Crossings | Fall 2023

Church Divinity School of the Pacific

Crossings FALL 2023

LEARNING ON THE JOB Hybrid alums reflect on seminary amid full-time ministry roles u Plus: Meet Dean Fowl

Aissa Hillebrand ‘27 spoke to Crossings about showing up exactly as she is. | Photo courtesy of Hillebrand

Contemplation Drives Inquiry:

Psalm 27 and the rhythms of seminary community

By Dr. Stephen Fowl President & Dean

I’m writing this column in the very early days of the fall semester. I’ve always faced these days with a mix of excitement and apprehension. Those feelings were heightened this year, surely due to my significant new beginning at CDSP.

shape this desire according to our individual, specific temperaments. Our lives of contemplation will fit each of us perfectly, like a well-tailored garment. God will see to it that this end will be the fulfillment of our deepest desires, not their obliteration.

We began with our Tuesday morning Community Eucharist. As I sat waiting for the service to begin, I was deeply moved watching faculty and residential students file into the chapel. It was so clear that they were happy and excited to be together again: hugs, smiles, laughter, reconnection. Worship amid joyful reunion is always an extraordinary event.

Particularly at the beginning of the academic year, God’s invitation to each of us is to remember to take time throughout to practice those ways of dwelling in God’s beauty that seem best suited to each of us. Praying, singing, reading, feeding people who are hungry, binding up broken hearts—all these are ways in which we may contemplate the beauty of the Lord. Indeed, Jesus says that in feeding the hungry and binding the brokenhearted, we can best see the true beauty of God.

Psalm 27 was appointed for the day.

In verse 4, the psalmist expresses a single overriding desire: “To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to contemplate the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in the Lord’s temple.” This is an excellent verse to focus on at the beginning of the year.

Worship amid joyful reunion is always an extraordinary event.

Contemplating the beauty of the Lord is one of the most enduring images Christians have for thinking about our ultimate end in God, the ultimate destination of our spiritual journey. At that time, we will be in the presence of the God who loves us fully without hesitation or reservation. We will have nothing more to do except welcome that presence, to be absorbed into it without in any way losing our true selves, and to worship the God who offers us this gift of participating in God’s own life.

This is where, according to the New Testament, all things are leading. Our destination is not because of our own innate goodness, or our outstanding academic gifts, or our unrelenting efforts to succeed. We are heading this way because that is God’s deepest desire for us. God will

2 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

As a seminary community, we are an unusual worshipping body. All of us, to one degree or another, are engaged in a disciplined, communal approach to faith seeking understanding. I realize that the poetry of the psalm does not inevitably lead this way, but it strikes me that the psalmist’s desire for contemplating the beauty of God and its connection to inquiring in the Temple is what our pursuits here are all about. Faith seeking understanding, or contemplation driving inquiry, reflects the deep structure of Christian knowledge and the ground of seminary education.

By the time you read this, the beginning of the academic year will be a distant memory. If our residential students’ joy at reconvening is any sort of barometer, I have every reason to hope that our time together on campus will have been well spent contemplating the beauty of God and deepening our inquiry after God. Our prayer and our study will enrich our love of God and each other.

4 Integration Every Day

16 ‘A Soft Place to Land’

Full-time ministry enriched seminary learning for these hybrid alums

CDSP classmates and community ‘a huge comfort’ for incoming students

8 Meet the Dean

20 Community News

A wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Stephen Fowl

Publications, new calls, ordinations, and more from the CDSP family

12 Charting the Course(s)

22 Your Response Needed

Reshaping our curriculum for the future of CDSP & the Church

14 ‘A Family Conversation’ Seminary hosts Northern California leaders to revisit communion controversy

Crossings FALL 2023

Toward a new rhythm of communication for our new model

Dr. Stephen Fowl, President and Dean Editorial: The Rev. Kyle Oliver, EdD, with assistance from the Rev. Edward Lowe Design: Trinity Church Wall Street Crossings is published by Church Divinity School of the Pacific 2450 Le Conte Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709-1249 © Church Divinity School of the Pacific, all rights reserved.

For additional print copies, e-mail communications@cdsp.edu.

Crossings also is published as a pdf online, at www.cdsp.edu/news/crossings, with archive copies available.

We want to know what you think of our magazine.

Please send your comments, story ideas, and suggestions to communications@cdsp.edu.

On the cover: In this issue, we profile three women who served in full-time ministry roles while completing the CDSP Hybrid Program (clockwise from upper-right): the Rev. Nora Boerner ‘22, the Rev. Katherine Frederick ‘23, the Rev. Jessica Frederick ‘23.

|T op photos courtesy of those pictured (except Katherine Frederick photo by Jason Tinacci); bottom photo courtesy of Boerner

Go Green with CDSP: Email communications@cdsp.edu to subscribe to our monthly email newsletter, and stay connected on Facebook at /cdspfans.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 3

Aissa Hillebrand ‘27 spoke to Crossings about showing up exactly as she is. | Photo courtesy of Hillebrand

Contemplation Drives Inquiry:

Psalm 27 and the rhythms of seminary community

By Dr. Stephen Fowl President & Dean

I’m writing this column in the very early days of the fall semester. I’ve always faced these days with a mix of excitement and apprehension. Those feelings were heightened this year, surely due to my significant new beginning at CDSP.

shape this desire according to our individual, specific temperaments. Our lives of contemplation will fit each of us perfectly, like a well-tailored garment. God will see to it that this end will be the fulfillment of our deepest desires, not their obliteration.

We began with our Tuesday morning Community Eucharist. As I sat waiting for the service to begin, I was deeply moved watching faculty and residential students file into the chapel. It was so clear that they were happy and excited to be together again: hugs, smiles, laughter, reconnection. Worship amid joyful reunion is always an extraordinary event.

Particularly at the beginning of the academic year, God’s invitation to each of us is to remember to take time throughout to practice those ways of dwelling in God’s beauty that seem best suited to each of us. Praying, singing, reading, feeding people who are hungry, binding up broken hearts—all these are ways in which we may contemplate the beauty of the Lord. Indeed, Jesus says that in feeding the hungry and binding the brokenhearted, we can best see the true beauty of God.

Psalm 27 was appointed for the day.

In verse 4, the psalmist expresses a single overriding desire: “To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to contemplate the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in the Lord’s temple.” This is an excellent verse to focus on at the beginning of the year.

Worship amid joyful reunion is always an extraordinary event.

Contemplating the beauty of the Lord is one of the most enduring images Christians have for thinking about our ultimate end in God, the ultimate destination of our spiritual journey. At that time, we will be in the presence of the God who loves us fully without hesitation or reservation. We will have nothing more to do except welcome that presence, to be absorbed into it without in any way losing our true selves, and to worship the God who offers us this gift of participating in God’s own life.

This is where, according to the New Testament, all things are leading. Our destination is not because of our own innate goodness, or our outstanding academic gifts, or our unrelenting efforts to succeed. We are heading this way because that is God’s deepest desire for us. God will

2 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

As a seminary community, we are an unusual worshipping body. All of us, to one degree or another, are engaged in a disciplined, communal approach to faith seeking understanding. I realize that the poetry of the psalm does not inevitably lead this way, but it strikes me that the psalmist’s desire for contemplating the beauty of God and its connection to inquiring in the Temple is what our pursuits here are all about. Faith seeking understanding, or contemplation driving inquiry, reflects the deep structure of Christian knowledge and the ground of seminary education.

By the time you read this, the beginning of the academic year will be a distant memory. If our residential students’ joy at reconvening is any sort of barometer, I have every reason to hope that our time together on campus will have been well spent contemplating the beauty of God and deepening our inquiry after God. Our prayer and our study will enrich our love of God and each other.

4 Integration Every Day

16 ‘A Soft Place to Land’

Full-time ministry enriched seminary learning for these hybrid alums

CDSP classmates and community ‘a huge comfort’ for incoming students

8 Meet the Dean

20 Community News

A wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Stephen Fowl

Publications, new calls, ordinations, and more from the CDSP family

12 Charting the Course(s)

22 Your Response Needed

Reshaping our curriculum for the future of CDSP & the Church

14 ‘A Family Conversation’ Seminary hosts Northern California leaders to revisit communion controversy

Crossings FALL 2023

Toward a new rhythm of communication for our new model

Dr. Stephen Fowl, President and Dean Editorial: The Rev. Kyle Oliver, EdD, with assistance from the Rev. Edward Lowe Design: Trinity Church Wall Street Crossings is published by Church Divinity School of the Pacific 2450 Le Conte Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709-1249 © Church Divinity School of the Pacific, all rights reserved.

For additional print copies, e-mail communications@cdsp.edu.

Crossings also is published as a pdf online, at www.cdsp.edu/news/crossings, with archive copies available.

We want to know what you think of our magazine.

Please send your comments, story ideas, and suggestions to communications@cdsp.edu.

On the cover: In this issue, we profile three women who served in full-time ministry roles while completing the CDSP Hybrid Program (clockwise from upper-right): the Rev. Nora Boerner ‘22, the Rev. Katherine Frederick ‘23, the Rev. Jessica Frederick ‘23.

|T op photos courtesy of those pictured (except Katherine Frederick photo by Jason Tinacci); bottom photo courtesy of Boerner

Go Green with CDSP: Email communications@cdsp.edu to subscribe to our monthly email newsletter, and stay connected on Facebook at /cdspfans.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 3

INTEGRATION EVERY DAY:

Interview participants (from left) Jessica Frederick, Nora Boerner, and Katherine Frederick each spoke about plentiful opportunities to connect learning to daily ministry practice. | P ortraits courtesy of those pictured (except Katherine Frederick photo by Jason Tinacci); bottom photo courtesy of Boerner

Full-time ministry enriched seminary learning for these hybrid alums by t h e R e v. Ky l e O l i v e r , E d D

“There’s a joke in my cohort. We played a bingo game where we have little squares of things that you hear often at CDSP,” said the Rev. Katherine Frederick ‘23. “Hospice chaplain was one. Because I so often said, ‘In my work as a hospice chaplain …’ It was amazing how often that happened.”

Frederick wasn’t trying to get undue mileage out of one term’s worth of stories from clinical pastoral education. Quite the opposite—she is one of several Hybrid Program alums and students who worked or are working in full-time ministry positions during their CDSP formation.

Thus, Frederick’s role at Providence Hospice in Napa Valley has, since mid-2020, been a constant source of inspiration, orientation, and reflection during her years in seminary.

I recently spoke with Frederick, the Rev. Nora Boerner ‘22, and the Rev. Jessica Frederick ‘23 (no relation to Katherine) for a series of episodes of Crossings Conversations about the experience of simultaneously working full-time ministry jobs and studying at CDSP. In a sense, this series is a follow-up on Carly Lane’s piece “Low Residence, High Impact” from our Spring 2023 issue, in which she surveyed alums’ perspectives on the strengths of the Hybrid Program.

Indeed, much of what I heard from this trio of leaders resonated with those earlier themes. Each mentioned the ways that residential formation wasn’t possible for their circumstances, as well as the strong bonds formed by hybrid cohorts 4 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

Immersive and integrative learning

been so formative. It’s not something that you study, and you try once, and then you’re done,” she said.

“We’re trying to really re-reinvigorate our children and youth ministries because, like many churches, the pandemic changed everything. I’ve spent my summer just doing one-onones with parents and youth. I’m still using it—and coming to have a deeper appreciation for the applications and how it’s never finished.”

Katherine Frederick wasn’t the only such student making frequent connections between her studies and her day job.

She and Boerner also mentioned that they believe the practice of parallel work and study has formed them as lifelong learners in a robust way.

“I know this will sound like hyperbole, but every single day that happened,” said Boerner, who served as parish life coordinator at Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City, IA, during seminary, then continued as curate and now associate rector.

