theological Schools, in 1984. The cluster includes Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Theological Seminary (United Church of Christ), McCormick Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), and Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. ACTS membership allows Meadville Lombard students access to more than 300 faculty members, 1,000 courses, and excellent libraries in the Chicagoland area and suburbs.

Meadville Lombard is one of two Unitarian Universalist theological schools in North America with strong affiliations with the Unitarian Universalist Association, its Department of Ministries and Faith Development, and the UUA's Ministerial Fellowship Committee.

Meadville Lombard also has been an institutional member of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) for many decades. Historically, many students, alumni/ae, and faculty have served on the IARF/US chapter board. A pre-World War II tradition is continued by a scholarship fund that enables theological students or ministers chosen by the Unitarian churches in Hungary and Romania to study at the school. Meadville Lombard now has a "partner school" relationship with the Protestant Theological Institute in Koloszvar, Transylvania (Romania). In recent years, students belonging to the Brahmo Samaj (India), Rissho Kosei-Kai (Japanese Buddhist), Konko-kyo (Japanese Shinto), and the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines have come to study at the school.