“I was learning really intensively while I was in seminary,” Jessica Frederick said. “Now that I’ve wrapped up my study, I find myself thinking, ‘Okay, what am I going to be reading? Who’s my learning cohort going to be?’”

“Sometimes I found it to be affirming: ‘Oh, that instinct I had about that program I put together, that did line up with current pedagogy.’ Then other times it would really challenge me, and I would make changes adaptively on the ground as we went.

I think that that strengthened the programs at the church.”

New valences to contextual work

from their very first onsite intensive— a “summer-camp-like experience,” according to Boerner.

But other themes emerged that were tied to the specific experience of undertaking seminary studies amid the daily joys and challenges of positions not unlike the ones for which they and their classmates were being formed.

For Jessica Frederick, minister for children, youth, and families at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown, NY, this convergence of theological study with practical ministry was particularly valuable when it came to CDSP’s community organizing curriculum.

“Thinking about parish ministry in part as community organizing has

It’s not as if hybrid students who aren’t working full-time, or are working full-time in another field, don’t experience plenty of their own “aha moments.” Indeed, the need for this kind of embodied integration is part of why contextual education is such an important part of seminary studies and almost any professional school experience.

I wondered if this might mean that internships felt superfluous to these full-time ministers. On the contrary, from their insight I came to appreciate the new dimensions and new opportunities that could arise from contextual education in this configuration.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 5

INTEGRATION EVERY DAY:

Interview participants (from left) Jessica Frederick, Nora Boerner, and Katherine Frederick each spoke about plentiful opportunities to connect learning to daily ministry practice. | P ortraits courtesy of those pictured (except Katherine Frederick photo by Jason Tinacci); bottom photo courtesy of Boerner

Full-time ministry enriched seminary learning for these hybrid alums by t h e R e v. Ky l e O l i v e r , E d D

“There’s a joke in my cohort. We played a bingo game where we have little squares of things that you hear often at CDSP,” said the Rev. Katherine Frederick ‘23. “Hospice chaplain was one. Because I so often said, ‘In my work as a hospice chaplain …’ It was amazing how often that happened.”

Frederick wasn’t trying to get undue mileage out of one term’s worth of stories from clinical pastoral education. Quite the opposite—she is one of several Hybrid Program alums and students who worked or are working in full-time ministry positions during their CDSP formation.

Thus, Frederick’s role at Providence Hospice in Napa Valley has, since mid-2020, been a constant source of inspiration, orientation, and reflection during her years in seminary.

I recently spoke with Frederick, the Rev. Nora Boerner ‘22, and the Rev. Jessica Frederick ‘23 (no relation to Katherine) for a series of episodes of Crossings Conversations about the experience of simultaneously working full-time ministry jobs and studying at CDSP. In a sense, this series is a follow-up on Carly Lane’s piece “Low Residence, High Impact” from our Spring 2023 issue, in which she surveyed alums’ perspectives on the strengths of the Hybrid Program.

Indeed, much of what I heard from this trio of leaders resonated with those earlier themes. Each mentioned the ways that residential formation wasn’t possible for their circumstances, as well as the strong bonds formed by hybrid cohorts 4 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

Immersive and integrative learning

been so formative. It’s not something that you study, and you try once, and then you’re done,” she said.

“We’re trying to really re-reinvigorate our children and youth ministries because, like many churches, the pandemic changed everything. I’ve spent my summer just doing one-onones with parents and youth. I’m still using it—and coming to have a deeper appreciation for the applications and how it’s never finished.”

Katherine Frederick wasn’t the only such student making frequent connections between her studies and her day job.

She and Boerner also mentioned that they believe the practice of parallel work and study has formed them as lifelong learners in a robust way.

“I know this will sound like hyperbole, but every single day that happened,” said Boerner, who served as parish life coordinator at Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City, IA, during seminary, then continued as curate and now associate rector.

“I was learning really intensively while I was in seminary,” Jessica Frederick said. “Now that I’ve wrapped up my study, I find myself thinking, ‘Okay, what am I going to be reading? Who’s my learning cohort going to be?’”

“Sometimes I found it to be affirming: ‘Oh, that instinct I had about that program I put together, that did line up with current pedagogy.’ Then other times it would really challenge me, and I would make changes adaptively on the ground as we went.

I think that that strengthened the programs at the church.”

New valences to contextual work

from their very first onsite intensive— a “summer-camp-like experience,” according to Boerner.

But other themes emerged that were tied to the specific experience of undertaking seminary studies amid the daily joys and challenges of positions not unlike the ones for which they and their classmates were being formed.

For Jessica Frederick, minister for children, youth, and families at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown, NY, this convergence of theological study with practical ministry was particularly valuable when it came to CDSP’s community organizing curriculum.

“Thinking about parish ministry in part as community organizing has

It’s not as if hybrid students who aren’t working full-time, or are working full-time in another field, don’t experience plenty of their own “aha moments.” Indeed, the need for this kind of embodied integration is part of why contextual education is such an important part of seminary studies and almost any professional school experience.

I wondered if this might mean that internships felt superfluous to these full-time ministers. On the contrary, from their insight I came to appreciate the new dimensions and new opportunities that could arise from contextual education in this configuration.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 5

“There were days that I had to finish my paper and shut the door of my room, and my kids were upset and my spouse was frustrated,” said Boerner. “I had to choose seminary in that moment.” | Photo courtesy of Boerner

“This might be one of the most transformational things that happened because I was steeped in ministry and attending seminary at the same time,” she said.

The benefits of continuity As I prepared for this series of interviews, one potentially thorny issue loomed large in my consciousness. I wondered whether it might be a challenge for congregations to adapt their understanding and relationship to a full-time staff member whose formation was ongoing. Would it be hard for parishioners to process a student’s shifting or expanding responsibilities and authority?

In other words, might there be a “prophet in their own hometown” effect creeping into the transition that would accompany graduation?

The answer: definitely not, at least not for the students I spoke to.

“It was so organic. I was a little surprised by that and how that worked,” Boerner said. “I attribute some of that to the fact that I was in a separate role from the congregation from the get-go, providing pastoral care to some of the congregation already. My role really did evolve.”

For Katherine Frederick, working as a hospice chaplain brought increased trust, confidence, and the chance to go deeper in her congregationbased internships.

“I think it changed the way the parishioners saw me,” she said. “It wasn’t ‘Katherine who’s a full-time seminarian that was going to school full-time and doing nothing but studying.’ It was ‘Katherine who’s also doing this really intense pastoral care work, and she knows a lot about what’s happening out in the world.’”

She told the story of a relatively new parishioner who opened up to her surprisingly quickly, disclosing a 6 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

recent cancer diagnosis and speaking at length about his treatment.

Experiences like this one allowed her to contribute to the care of parishioners in perhaps an unusually significant way for a seminarian, exploring the contours of a familiar role in an unfamiliar setting.

By contrast, Boerner was already serving in a congregation. Her bishop was keen for her to have a different sort of experience for her contextual education internship. In her case, she credits CDSP for allowing her to take advantage of the opportunity that arose with Beloved Community Initiative, a mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa.

“The role involved leading dismantling racism trainings, doing book groups, and attending school board meetings to advocate for issues of equity,” she said. “I got to show up three times a week and greet kids and welcome them to school, which was beautiful.

I got to live out my faith and my own commitments and help discern and bring a Eucharistic community to Beloved Community Initiative as well.”

For Boerner, this additional connection to her diocese and local mission field has led to an ongoing leadership opportunity. She now serves as the interim leader of the program.

If anything, Jessica Frederick suggests that the continuity of context has made it easier for her and others to see and celebrate growth.

“I’ve noticed prior to my ordination to the transitional diaconate and now as my ordination to the priesthood approaches, there’s this moment where people have started to see me differently,” she said. “They could see my growth and they could just recognize my calling in me, which is wonderful. The bishop and the ordination service are certainly part of that transformation, but to have that be affirmed and confirmed by the community where I serve has been a really beautiful gift.”

Still, continuity isn’t only relevant for students who will continue serving in the same church or organization after they finish their program.

Katherine Frederick valued the chance to be formed and to serve in church and chaplaincy roles in wine country, where she has lived for years. She said it has solidified a lens for ministry that she believes will help her make an impact in her diocese— and possibly elsewhere someday.

“There’s always one thing too many happening in parish ministry, in my experience, and you can always do more,” she said. “Trying to juggle seminary and work taught me how to prioritize what’s really important: ‘This is not going to be perfect.

It’s going to be messy. I’m going to make mistakes.’ And that’s okay, because that’s parish ministry.”

Being in seminary while practicing ministry, it’s been an ‘iron sharpens iron’ experience.

“The ethos here would also be transferrable to a lot of other places, being in a vacation area and a place where there are a lot of second homes,” she said. “That’s certainly a dynamic that we have that changes the nature of the community and the nature of church. I think there are a lot of places around the country that have this similar ethos.”

Prioritizing—and putting aside perfectionism

For all the benefits of attending seminary while serving in a full-time ministry position, I came away from these conversations with a sense that this particular approach to formation is not for the faint of heart.

“Being in seminary while practicing ministry, it’s been an ‘iron sharpens iron’ experience,” said Jessica Frederick. She expressed her appreciation for a program that is attuned to the sometimes chaotic and overwhelming rhythms of parish life, which she contrasted with a more monastic approach to formation available in other programs.

Boerner was even more emphatic about the challenge and the lesson that accompanies “the release of the idea that I can be all things to all people”:

“One thing that a wise friend told me before I started the program is, ‘If you’re going to do this, you have to realize every choice you make, you’re going to be letting someone down, or it’s going to feel like that,’” she said.

“There were days that I had to finish my paper and shut the door of my room, and my kids were upset and my spouse was frustrated. I had to choose seminary in that moment.”

Still, she said the life of the full-time ministry leader and hybrid student is manageable for people who bring a realistic and determined mindset.

“If I can do it—and I mean this—you can do this,” Boerner said. “I had a full-time job, four children, a major health crisis that stopped me in my tracks, and a global pandemic.

I graduated on time. I was transformed. I am a priest today.”

To hear the full interviews, subscribe to Crossings Conversations at cdsp.edu/podcast

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 7

“There were days that I had to finish my paper and shut the door of my room, and my kids were upset and my spouse was frustrated,” said Boerner. “I had to choose seminary in that moment.” | Photo courtesy of Boerner

“This might be one of the most transformational things that happened because I was steeped in ministry and attending seminary at the same time,” she said.

The benefits of continuity As I prepared for this series of interviews, one potentially thorny issue loomed large in my consciousness. I wondered whether it might be a challenge for congregations to adapt their understanding and relationship to a full-time staff member whose formation was ongoing. Would it be hard for parishioners to process a student’s shifting or expanding responsibilities and authority?

In other words, might there be a “prophet in their own hometown” effect creeping into the transition that would accompany graduation?

The answer: definitely not, at least not for the students I spoke to.

“It was so organic. I was a little surprised by that and how that worked,” Boerner said. “I attribute some of that to the fact that I was in a separate role from the congregation from the get-go, providing pastoral care to some of the congregation already. My role really did evolve.”

For Katherine Frederick, working as a hospice chaplain brought increased trust, confidence, and the chance to go deeper in her congregationbased internships.

“I think it changed the way the parishioners saw me,” she said. “It wasn’t ‘Katherine who’s a full-time seminarian that was going to school full-time and doing nothing but studying.’ It was ‘Katherine who’s also doing this really intense pastoral care work, and she knows a lot about what’s happening out in the world.’”

She told the story of a relatively new parishioner who opened up to her surprisingly quickly, disclosing a 6 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

recent cancer diagnosis and speaking at length about his treatment.

Experiences like this one allowed her to contribute to the care of parishioners in perhaps an unusually significant way for a seminarian, exploring the contours of a familiar role in an unfamiliar setting.

By contrast, Boerner was already serving in a congregation. Her bishop was keen for her to have a different sort of experience for her contextual education internship. In her case, she credits CDSP for allowing her to take advantage of the opportunity that arose with Beloved Community Initiative, a mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa.

“The role involved leading dismantling racism trainings, doing book groups, and attending school board meetings to advocate for issues of equity,” she said. “I got to show up three times a week and greet kids and welcome them to school, which was beautiful.

I got to live out my faith and my own commitments and help discern and bring a Eucharistic community to Beloved Community Initiative as well.”

For Boerner, this additional connection to her diocese and local mission field has led to an ongoing leadership opportunity. She now serves as the interim leader of the program.

If anything, Jessica Frederick suggests that the continuity of context has made it easier for her and others to see and celebrate growth.

“I’ve noticed prior to my ordination to the transitional diaconate and now as my ordination to the priesthood approaches, there’s this moment where people have started to see me differently,” she said. “They could see my growth and they could just recognize my calling in me, which is wonderful. The bishop and the ordination service are certainly part of that transformation, but to have that be affirmed and confirmed by the community where I serve has been a really beautiful gift.”

Still, continuity isn’t only relevant for students who will continue serving in the same church or organization after they finish their program.

Katherine Frederick valued the chance to be formed and to serve in church and chaplaincy roles in wine country, where she has lived for years. She said it has solidified a lens for ministry that she believes will help her make an impact in her diocese— and possibly elsewhere someday.

“There’s always one thing too many happening in parish ministry, in my experience, and you can always do more,” she said. “Trying to juggle seminary and work taught me how to prioritize what’s really important: ‘This is not going to be perfect.

It’s going to be messy. I’m going to make mistakes.’ And that’s okay, because that’s parish ministry.”

Being in seminary while practicing ministry, it’s been an ‘iron sharpens iron’ experience.

“The ethos here would also be transferrable to a lot of other places, being in a vacation area and a place where there are a lot of second homes,” she said. “That’s certainly a dynamic that we have that changes the nature of the community and the nature of church. I think there are a lot of places around the country that have this similar ethos.”

Prioritizing—and putting aside perfectionism

For all the benefits of attending seminary while serving in a full-time ministry position, I came away from these conversations with a sense that this particular approach to formation is not for the faint of heart.

“Being in seminary while practicing ministry, it’s been an ‘iron sharpens iron’ experience,” said Jessica Frederick. She expressed her appreciation for a program that is attuned to the sometimes chaotic and overwhelming rhythms of parish life, which she contrasted with a more monastic approach to formation available in other programs.

Boerner was even more emphatic about the challenge and the lesson that accompanies “the release of the idea that I can be all things to all people”:

“One thing that a wise friend told me before I started the program is, ‘If you’re going to do this, you have to realize every choice you make, you’re going to be letting someone down, or it’s going to feel like that,’” she said.

“There were days that I had to finish my paper and shut the door of my room, and my kids were upset and my spouse was frustrated. I had to choose seminary in that moment.”

Still, she said the life of the full-time ministry leader and hybrid student is manageable for people who bring a realistic and determined mindset.

“If I can do it—and I mean this—you can do this,” Boerner said. “I had a full-time job, four children, a major health crisis that stopped me in my tracks, and a global pandemic.

I graduated on time. I was transformed. I am a priest today.”

To hear the full interviews, subscribe to Crossings Conversations at cdsp.edu/podcast

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 7

Meet the Dean:

A conversation with Dr. Stephen Fowl Interview by the Rev. Kyle Oliver, EdD

On August 1, 2023, Dr. Stephen Fowl began his role as president and dean of CDSP. A few weeks later, he sat down with Crossings Conversations to reflect on the months ahead. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Kyle Oliver: I thought we could begin with your scholarship. I’ve been reading what I think is your most recent book, the book on idolatry. It sounds like you’re interested in doing theology alongside scripture, if that makes sense. I’m wondering if you might say a little bit more about why that makes sense to you as a scholar.

It’s an instrument to what’s ultimate.

It’s not the ultimate thing itself.

I think if you begin to adopt that view, it helps you be a little bit more relaxed about places in the Bible that don’t seem consistent with other places or historical findings that might seem to be at odds with the historical statements of scripture.

KO: For the last six years or so, you’ve been the dean of the Loyola College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Maryland. I’m curious what kind of takeaways you’re bringing with you from supervising almost 300 faculty members and managing a budget in the tens of millions of dollars.

Stephen Fowl: Really, the entirety of my career has been about trying to combine the interests of theologians and biblical scholars. While I do think technical questions are really important, answering them on their own doesn’t open up the scripture to believing people. As Christians, we are called to embody our reading of scripture. If I can help folks do that, that would be wonderful. I’d consider myself successful.

Augustine understands that you can get so used to the ride that the vehicle is providing that you actually forget that you’re on a journey somewhere.

SF: Those numbers are helpful to the extent that they indicate no one person can micromanage that many people and that much money.

One of the steep learning curves in becoming dean was to realize I can’t control everything. I can’t micromanage. Although CDSP is a smaller institution, I do think that’s a good habit. I’m just so impressed with the work that the people who work here are capable of. I’m quite happy to be better at delegating than I was six years ago.

KO: How do you wish more people thought about that connection between scripture and what it’s like to live the Christian faith?

SF: Let me use an image from St. Augustine: to think of our lives as a journey into ever deeper love of God and of neighbor. If that’s what we are called to do, then scripture is one of the vehicles, perhaps the best vehicle we can get on to make that journey.

8 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

KO: What kind of a teacher would you say that you are?

SF: As I have moved through my career in the classroom, I’ve become ever more concerned that I joined the concerns of the writers and texts that I’m looking at with the concerns of the students in that classroom, to see these texts as ways of having a temporally or geographically extended conversation about things that both the students and the texts care about. As I’ve gone on in my career, I’ve actually ended up covering less material than I used to, in order to facilitate those conversations, and I’m more at ease with that.

I also think both institutions are really mission-driven. Part of my job is helping to articulate a vision of that mission for everybody and to help them understand that they are pursuing a mission that’s bigger than themselves.

Fowl (left, with colleague Terrence Sawyer) served Loyola University Maryland in numerous capacities during his 34 years on the faculty. He comes to CDSP after six years as dean of the Loyola College of Arts and Sciences, where he supervised 271 full-time faculty and managed an operating budget of more than $24 million. | Photo by Sam Levitan

KO: You said that you’ve thought for a long time about what you call the “headwinds” that are facing people who are preparing for ministry leadership in today’s religious and social climate. How would you characterize the road ahead for people thinking about the future of ministry?

SF: Let me try and answer that big question in the light of CDSP. Anyone today hearing a call to ministry, especially ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, is faced with an

immediate set of challenges independent of the whole discernment process: Will I have to uproot my family and move to seminary? Take on debt? Even if there’s a scholarship, will I have to take on debt for living expenses? What about all these people who have been part of my discernment journey and have been there with me and the community I know well? I’m going to pull myself out of that and then take on debt and then not necessarily have a guarantee of a full-time job at the other end?

All of those things put pressure on anyone who is discerning a call to ministry. That’s even before they really begin the hard work of engaging in the formation that seminary is.

Without question for me, one of the things that is most exciting is our low-residence Hybrid MDiv Program allowing people to be in their contexts. We will be able to help them form community, both in the in-person moments that we have, but also to use the technology that is available

to sustain other forms of community.

And then we’ll send them out into two years of curacy, without debt and with a guarantee of a job. I couldn’t imagine richer ground to be able to plant a seed into.

KO: To the extent that you have some insight into this now, what do you think is going to be the most important part of your job in the next year or so? How are you going to try to focus your time and energy?

SF: Well, leading the revision of the curriculum for the Hybrid Program is really the most important and pressing thing. This will be the sixth time in my career in higher education that I’ve participated in curriculum revision, and they’re always hard work. All of that is really forward-looking and exciting.

We also have a wonderful community of residential students here. The excitement of the future always provides that temptation for letting the folks engaged in the present fall through the cracks. I want to be really sure that we don’t do that.

That’s partly why I’ve been reaching out to as many students as I can.

The residential students we have now need to have that residential student experience: Corporate worship together on a regular basis.

Living, praying, and eating together.

Regular opportunities to gather in person with the faculty and the staff to celebrate our togetherness, our community. We want to make sure that they have an opportunity for all of the benefits that a residential program has of learning in person with other people who are also learning in person.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 9

Meet the Dean:

A conversation with Dr. Stephen Fowl Interview by the Rev. Kyle Oliver, EdD

On August 1, 2023, Dr. Stephen Fowl began his role as president and dean of CDSP. A few weeks later, he sat down with Crossings Conversations to reflect on the months ahead. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Kyle Oliver: I thought we could begin with your scholarship. I’ve been reading what I think is your most recent book, the book on idolatry. It sounds like you’re interested in doing theology alongside scripture, if that makes sense. I’m wondering if you might say a little bit more about why that makes sense to you as a scholar.

It’s an instrument to what’s ultimate.

It’s not the ultimate thing itself.

I think if you begin to adopt that view, it helps you be a little bit more relaxed about places in the Bible that don’t seem consistent with other places or historical findings that might seem to be at odds with the historical statements of scripture.

KO: For the last six years or so, you’ve been the dean of the Loyola College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Maryland. I’m curious what kind of takeaways you’re bringing with you from supervising almost 300 faculty members and managing a budget in the tens of millions of dollars.

Stephen Fowl: Really, the entirety of my career has been about trying to combine the interests of theologians and biblical scholars. While I do think technical questions are really important, answering them on their own doesn’t open up the scripture to believing people. As Christians, we are called to embody our reading of scripture. If I can help folks do that, that would be wonderful. I’d consider myself successful.

Augustine understands that you can get so used to the ride that the vehicle is providing that you actually forget that you’re on a journey somewhere.

SF: Those numbers are helpful to the extent that they indicate no one person can micromanage that many people and that much money.

One of the steep learning curves in becoming dean was to realize I can’t control everything. I can’t micromanage. Although CDSP is a smaller institution, I do think that’s a good habit. I’m just so impressed with the work that the people who work here are capable of. I’m quite happy to be better at delegating than I was six years ago.

KO: How do you wish more people thought about that connection between scripture and what it’s like to live the Christian faith?

SF: Let me use an image from St. Augustine: to think of our lives as a journey into ever deeper love of God and of neighbor. If that’s what we are called to do, then scripture is one of the vehicles, perhaps the best vehicle we can get on to make that journey.

8 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

KO: What kind of a teacher would you say that you are?

SF: As I have moved through my career in the classroom, I’ve become ever more concerned that I joined the concerns of the writers and texts that I’m looking at with the concerns of the students in that classroom, to see these texts as ways of having a temporally or geographically extended conversation about things that both the students and the texts care about. As I’ve gone on in my career, I’ve actually ended up covering less material than I used to, in order to facilitate those conversations, and I’m more at ease with that.

I also think both institutions are really mission-driven. Part of my job is helping to articulate a vision of that mission for everybody and to help them understand that they are pursuing a mission that’s bigger than themselves.

Fowl (left, with colleague Terrence Sawyer) served Loyola University Maryland in numerous capacities during his 34 years on the faculty. He comes to CDSP after six years as dean of the Loyola College of Arts and Sciences, where he supervised 271 full-time faculty and managed an operating budget of more than $24 million. | Photo by Sam Levitan

KO: You said that you’ve thought for a long time about what you call the “headwinds” that are facing people who are preparing for ministry leadership in today’s religious and social climate. How would you characterize the road ahead for people thinking about the future of ministry?

SF: Let me try and answer that big question in the light of CDSP. Anyone today hearing a call to ministry, especially ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, is faced with an

immediate set of challenges independent of the whole discernment process: Will I have to uproot my family and move to seminary? Take on debt? Even if there’s a scholarship, will I have to take on debt for living expenses? What about all these people who have been part of my discernment journey and have been there with me and the community I know well? I’m going to pull myself out of that and then take on debt and then not necessarily have a guarantee of a full-time job at the other end?

All of those things put pressure on anyone who is discerning a call to ministry. That’s even before they really begin the hard work of engaging in the formation that seminary is.

Without question for me, one of the things that is most exciting is our low-residence Hybrid MDiv Program allowing people to be in their contexts. We will be able to help them form community, both in the in-person moments that we have, but also to use the technology that is available

to sustain other forms of community.

And then we’ll send them out into two years of curacy, without debt and with a guarantee of a job. I couldn’t imagine richer ground to be able to plant a seed into.

KO: To the extent that you have some insight into this now, what do you think is going to be the most important part of your job in the next year or so? How are you going to try to focus your time and energy?

SF: Well, leading the revision of the curriculum for the Hybrid Program is really the most important and pressing thing. This will be the sixth time in my career in higher education that I’ve participated in curriculum revision, and they’re always hard work. All of that is really forward-looking and exciting.

We also have a wonderful community of residential students here. The excitement of the future always provides that temptation for letting the folks engaged in the present fall through the cracks. I want to be really sure that we don’t do that.

That’s partly why I’ve been reaching out to as many students as I can.

The residential students we have now need to have that residential student experience: Corporate worship together on a regular basis.

Living, praying, and eating together.

Regular opportunities to gather in person with the faculty and the staff to celebrate our togetherness, our community. We want to make sure that they have an opportunity for all of the benefits that a residential program has of learning in person with other people who are also learning in person.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 9

Dean Fowl in Print

Fowl is author or editor of fourteen books of theology and scriptural interpretation and more than four dozen journal articles and commissioned book chapters.

grow and develop and be formed through all those forces that are forming us anyway in the places where we live and where we will likely serve.

Fowl has been an active lay leader at the denominational, diocesan, and congregational level, including as a vestry member, regular preacher, and choir member at Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore, MD. | Screen capture from Cathedral of the Incarnation online worship

KO: I think it would be easy for someone to assume that curriculum revision is about moving a list of courses around a spreadsheet: Are you in or are you out? What year do you belong in? I’m wondering if you could say a bit more about what that process actually entails.

SF: The best way to begin is to figure out what the result is supposed to be.

What sort of student do you want at the end of that process? In our case, we’ve got six years with four years of the MDiv, plus two years of curacy.

At the end of that six-year process, what sort of skills, habits, dispositions, sensibilities do we want those students to have? Our first task is coming to some general agreement around that. When you’ve done that, then you can reverse engineer the curriculum to get to that outcome.

Our mission is focused enough—and we are nimble enough, partly because of our size—that I think we can actually get that picture of the ideal graduate and generally get to a curriculum that will lead to that.

10 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

I have to say I begin this more optimistic than any curricular revision I’ve ever done before.

KO: I wonder if you might talk a little bit about some of the ways that formation will be happening for students in the new model.

SF: Traditionally, the way we’ve done something distinctive in the formation of ministers is residential seminary programs, and there are some clear advantages to that model.

Students are engaged in the same activities over an extended period of time. They have lots of opportunities for spontaneous conversation and argument even, and for opportunities for real material ways of supporting each other.

Of course, that came at some cost, not just the financial cost, but also the cost that comes from removing people from their native contexts.

The hybrid model allows people to both stay in their contexts, to learn through media that many are quite comfortable with, and to learn and

The challenge, of course, is, what does a community look like this way?

Lots of people will tell you they have online communities independently of anything to do with the church and that those are wonderful for them.

We want to both recognize the validity of that claim, but also test it. Can we deepen it? Can we make it more Christian?

Can we help it do the sorts of things that life together in a residential seminary might have achieved with a lower level of intentionality—because it just happened because you were there? We have to be more intentional. It’ll take us a little while, but I’m confident we can get it right.

KO: I’m flashing back to lots of conversations with almost a decade’s worth of alums of what is now called the Hybrid Program. Readers of Crossings will have heard from some of those folks about their profound sense of community together.

SF: I think this was one of the striking things from my interview experience.

At some point in one of the conversations, somebody reminded me, “We’ve actually been doing this for a while now. It’s not brand new.”

The curriculum may need to be revised and will be new in certain respects, but we’ve been doing hybrid learning relatively successfully for a while now. As you say, it allows people to move at the speed of their own learning.

KO: In broad strokes, what are your hopes for CDSP?

Reading in Communion:

Scripture and Ethics in the Christian Life (Wipf & Stock, 1998)

Philippians

(Eerdmans, 2005)

SF: This is my really ambitious one: We have available to us all of the pieces we need to be more than just successful in launching and sustaining this model of low-residency hybrid theological education.

I believe we can be the model for this. We have the opportunity, the imagination, and the resources to make something extraordinary.

Want to hear more from Dean Fowl?

Listen to the full interview at cdsp.edu/podcast

Idolatry

(Baylor University Press, 2019)

Ephesians

(Westminster/John Knox, 2012)

For example, one of the things that we heard from a lot of our students is that there’s a real sense of intentionality that happens when some of your learning is asynchronous.

You’re not in the heat of the moment.

You have a little bit of time to reflect, to “listen” to your classmates very intently in a way that isn’t always possible in a fast-moving classroom.

Ruth

(Brazos, 2018)

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 11

Dean Fowl in Print

Fowl is author or editor of fourteen books of theology and scriptural interpretation and more than four dozen journal articles and commissioned book chapters.

grow and develop and be formed through all those forces that are forming us anyway in the places where we live and where we will likely serve.

Fowl has been an active lay leader at the denominational, diocesan, and congregational level, including as a vestry member, regular preacher, and choir member at Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore, MD. | Screen capture from Cathedral of the Incarnation online worship

KO: I think it would be easy for someone to assume that curriculum revision is about moving a list of courses around a spreadsheet: Are you in or are you out? What year do you belong in? I’m wondering if you could say a bit more about what that process actually entails.

SF: The best way to begin is to figure out what the result is supposed to be.

What sort of student do you want at the end of that process? In our case, we’ve got six years with four years of the MDiv, plus two years of curacy.

At the end of that six-year process, what sort of skills, habits, dispositions, sensibilities do we want those students to have? Our first task is coming to some general agreement around that. When you’ve done that, then you can reverse engineer the curriculum to get to that outcome.

Our mission is focused enough—and we are nimble enough, partly because of our size—that I think we can actually get that picture of the ideal graduate and generally get to a curriculum that will lead to that.

10 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

I have to say I begin this more optimistic than any curricular revision I’ve ever done before.

KO: I wonder if you might talk a little bit about some of the ways that formation will be happening for students in the new model.

SF: Traditionally, the way we’ve done something distinctive in the formation of ministers is residential seminary programs, and there are some clear advantages to that model.

Students are engaged in the same activities over an extended period of time. They have lots of opportunities for spontaneous conversation and argument even, and for opportunities for real material ways of supporting each other.

Of course, that came at some cost, not just the financial cost, but also the cost that comes from removing people from their native contexts.

The hybrid model allows people to both stay in their contexts, to learn through media that many are quite comfortable with, and to learn and

The challenge, of course, is, what does a community look like this way?

Lots of people will tell you they have online communities independently of anything to do with the church and that those are wonderful for them.

We want to both recognize the validity of that claim, but also test it. Can we deepen it? Can we make it more Christian?

Can we help it do the sorts of things that life together in a residential seminary might have achieved with a lower level of intentionality—because it just happened because you were there? We have to be more intentional. It’ll take us a little while, but I’m confident we can get it right.

KO: I’m flashing back to lots of conversations with almost a decade’s worth of alums of what is now called the Hybrid Program. Readers of Crossings will have heard from some of those folks about their profound sense of community together.

SF: I think this was one of the striking things from my interview experience.

At some point in one of the conversations, somebody reminded me, “We’ve actually been doing this for a while now. It’s not brand new.”

The curriculum may need to be revised and will be new in certain respects, but we’ve been doing hybrid learning relatively successfully for a while now. As you say, it allows people to move at the speed of their own learning.

KO: In broad strokes, what are your hopes for CDSP?

Reading in Communion:

Scripture and Ethics in the Christian Life (Wipf & Stock, 1998)

Philippians

(Eerdmans, 2005)

SF: This is my really ambitious one: We have available to us all of the pieces we need to be more than just successful in launching and sustaining this model of low-residency hybrid theological education.

I believe we can be the model for this. We have the opportunity, the imagination, and the resources to make something extraordinary.

Want to hear more from Dean Fowl?

Listen to the full interview at cdsp.edu/podcast

Idolatry

(Baylor University Press, 2019)

Ephesians

(Westminster/John Knox, 2012)

For example, one of the things that we heard from a lot of our students is that there’s a real sense of intentionality that happens when some of your learning is asynchronous.

You’re not in the heat of the moment.

You have a little bit of time to reflect, to “listen” to your classmates very intently in a way that isn’t always possible in a fast-moving classroom.

Ruth

(Brazos, 2018)

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 11

Charting the Course(s):

Reshaping our curriculum for the future of CDSP and the Church B y t h e R e v. M a r k H e a r n , P h D

kind of leaders we’re seeking to form our students to be—and, most importantly, why?

An educational institution has the opportunity to remake itself every so often. There are different ways it can do this: by reviewing and revamping the admissions process, casting a fresh strategic vision, hiring personnel, developing new learning modalities, or some combination of these and other steps.

This process is an opportunity to live more deeply and effectively into the renewed mission of the seminary.

The faculty also understands that our curriculum allows the institution and its graduates to be compellingly faithful to God’s work in the world and through the Church in our contemporary time.

I believe setting a course through a focused mission and strategic vision is the foundational step toward institutional change. Within the past year, the CDSP Board of Trustees has committed to an understanding that preparing priests for the Episcopal Church is our seminary’s mission and that our strategic planning to carry out this mission should build on our successful low-residence Hybrid Program.

It may at first sound like hyperbole to claim that refining program outcomes, (1) a vocational vision for ministry tied to serving a particular course scope and sequence, learning neighborhood, community, population, objectives, and related details should or context; and (2) an imagination for be an act of witness to God at work in forms of Christian community that our world and to the life-giving call can flourish in a pluralistic, of the Church. We believe this is not increasingly post-Christian society. just true but essential, a means to developing faithful, prophetic voices amid today’s cultural ambiguity toward We believe these admissions criteria organized religion and Christian faith. send a clear signal of the understanding of leadership formation in our renewed mission.

The faculty has worked hard during the past few months, guided by the We are preparing priests who will leadership of our new president and build on a strong sense of call in their dean, to consider the purpose, shape, local setting. Our curriculum will give and content of a new curriculum to them the knowledge, skills, and match our new model. We have the dispositions to increase the impact added benefit of considering what the of God’s mission in that place and formation of priests can encompass cultural context. We are preparing through not just a four-year Hybrid priests who are excited to lead faith MDiv Program but also a two-year communities beyond business-aspaid curacy following graduation. usual models and approaches. Our The opportunities before us are great. curriculum will give them the training they need to lead creatively in the Who Are We Forming, and Why? Church of tomorrow.

While the allure of doing something new and bold will always tempt those I often ask myself, “What is your PhD of us with a penchant towards for?” and similarly, “Who is your PhD creativity, the purpose of examining for?” At the heart of these two queries and redesigning the curriculum is lies a concern about identity and vocamuch more than stamping a new tion. Our faculty feels called to bring brand onto old practices and priorito bear on our teaching the best of ties. Our conversations have sought academic research and insight as well to get to the core question of what as the best of churchwide wisdom

We are committing to this mission and approach in all aspects of the seminary’s operations, including academics. One of the first undertakings, and perhaps the most extensive, is revising our curriculum.

What Is Curriculum Revision?

Curriculum revision is a multilevel process the faculty conducts to examine the overall education and formation provided by the institution, most notably in its stated course curriculum. A strong curriculum seeks to support students in successfully achieving certain outcomes. Course offerings and co-curricular scaffolding should be realistically aligned with those outcomes.

12 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

We have achieved significant clarity on these questions already. Among the many student characteristics we are seeking in our new admissions profile (see cdsp.edu/apply), two are especially relevant to this question:

and practice. We are placing the health of the Church, its leaders, and its gathered communities at the center in this reimagined curriculum.

And as we consider seriously these questions about how to best serve our students, the process is changing the way we see our faculty vocations, personally and collectively.

Unsurprisingly, it is already changing our institution and requiring us to keep asking “Why?” each time we step into the classroom or log in to engage with our students.

‘On the Right Track’ In a recent curriculum revision meeting, Dean Fowl shared with the faculty that a telltale sign to know that we are on the right track is when the faculty can move from calling a course my class to our class.

In that spirit, we are planning to do more teamteaching, conducted in a multidisciplinary fashion.

For example, a traditional way of delivering a course in systematic theology is to ask a trained subject expert to design

and deliver the course individually, according to their own understanding and priorities within the discipline, perhaps bringing in an occasional guest to offer their thoughts on a given subject for that week.

In the redesign, our faculty is exploring our pedagogical commitment to have different disciplines converse with one another in certain courses.

For example, a pastoral theologian might co-teach with the systematic theologian, for the purpose of more intentionally engaging how Christian doctrine

shapes, and is further shaped by, its pastoral implications.

A multidisciplinary, co-teaching approach also sets up a collaborative pedagogy where seminarians see subject-matter faculty speak with one another through their expertise and differences. Seminarians get to see learning “being made” in front of them, through the faculty’s own collegial learning and engagement.

We anticipate that the implicit learning through this explicit curriculum design will be invaluable for students’ future ministries: how to commit to lifelong learning, how to share leadership and work amid difference and disagreement, and much more.

This curriculum revision is exciting work for our faculty. To be sure, it is difficult and sometimes laborious. But we are energized by knowing that it is well-aligned with the mission of our institution. Obviously, there is much more detailed design and consultation work ahead before our projected launch of the curriculum for our incoming students in the summer of 2025.

For now, know that this revision process has awakened in us something fresh. It is keeping us focused and faithful to the compelling wider work to which God in Christ is calling our faculty, our institution, our students, and the Episcopal Church.

CDSP faculty gather for procession at the 2023 Baccalaureate service.| Photo by Richard Wheeler

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 13

Charting the Course(s):

Reshaping our curriculum for the future of CDSP and the Church B y t h e R e v. M a r k H e a r n , P h D

kind of leaders we’re seeking to form our students to be—and, most importantly, why?

An educational institution has the opportunity to remake itself every so often. There are different ways it can do this: by reviewing and revamping the admissions process, casting a fresh strategic vision, hiring personnel, developing new learning modalities, or some combination of these and other steps.

This process is an opportunity to live more deeply and effectively into the renewed mission of the seminary.

The faculty also understands that our curriculum allows the institution and its graduates to be compellingly faithful to God’s work in the world and through the Church in our contemporary time.

I believe setting a course through a focused mission and strategic vision is the foundational step toward institutional change. Within the past year, the CDSP Board of Trustees has committed to an understanding that preparing priests for the Episcopal Church is our seminary’s mission and that our strategic planning to carry out this mission should build on our successful low-residence Hybrid Program.

It may at first sound like hyperbole to claim that refining program outcomes, (1) a vocational vision for ministry tied to serving a particular course scope and sequence, learning neighborhood, community, population, objectives, and related details should or context; and (2) an imagination for be an act of witness to God at work in forms of Christian community that our world and to the life-giving call can flourish in a pluralistic, of the Church. We believe this is not increasingly post-Christian society. just true but essential, a means to developing faithful, prophetic voices amid today’s cultural ambiguity toward We believe these admissions criteria organized religion and Christian faith. send a clear signal of the understanding of leadership formation in our renewed mission.

The faculty has worked hard during the past few months, guided by the We are preparing priests who will leadership of our new president and build on a strong sense of call in their dean, to consider the purpose, shape, local setting. Our curriculum will give and content of a new curriculum to them the knowledge, skills, and match our new model. We have the dispositions to increase the impact added benefit of considering what the of God’s mission in that place and formation of priests can encompass cultural context. We are preparing through not just a four-year Hybrid priests who are excited to lead faith MDiv Program but also a two-year communities beyond business-aspaid curacy following graduation. usual models and approaches. Our The opportunities before us are great. curriculum will give them the training they need to lead creatively in the Who Are We Forming, and Why? Church of tomorrow.

While the allure of doing something new and bold will always tempt those I often ask myself, “What is your PhD of us with a penchant towards for?” and similarly, “Who is your PhD creativity, the purpose of examining for?” At the heart of these two queries and redesigning the curriculum is lies a concern about identity and vocamuch more than stamping a new tion. Our faculty feels called to bring brand onto old practices and priorito bear on our teaching the best of ties. Our conversations have sought academic research and insight as well to get to the core question of what as the best of churchwide wisdom

We are committing to this mission and approach in all aspects of the seminary’s operations, including academics. One of the first undertakings, and perhaps the most extensive, is revising our curriculum.

What Is Curriculum Revision?

Curriculum revision is a multilevel process the faculty conducts to examine the overall education and formation provided by the institution, most notably in its stated course curriculum. A strong curriculum seeks to support students in successfully achieving certain outcomes. Course offerings and co-curricular scaffolding should be realistically aligned with those outcomes.

12 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

We have achieved significant clarity on these questions already. Among the many student characteristics we are seeking in our new admissions profile (see cdsp.edu/apply), two are especially relevant to this question:

and practice. We are placing the health of the Church, its leaders, and its gathered communities at the center in this reimagined curriculum.

And as we consider seriously these questions about how to best serve our students, the process is changing the way we see our faculty vocations, personally and collectively.

Unsurprisingly, it is already changing our institution and requiring us to keep asking “Why?” each time we step into the classroom or log in to engage with our students.

‘On the Right Track’ In a recent curriculum revision meeting, Dean Fowl shared with the faculty that a telltale sign to know that we are on the right track is when the faculty can move from calling a course my class to our class.

In that spirit, we are planning to do more teamteaching, conducted in a multidisciplinary fashion.

For example, a traditional way of delivering a course in systematic theology is to ask a trained subject expert to design

and deliver the course individually, according to their own understanding and priorities within the discipline, perhaps bringing in an occasional guest to offer their thoughts on a given subject for that week.

In the redesign, our faculty is exploring our pedagogical commitment to have different disciplines converse with one another in certain courses.

For example, a pastoral theologian might co-teach with the systematic theologian, for the purpose of more intentionally engaging how Christian doctrine

shapes, and is further shaped by, its pastoral implications.

A multidisciplinary, co-teaching approach also sets up a collaborative pedagogy where seminarians see subject-matter faculty speak with one another through their expertise and differences. Seminarians get to see learning “being made” in front of them, through the faculty’s own collegial learning and engagement.

We anticipate that the implicit learning through this explicit curriculum design will be invaluable for students’ future ministries: how to commit to lifelong learning, how to share leadership and work amid difference and disagreement, and much more.

This curriculum revision is exciting work for our faculty. To be sure, it is difficult and sometimes laborious. But we are energized by knowing that it is well-aligned with the mission of our institution. Obviously, there is much more detailed design and consultation work ahead before our projected launch of the curriculum for our incoming students in the summer of 2025.

For now, know that this revision process has awakened in us something fresh. It is keeping us focused and faithful to the compelling wider work to which God in Christ is calling our faculty, our institution, our students, and the Episcopal Church.

CDSP faculty gather for procession at the 2023 Baccalaureate service.| Photo by Richard Wheeler

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 13

‘A Family Conversation’: Seminary hosts Northern California leaders to revisit communion controversy B y D r . S c o t t M a c D o u g a l l In the lead-up to the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2022, the committees of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies were presented with a resolution put forward by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. The proposed legislation created quite a stir.

Titled “All Are Welcome at the Table,” this resolution (C028) petitioned the General Convention to “repeal Canon I.17.7 of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church …, which states: ‘No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.’”

While the proposal did not make it out of committee for formal consideration by either of the convention’s houses, its appearance on the legislative docket created a firestorm of controversy in print and on social media.

Proponents of the measure framed repeal of the canon as a matter of justice and hospitality. Opponents worried that repealing the canon would imperil the theological, liturgical, and formational connection between the rites of Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist.

What too often seemed to be missing from the dispute was a spirit of charity. Those on each side of the debate frequently failed to inquire into what was felt to be at stake by those on the other. No one seemed to be trying to identify areas of possible convergence, where sincerely held commitments could be maintained

14 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

while taking action that addressed the concerns of others.

In the rush to take sides, it was easy to lose our grasp on the reality that we are all on the same side, as Episcopalians, disciples, and members of the Body of Christ.

On October 9, CDSP hosted a panel discussion featuring four members of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California: the Rt. Rev. Megan Traquair, bishop of the diocese; the Rev. Br. Simeon (Lewis) Powell, CG, deacon in residence at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Rocklin and chair of the Northern California deputation that year; the Rev. James Richardson ‘00, past interim dean at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento and the first clergy alternate of the Northern California deputation; and the Rev. Stephen R. Shaver, PhD (GTU ‘18), rector of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa and a liturgical theologian.

The four panelists were convinced there were important lessons to be learned from the dispute. They believed that, by having this “family conversation” in an open forum, they could not only listen to one another and come to better appreciate the range of viewpoints, but perhaps also demonstrate the benefits that can come from disagreeing with others in ways that avoid polarization and demonization and that lead to agreement on possible routes forward through thorny issues.

Approximately 250 people registered to attend in person and online.

The event began with a welcome from Dr. Stephen Fowl, president and dean of CDSP. Dr. Scott MacDougall, associate professor of theology, acted as moderator.

Two preliminary speakers set the stage for the conversation that followed. The Rev. Ruth A. Meyers, PhD, Hodges-Haynes Professor of Liturgics at CDSP, was first to speak.

Meyers had served as a clergy deputy and co-chair of the deputation from the Diocese of California that year, and also as chair of the House of Deputies Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music. She framed the 2022 resolution in the context of a much longer legislative history around this issue, which stretches back many years.

“The legislative history suggests to me that we as a church are not yet at a point where the General Convention can achieve sufficient consensus to reconsider the canon,” Meyers concluded. She also added the observation that “It’s often true in the history of the church that we practice our way into theology.”

The second speaker was Martin Heatlie, warden of Grace Church in Wheatland. Heatlie proposed to the Northern California diocesan convention the resolution that became C028. He explained that it did not seem right to him that “all are welcome in Episcopal churches, but once inside, some will be excluded once communion is served.”

The October 9 panel participants (from left: Traquair, Powell, Richardson, Shaver) sought to model the kind of engagement they hope will characterize future churchwide discernment on this topic. | Photo by Richard Wheeler

“Speaking from personal experience, it is uncomfortable to be excluded from the Lord’s table,” Heatlie said.

“The goal of baptizing all people can be helped by welcoming all to our savior’s table.”

Though the panelists did not agree with one other outright, possible ways forward did indeed begin to surface.

For example, all found themselves able to imagine replacing the canon with another canon, or perhaps a Prayer Book rubric, that is not framed in the negative (i.e., “No unbaptized person”). The goal of such revised language, the group agreed, should preserve the present sacramental pattern as the theological norm while allowing for the exercise of individual conscience and pastoral discretion at the altar rail.

unified—though not uniform—Body of Christ.

Since this particular issue is not resolved and will almost certainly be raised again, being able to talk about it together in a productive manner will be critical. More generally, as our nation and our society increasingly take sides against one another, it is crucial for Christian community to respond differently.

Each of the event’s four main speakers then offered about ten minutes of personal reflection on their theological and pastoral views about repealing or replacing the canon in question and what they learned from the way the The “family conversation” that took “open communion” debate proceeded place at CDSP showed clearly that locally and churchwide. The four we can do exactly that—and that the panelists then addressed questions result can be both more satisfying and comments to one another based and more Christ-like when we do. on what they had heard, before taking “We as the church are not unfamiliar questions from the audience, both with the idea that there can be a norm “I was so comforted to hear ... on what online and onsite. close lines we actually think, even that admits of occasional pastoral though there are differences,” exceptions,” Shaver said.

The conversation was a model of Traquair said. “That just warmed how theological disagreement can be The exchange demonstrated the value my heart.” productive of stronger relationships between siblings in the Church rather of talking with each other through charitable, trusting, open than being the occasion for division. conversations rather than talking at each other. In so doing, the “The floor of the diocesan convention participants lived out is poorly structured to engage in Christian values and the deep conversation that is truly responsibilities as required to grapple fruitfully with members of one this issue,” Traquair noted early in the discussion. “It favors short, passionate statements, and it just does not do justice to our responsibility to respond with a great deal more. I think we’re asking too little of ourselves, to be honest.”

What showed that she was right was how the panel’s conversation and patient listening helped identify clear areas of convergence among the participants.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 15

‘A Family Conversation’: Seminary hosts Northern California leaders to revisit communion controversy B y D r . S c o t t M a c D o u g a l l In the lead-up to the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2022, the committees of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies were presented with a resolution put forward by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. The proposed legislation created quite a stir.

Titled “All Are Welcome at the Table,” this resolution (C028) petitioned the General Convention to “repeal Canon I.17.7 of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church …, which states: ‘No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.’”

While the proposal did not make it out of committee for formal consideration by either of the convention’s houses, its appearance on the legislative docket created a firestorm of controversy in print and on social media.

Proponents of the measure framed repeal of the canon as a matter of justice and hospitality. Opponents worried that repealing the canon would imperil the theological, liturgical, and formational connection between the rites of Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist.

What too often seemed to be missing from the dispute was a spirit of charity. Those on each side of the debate frequently failed to inquire into what was felt to be at stake by those on the other. No one seemed to be trying to identify areas of possible convergence, where sincerely held commitments could be maintained

14 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

while taking action that addressed the concerns of others.

In the rush to take sides, it was easy to lose our grasp on the reality that we are all on the same side, as Episcopalians, disciples, and members of the Body of Christ.

On October 9, CDSP hosted a panel discussion featuring four members of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California: the Rt. Rev. Megan Traquair, bishop of the diocese; the Rev. Br. Simeon (Lewis) Powell, CG, deacon in residence at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Rocklin and chair of the Northern California deputation that year; the Rev. James Richardson ‘00, past interim dean at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento and the first clergy alternate of the Northern California deputation; and the Rev. Stephen R. Shaver, PhD (GTU ‘18), rector of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa and a liturgical theologian.

The four panelists were convinced there were important lessons to be learned from the dispute. They believed that, by having this “family conversation” in an open forum, they could not only listen to one another and come to better appreciate the range of viewpoints, but perhaps also demonstrate the benefits that can come from disagreeing with others in ways that avoid polarization and demonization and that lead to agreement on possible routes forward through thorny issues.

Approximately 250 people registered to attend in person and online.

The event began with a welcome from Dr. Stephen Fowl, president and dean of CDSP. Dr. Scott MacDougall, associate professor of theology, acted as moderator.

Two preliminary speakers set the stage for the conversation that followed. The Rev. Ruth A. Meyers, PhD, Hodges-Haynes Professor of Liturgics at CDSP, was first to speak.

Meyers had served as a clergy deputy and co-chair of the deputation from the Diocese of California that year, and also as chair of the House of Deputies Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music. She framed the 2022 resolution in the context of a much longer legislative history around this issue, which stretches back many years.

“The legislative history suggests to me that we as a church are not yet at a point where the General Convention can achieve sufficient consensus to reconsider the canon,” Meyers concluded. She also added the observation that “It’s often true in the history of the church that we practice our way into theology.”

The second speaker was Martin Heatlie, warden of Grace Church in Wheatland. Heatlie proposed to the Northern California diocesan convention the resolution that became C028. He explained that it did not seem right to him that “all are welcome in Episcopal churches, but once inside, some will be excluded once communion is served.”

The October 9 panel participants (from left: Traquair, Powell, Richardson, Shaver) sought to model the kind of engagement they hope will characterize future churchwide discernment on this topic. | Photo by Richard Wheeler

“Speaking from personal experience, it is uncomfortable to be excluded from the Lord’s table,” Heatlie said.

“The goal of baptizing all people can be helped by welcoming all to our savior’s table.”

Though the panelists did not agree with one other outright, possible ways forward did indeed begin to surface.

For example, all found themselves able to imagine replacing the canon with another canon, or perhaps a Prayer Book rubric, that is not framed in the negative (i.e., “No unbaptized person”). The goal of such revised language, the group agreed, should preserve the present sacramental pattern as the theological norm while allowing for the exercise of individual conscience and pastoral discretion at the altar rail.

unified—though not uniform—Body of Christ.

Since this particular issue is not resolved and will almost certainly be raised again, being able to talk about it together in a productive manner will be critical. More generally, as our nation and our society increasingly take sides against one another, it is crucial for Christian community to respond differently.

Each of the event’s four main speakers then offered about ten minutes of personal reflection on their theological and pastoral views about repealing or replacing the canon in question and what they learned from the way the The “family conversation” that took “open communion” debate proceeded place at CDSP showed clearly that locally and churchwide. The four we can do exactly that—and that the panelists then addressed questions result can be both more satisfying and comments to one another based and more Christ-like when we do. on what they had heard, before taking “We as the church are not unfamiliar questions from the audience, both with the idea that there can be a norm “I was so comforted to hear ... on what online and onsite. close lines we actually think, even that admits of occasional pastoral though there are differences,” exceptions,” Shaver said.

The conversation was a model of Traquair said. “That just warmed how theological disagreement can be The exchange demonstrated the value my heart.” productive of stronger relationships between siblings in the Church rather of talking with each other through charitable, trusting, open than being the occasion for division. conversations rather than talking at each other. In so doing, the “The floor of the diocesan convention participants lived out is poorly structured to engage in Christian values and the deep conversation that is truly responsibilities as required to grapple fruitfully with members of one this issue,” Traquair noted early in the discussion. “It favors short, passionate statements, and it just does not do justice to our responsibility to respond with a great deal more. I think we’re asking too little of ourselves, to be honest.”

What showed that she was right was how the panel’s conversation and patient listening helped identify clear areas of convergence among the participants.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 15

‘A Soft Place to Land’:

CDSP classmates and community ‘a huge comfort’ for incoming students I n t e rv i e w s by t h e R e v. Ky l e O l i v e r , E d D

In every issue of Crossings, we interview CDSP students to hear about life and learning in the seminary community. In this edition, we feature two students from our remarkable incoming class, Aissa Hillebrand ‘27 and R. Reese Fuller ‘27.

“I would say teaching Godly Play was a huge place of growth for me,” Hillebrand said. “How you focus literally into the story, into the people.

It’s very structured, yet very freeing.”| Photo courtesy of Hillebrand

Transcripts have been edited for length and clarity.

Kyle Oliver: Please share a little bit about who you are, where you call home, and what’s drawn you to CDSP. Aissa Hillebrand: I currently live on Long Island. I’m originally from New York, Harlem. I work as the assistant director of operations at Mercer School of Theology at the Diocese of Long Island. I absolutely love it: love my co-workers, love the people that I work with. I enjoy being in a space where it’s friendly, and kind, and compassionate to employees and people who work together as a team.

I truly enjoy that. I have two children. I’m married. I really consider myself a servant. I love to be able to serve people where they’re at, so I do some coaching.

I am excited about starting this journey. It’s been, I would say, on my heart for at least twenty years. My call started early. I kept on ignoring it. But, yes, here I am in this new phase of my life, and I’m really excited.

KO: I wonder if there was a question that you encountered as a part of your first intensive on campus, a question that has sparked some curiosity for you related to your vocation?

16 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

AH: There was a lot of intensity around [wondering], “I’ve learned all this information, we’ve had this great conversation in class, and now how do I move this into ministry? How does this work? How am I going to be able to do it?” Not do it from a capability perspective, but to stand in my truth. And knowing my gifts and my talents and bringing that to the table, and also being able to serve others with such a complex and different perspective on Christianity.

Because we took Traditions in Christianity, and that was intense to see all of the not-so-great history that we’ve had to grapple with, I think

that was what I was most curious about. It was a different perspective of, “How do I show up in this space authentically, knowing what I know?”

KO: Are there ways you’re finding yourself already standing in a version of the story that works for you, and that you are looking forward to exploring more and claiming more as time goes by?

AH: I do. I feel as though my cohort and my community have really been a soft place to land in this process.

Asking myself these questions about how I’m moving forward and being formed in community—that’s where I find myself falling back on. The other men and women that I am walking on this journey with, the community within my family, my husband, and my children.

And then my own personal connection with my own spirituality, and where and how I choose to show up in the midst of sometimes discouraging information, context, or text.

I have to do that every day, actually. I have to make a choice on how I’m going to show up in this world. I have to make a choice

to live in the Gospel, and this new birth or this new life. Every day I have to make a choice to say, “You know what? Today’s going to be a great day. I’m going to go ahead and make choices that elevate myself and those around me.”

KO: You mentioned the world around us is not always a compassionate and kind place. I wonder if there is a particular event or issue happening in the world right now that is serving for you as a lens or a frame for how you’re viewing your studies?

AH: I have said no to this call for a very long time because it didn’t quite fit into my life: I had young children, and I just can’t pick up and leave.

It would be too much, and I have a job. It would be something that just couldn’t fit.

Then there came a point where that wasn’t an excuse anymore. I see myself through that lens, particularly as it pertains to being accepted within our world and our country.

Right now in the world, everything is so contracted. There’s sometimes no space for people to show up as they are.

KO: I’m curious if there’s been a moment in your studies so far when you’ve had the experience of feeling that acceptance?

AH: Oh, yes. It has a few times. It happened first with my cohort. When we met for the first time and really just said, “Wow, this is a great group of people who are really aligned.”

That was really the first place of safety and just acknowledgment of like, “Okay, we’re in this together and this is wonderful.” Then the staff at CDSP and the faculty, I felt like there was an openness of “How can we do this together? How can we learn together about what is needed from us to share with you, and what we need from you? Let’s do this in community.”

Then there are formation groups that we have been divided into. That has really been another soft landing place for me to experience this sense of community, checking in, prayer, support. I just really got emotional, to know that there’s something more than just reading texts, that the context which we all come from is just as important, and how we show up in this space, and also being able to be fed from our prayers and spirituality.

That’s what I received.

over the years that has inspired you and your sense of call?

AH: The best connection that I have to that experience would be Godly Play [editor’s note: a Montessoriinspired young children’s formation program]. I love to be able to tell a story and focus on the story, and not have anyone focus on you as a storyteller.

It gives us the opportunity to place ourselves in the story. It gives us the opportunity to question the story, or to see what could have changed if the story was told differently, or to wonder. The question with Godly Play is “I wonder …?” Those wonder questions are questions that we too can ask ourselves in a story.

Obviously, the stories of our traditions are beautiful, and they are insightful, and they are moving if we allow them to be instead of trying to perhaps complicate them.

People can feel, “This is a place for me. This is where I can come and rest. This is where I can just be who I am.”

KO: I’m wondering if there has been some kind of creative or experimental ministry opportunity that you have encountered or been engaged with Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 17

‘A Soft Place to Land’:

CDSP classmates and community ‘a huge comfort’ for incoming students I n t e rv i e w s by t h e R e v. Ky l e O l i v e r , E d D

In every issue of Crossings, we interview CDSP students to hear about life and learning in the seminary community. In this edition, we feature two students from our remarkable incoming class, Aissa Hillebrand ‘27 and R. Reese Fuller ‘27.

“I would say teaching Godly Play was a huge place of growth for me,” Hillebrand said. “How you focus literally into the story, into the people.

It’s very structured, yet very freeing.”| Photo courtesy of Hillebrand

Transcripts have been edited for length and clarity.

Kyle Oliver: Please share a little bit about who you are, where you call home, and what’s drawn you to CDSP. Aissa Hillebrand: I currently live on Long Island. I’m originally from New York, Harlem. I work as the assistant director of operations at Mercer School of Theology at the Diocese of Long Island. I absolutely love it: love my co-workers, love the people that I work with. I enjoy being in a space where it’s friendly, and kind, and compassionate to employees and people who work together as a team.

I truly enjoy that. I have two children. I’m married. I really consider myself a servant. I love to be able to serve people where they’re at, so I do some coaching.

I am excited about starting this journey. It’s been, I would say, on my heart for at least twenty years. My call started early. I kept on ignoring it. But, yes, here I am in this new phase of my life, and I’m really excited.

KO: I wonder if there was a question that you encountered as a part of your first intensive on campus, a question that has sparked some curiosity for you related to your vocation?

16 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

AH: There was a lot of intensity around [wondering], “I’ve learned all this information, we’ve had this great conversation in class, and now how do I move this into ministry? How does this work? How am I going to be able to do it?” Not do it from a capability perspective, but to stand in my truth. And knowing my gifts and my talents and bringing that to the table, and also being able to serve others with such a complex and different perspective on Christianity.

Because we took Traditions in Christianity, and that was intense to see all of the not-so-great history that we’ve had to grapple with, I think

that was what I was most curious about. It was a different perspective of, “How do I show up in this space authentically, knowing what I know?”

KO: Are there ways you’re finding yourself already standing in a version of the story that works for you, and that you are looking forward to exploring more and claiming more as time goes by?

AH: I do. I feel as though my cohort and my community have really been a soft place to land in this process.

Asking myself these questions about how I’m moving forward and being formed in community—that’s where I find myself falling back on. The other men and women that I am walking on this journey with, the community within my family, my husband, and my children.

And then my own personal connection with my own spirituality, and where and how I choose to show up in the midst of sometimes discouraging information, context, or text.

I have to do that every day, actually. I have to make a choice on how I’m going to show up in this world. I have to make a choice

to live in the Gospel, and this new birth or this new life. Every day I have to make a choice to say, “You know what? Today’s going to be a great day. I’m going to go ahead and make choices that elevate myself and those around me.”

KO: You mentioned the world around us is not always a compassionate and kind place. I wonder if there is a particular event or issue happening in the world right now that is serving for you as a lens or a frame for how you’re viewing your studies?

AH: I have said no to this call for a very long time because it didn’t quite fit into my life: I had young children, and I just can’t pick up and leave.

It would be too much, and I have a job. It would be something that just couldn’t fit.

Then there came a point where that wasn’t an excuse anymore. I see myself through that lens, particularly as it pertains to being accepted within our world and our country.

Right now in the world, everything is so contracted. There’s sometimes no space for people to show up as they are.

KO: I’m curious if there’s been a moment in your studies so far when you’ve had the experience of feeling that acceptance?

AH: Oh, yes. It has a few times. It happened first with my cohort. When we met for the first time and really just said, “Wow, this is a great group of people who are really aligned.”

That was really the first place of safety and just acknowledgment of like, “Okay, we’re in this together and this is wonderful.” Then the staff at CDSP and the faculty, I felt like there was an openness of “How can we do this together? How can we learn together about what is needed from us to share with you, and what we need from you? Let’s do this in community.”

Then there are formation groups that we have been divided into. That has really been another soft landing place for me to experience this sense of community, checking in, prayer, support. I just really got emotional, to know that there’s something more than just reading texts, that the context which we all come from is just as important, and how we show up in this space, and also being able to be fed from our prayers and spirituality.

That’s what I received.

over the years that has inspired you and your sense of call?

AH: The best connection that I have to that experience would be Godly Play [editor’s note: a Montessoriinspired young children’s formation program]. I love to be able to tell a story and focus on the story, and not have anyone focus on you as a storyteller.

It gives us the opportunity to place ourselves in the story. It gives us the opportunity to question the story, or to see what could have changed if the story was told differently, or to wonder. The question with Godly Play is “I wonder …?” Those wonder questions are questions that we too can ask ourselves in a story.

Obviously, the stories of our traditions are beautiful, and they are insightful, and they are moving if we allow them to be instead of trying to perhaps complicate them.

People can feel, “This is a place for me. This is where I can come and rest. This is where I can just be who I am.”

KO: I’m wondering if there has been some kind of creative or experimental ministry opportunity that you have encountered or been engaged with Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 17

Since July 2021, Fuller has served as chaplain at the Episcopal School of Acadiana, where he previously taught English for thirteen years. | Photo courtesy of Fuller

Kyle Oliver: Let’s dive right in and give our readers a chance to learn a little bit about who you are, where you call home, and what drew you to CDSP. Reese Fuller: I’m about 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. I’m in Lafayette, Louisiana. I’ve lived in Louisiana pretty much all my life.

I am a postulant in the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Western Louisiana.

What drew me to CDSP is that there’s a calling I’ve been trying to answer for most of my life, and it always seems logistically impossible. When I learned about CDSP, the further I dug into it and the more I learned about the school, I started to realize that this just might be the place that’s set up for the education that I need to pursue.

This was the only program that really would allow me to pursue my calling while also continuing with my current daytime gig and allow my family to have the life that we’ve come to know in our community with people that we already know and love.

KO: I’m curious if, in your first intensive, you may have encountered 18 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

a question that has sparked your curiosity somehow related to your vocation?

RF: With Professor Kater’s class, I had the opportunity to explore Richard Hooker’s idea of scripture, tradition, and reason. For me, what’s fascinating is I have thought about this in terms of being Episcopalian all my life, but I also wonder how it works in my ministry as a lay chaplain.

It really gave me an opportunity to think about how to use scripture within the context of my daytime life and also how the Episcopal tradition plays into that. More importantly, I think for the context in which I serve, how then do I use my reason and the reason of the community that I live and work in to make God’s word known? That was really fascinating for me to dig into that.

KO: I wonder also about an event or something that is happening in the world. Is there something that is feeling especially urgent or relevant or just shaping how you think about ministry today?

RF: I think the thing that’s happening the most, that I think about the most, is the lack of dialogue between all human beings right now. This ability to talk with others and to

be able to have civil discourse is so important. I find that in my work, sometimes the kids that I work with don’t really know how to engage in that.

We hear this term about “soft skills” these days, and I really dislike that phrase. I think it makes it subpar to all the other real-life skills that we’re supposed to have. If we can’t communicate with one another and if we can’t treat each other as neighbors, then what are we doing?

In my ministry, that’s what I see. I’m always trying to get kids to understand that maybe we don’t agree with each other; maybe we don’t see eye to eye. But the reality is we all live in community with one another. I find that really important in this day and age. I feel like it’s part of my ministry from now until I’m no longer here, I guess.

KO: Is there a creative or nontraditional ministry opportunity that has come across your radar recently that has inspired you?

RF: I am really interested in what community service might look like.

I’m also responsible for community service at our school. I’m interested in what that idea might look like

outside of the community in which I serve. We’re really having some discussions about how we move out into the wider world.

One of the conversations that we’re having is, what is our community, and what does our community look like? Then if we step outside of that community, what’s the community outside of our community? We’re also part of the wider region as well.

I’m really curious about how I might be able to mobilize more students, parents, and faculty as well into thinking about community service as not something to check off on a box, but something that we do because we’re being instructed to love our neighbors as ourself.

KO: Speaking of community, I wonder how the CDSP community and being a part of this group has nurtured or supported you in your time with us?

RF: I’ve got to tell you, it’s been a pretty incredible experience. You come into it blind in a lot of ways,

about what the expectations are.

You get there and you realize that there are other people who are on this same journey and this same path. That in itself is a huge comfort, to begin with, knowing that you are working with individuals who are dealing with the same issues that you’re dealing with in terms of logistics of how to make this thing work in my life.

I’ll tell you a story that summed it up for me this past summer: There was a little manila pamphlet that caught my eye on the cart with free books. I picked it up. I started thumbing through it. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but I think it’s an appeal to move the school from San Francisco to Berkeley in the 1920s.

What struck me about this was on the front of it, it said—and I wrote this down because I thought

to myself, “Well, of course”—it said, “The vital need of today is for trained leaders who can interpret the saving Gospel in terms of modern thought and to win this new world to the old faith in Christ.”

That, to me, meeting the individuals that I met this summer from all across the United States and as far away as Guam, all of these folks are there for that reason. They are trying to answer God’s call in the way that God is calling them. That way is not always a “traditional” way.

KO: Do you have a final word of encouragement for people who might be reading this conversation? Do you have a piece of good news to share with the CDSP community?

RF: Pray, and pray often. [laughs] There’s so many times where you don’t really know where the journey is leading you. You don’t know what it is you’re supposed to be doing in that very moment. A cultivated prayer life is so necessary in anything that you’re doing where you’re not quite sure exactly what is the end goal. The more I pray, the more I find out how much I really need it and how much it works in my life.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 19

Since July 2021, Fuller has served as chaplain at the Episcopal School of Acadiana, where he previously taught English for thirteen years. | Photo courtesy of Fuller

Kyle Oliver: Let’s dive right in and give our readers a chance to learn a little bit about who you are, where you call home, and what drew you to CDSP. Reese Fuller: I’m about 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. I’m in Lafayette, Louisiana. I’ve lived in Louisiana pretty much all my life.

I am a postulant in the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Western Louisiana.

What drew me to CDSP is that there’s a calling I’ve been trying to answer for most of my life, and it always seems logistically impossible. When I learned about CDSP, the further I dug into it and the more I learned about the school, I started to realize that this just might be the place that’s set up for the education that I need to pursue.

This was the only program that really would allow me to pursue my calling while also continuing with my current daytime gig and allow my family to have the life that we’ve come to know in our community with people that we already know and love.

KO: I’m curious if, in your first intensive, you may have encountered 18 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

a question that has sparked your curiosity somehow related to your vocation?

RF: With Professor Kater’s class, I had the opportunity to explore Richard Hooker’s idea of scripture, tradition, and reason. For me, what’s fascinating is I have thought about this in terms of being Episcopalian all my life, but I also wonder how it works in my ministry as a lay chaplain.

It really gave me an opportunity to think about how to use scripture within the context of my daytime life and also how the Episcopal tradition plays into that. More importantly, I think for the context in which I serve, how then do I use my reason and the reason of the community that I live and work in to make God’s word known? That was really fascinating for me to dig into that.

KO: I wonder also about an event or something that is happening in the world. Is there something that is feeling especially urgent or relevant or just shaping how you think about ministry today?

RF: I think the thing that’s happening the most, that I think about the most, is the lack of dialogue between all human beings right now. This ability to talk with others and to

be able to have civil discourse is so important. I find that in my work, sometimes the kids that I work with don’t really know how to engage in that.

We hear this term about “soft skills” these days, and I really dislike that phrase. I think it makes it subpar to all the other real-life skills that we’re supposed to have. If we can’t communicate with one another and if we can’t treat each other as neighbors, then what are we doing?

In my ministry, that’s what I see. I’m always trying to get kids to understand that maybe we don’t agree with each other; maybe we don’t see eye to eye. But the reality is we all live in community with one another. I find that really important in this day and age. I feel like it’s part of my ministry from now until I’m no longer here, I guess.

KO: Is there a creative or nontraditional ministry opportunity that has come across your radar recently that has inspired you?

RF: I am really interested in what community service might look like.

I’m also responsible for community service at our school. I’m interested in what that idea might look like

outside of the community in which I serve. We’re really having some discussions about how we move out into the wider world.

One of the conversations that we’re having is, what is our community, and what does our community look like? Then if we step outside of that community, what’s the community outside of our community? We’re also part of the wider region as well.

I’m really curious about how I might be able to mobilize more students, parents, and faculty as well into thinking about community service as not something to check off on a box, but something that we do because we’re being instructed to love our neighbors as ourself.

KO: Speaking of community, I wonder how the CDSP community and being a part of this group has nurtured or supported you in your time with us?

RF: I’ve got to tell you, it’s been a pretty incredible experience. You come into it blind in a lot of ways,

about what the expectations are.

You get there and you realize that there are other people who are on this same journey and this same path. That in itself is a huge comfort, to begin with, knowing that you are working with individuals who are dealing with the same issues that you’re dealing with in terms of logistics of how to make this thing work in my life.

I’ll tell you a story that summed it up for me this past summer: There was a little manila pamphlet that caught my eye on the cart with free books. I picked it up. I started thumbing through it. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but I think it’s an appeal to move the school from San Francisco to Berkeley in the 1920s.

What struck me about this was on the front of it, it said—and I wrote this down because I thought

to myself, “Well, of course”—it said, “The vital need of today is for trained leaders who can interpret the saving Gospel in terms of modern thought and to win this new world to the old faith in Christ.”

That, to me, meeting the individuals that I met this summer from all across the United States and as far away as Guam, all of these folks are there for that reason. They are trying to answer God’s call in the way that God is calling them. That way is not always a “traditional” way.

KO: Do you have a final word of encouragement for people who might be reading this conversation? Do you have a piece of good news to share with the CDSP community?

RF: Pray, and pray often. [laughs] There’s so many times where you don’t really know where the journey is leading you. You don’t know what it is you’re supposed to be doing in that very moment. A cultivated prayer life is so necessary in anything that you’re doing where you’re not quite sure exactly what is the end goal. The more I pray, the more I find out how much I really need it and how much it works in my life.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 19

CommunityNews

Updates from CDSP faculty, students, alums, staff, and friends (April 2023 – October 2023)

Photos by Richard Wheeler

The Rev. Ann S. Coburn ‘77 received the Cotton Fite Award from the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Israel Network. (See also In Memoriam below.)

The Rev. Gary Commins ‘81 (DD ‘01) published Evil and the Problem of Jesus.

The Rev. Michael Barham (DMin ‘12, CAS ‘07) presented “Pilgrimaging to Santiago de Compostella” to the American Pilgrims on the Camino NorCal Chapter Spring Gathering and appeared on the podcast YOU on the Camino de Santiago.

The Rev. John Kater, PhD, presented “What Does the Prayer Book Say about Bishops, Priests and Deacons? The answer might surprise you!” at Ming Hua Theological College, Hong Kong; presented “Ministry and a Post-Pandemic Church” and “Anglicanism as a Way Out from Polarization” to Clergy of the Anglican Church of Hong Kong; served for a week as Episcopal chaplain at the Chautauqua Institution; and preached at All Saints’ Cathedral, Diocese of West Kowloon.

Dr. Scott MacDougall was a panelist for a webinar, “Faith Seeking Wisdom: Scott MacDougall on the Shape of Anglican Theology,” hosted by the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network and the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute; was honored by CDSP at “Making Anglican Theology Anglican: A Faculty Book Celebration” on April 13; participated in the launch symposium for the GTUx course “Exploring Queer Theology”; and preached Trinity Sunday at All Souls Episcopal Parish in Berkeley, CA.

20 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

The Rev. Pamela L. Cranston ‘88 published The House of Metaphor, a book of poetry.

The Rev. Ruth Meyers, PhD, spoke on worship as an expression of our missional presence at the June “2nd Tuesday at 2” webinar hosted by the Episcopal Church Office of Church Planting and Redevelopment; presented a three-part series, “Giving Thanks and Praise,” at All Souls Episcopal Parish in Berkeley, CA; and was awarded a Conant Grant by the Episcopal Church.

in Audio Data,” as visiting scholar in the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University; presented “Remixed Rituals & SelfStyled Canon: Scenes of prophetic leadership in a hybrid faith-adjacent mentoring network” at the 2023 conference of the Global Network for Digital Theology; and won second place for the podcast category in the 2023 Polly Bond Awards from Episcopal Communicators.

Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda published “Ecology” in Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity Vol. 7: Christianity in North America; published “Resistance and Re-building Economies for Life” in Blessed are the Peacemakers: Theology, Compassion and Action for a Global Mission; published “Paradox explored: Climate shame, moral agency, the church, and the birds” in Dialog: A Journal of Theology; presented “Growing Beloved Community by Building Moral Economies” for the Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Communities webcast series for the Episcopal Diocese of California; gave the keynote “Advocacy as Spirit Work” at Advocacy Days for the Lutheran Office of Public Policy; and served as the co-editor of the recently published volume An Earthed Faith, Vol. 2: How Would We Know What God is Doing?.

The Rev. Susanna Singer (MDiv ‘89), PhD, served on the Search Committee for the Ninth Bishop of California.

The Rev. Kyle Oliver, EdD, co-published “The mess in the middle: Portraying the unrecorded purposeful labors of care that emerge throughout multimodal ethnographic methods and researcher peer support” in Anthropology & Education Quarterly; presented “The Sound & the Story: Affect, Orientation, and Relationality

The Rev. Andrea Baker ‘10 was promoted to lieutenant colonel, as a full-time Army Reserve chaplain.

The Rev. Ashley Gurling ‘23 was ordained to the diaconate at Church of the Resurrection in Centerville, UT, on April 26 and called as rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Park City, UT.

The Rev. Joanna Benskin (MDiv ‘21), PhD, has been called as rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Clinton, NY.

The Rev. Brett Johnson ‘21, has been called as the twenty-first rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Wakefield, MA.

Dr. Jennifer Snow published the book Mission, Race, and Empire: The Episcopal Church in Global Context; presented a three-week series of adult education forums on the book’s material at All Souls Parish in Berkeley, CA; participated in the panel “Freedom of Religion in the Twentieth Century” at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, co-sponsored by the National Museum of American Religion; and was awarded a Conant Grant by the Episcopal Church.

The Very Rev. Nicola Dance (MDiv ‘20), PhD, was called as dean of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Des Moines, IA, having previously served as canon provost and then acting dean.

The Rev. Jed Dearing ‘20 was quoted in “‘God loves everyone.’ Episcopal Church celebrates same-sex weddings in Ohio” in the Ohio Capital Journal.

The Rev. Jessica Frederick ‘23 was named a Trinity Leadership Fellow.

The Rev. Katherine Frederick ‘23 was ordained to the priesthood July 27 at Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento, CA. The Rev. Angela Furlong ‘23 published “Bible Study for Easter Day (Year A)” and “Bible Study for Easter 4 (Year A)” in Sermons That Work; was received as a PastoraLab Fellow through Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity; and was a guest preacher and workshop leader at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, speaking on “Social Justice and Kintsugi of the Soul.”

The Rev. Elizabeth (Betsy) McElroy ‘23 was ordained to the priesthood on June 18.

The Rev. Dr. Charles Davies ‘62 died July 2 in Las Cruces, NM.

The Rev. John Rawlinson ‘70, PhD (GTU ‘82), published “‘I ... have $100 for my burial’: Deaconess Emma Britt Drant” in Anglican and Episcopal History; wrote the cover story, “More than just ordination,” for the spring 2023 issue of The Historiographer; conducted a series of trainings on establishing and operating a church archive at the congregational and diocesan level; and is serving as vice president of the San Lorenzo Family Help Center in San Lorenzo, CA.

The Rev. Michael Davis ‘66 died May 4 in Austin, TX.

The Rev. R. Dale Smith ‘23 was ordained to the diaconate July 1 at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA. The Rev. Mary Luck Stanley ‘97 is co-author of the recently published Grace in the Rearview Mirror: Four Women Priests on Brokenness, Belonging, and the Beauty of God. The Rev. Jani Wild ‘17 is the new rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Bellingham, WA. The Rev. Robin Woodberry ‘20 was ordained to the priesthood June 3 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Canton, OH.

The Rev. Frank Geer ‘76 died July 19 in Plymouth, MA. The Rev. Frederick W. Heard ‘03 died August 1.

Philip M. Jelley (DHL ‘00), longtime trustee, chair of the board, and friend of CDSP, died April 5.

The Rev. Sallie Elliot Shippen ‘82 died August 10 in Tualatin, OR. The Rev. Duane Sisson died April 28 in New York, NY. Charlene M. Smith, widow of the Rev. Prim Smith ‘64, died July 15.

The Rev. Iain Stanford ‘16, a leader in the TransEpiscopal community for many years, died July 10 of a rare, aggressive cancer diagnosed shortly after his sixtieth birthday.

Grant to them eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them. May their souls, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

SHARE YOUR NEWS The Rev. Canon Winnie M. Bolle ‘69 died June 2 in Boca Raton, FL. The Rev. Ann S. Coburn ‘77, who served as alumni relations director and a member of alumni council during her trailblazing career in the Episcopal Church, died June 7 in Oakland, CA.

Please send news items about members of the CDSP community, including death notices, to communications@cdsp.edu or via the CDSP website at cdsp.edu/alumni/information-form/

The Rev. John Connell ‘85 died January 21.

The Rev. William E. Crews ‘58 died April 9.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 21

CommunityNews

Updates from CDSP faculty, students, alums, staff, and friends (April 2023 – October 2023)

Photos by Richard Wheeler

The Rev. Ann S. Coburn ‘77 received the Cotton Fite Award from the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Israel Network. (See also In Memoriam below.)

The Rev. Gary Commins ‘81 (DD ‘01) published Evil and the Problem of Jesus.

The Rev. Michael Barham (DMin ‘12, CAS ‘07) presented “Pilgrimaging to Santiago de Compostella” to the American Pilgrims on the Camino NorCal Chapter Spring Gathering and appeared on the podcast YOU on the Camino de Santiago.

The Rev. John Kater, PhD, presented “What Does the Prayer Book Say about Bishops, Priests and Deacons? The answer might surprise you!” at Ming Hua Theological College, Hong Kong; presented “Ministry and a Post-Pandemic Church” and “Anglicanism as a Way Out from Polarization” to Clergy of the Anglican Church of Hong Kong; served for a week as Episcopal chaplain at the Chautauqua Institution; and preached at All Saints’ Cathedral, Diocese of West Kowloon.

Dr. Scott MacDougall was a panelist for a webinar, “Faith Seeking Wisdom: Scott MacDougall on the Shape of Anglican Theology,” hosted by the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network and the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute; was honored by CDSP at “Making Anglican Theology Anglican: A Faculty Book Celebration” on April 13; participated in the launch symposium for the GTUx course “Exploring Queer Theology”; and preached Trinity Sunday at All Souls Episcopal Parish in Berkeley, CA.

20 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

The Rev. Pamela L. Cranston ‘88 published The House of Metaphor, a book of poetry.

The Rev. Ruth Meyers, PhD, spoke on worship as an expression of our missional presence at the June “2nd Tuesday at 2” webinar hosted by the Episcopal Church Office of Church Planting and Redevelopment; presented a three-part series, “Giving Thanks and Praise,” at All Souls Episcopal Parish in Berkeley, CA; and was awarded a Conant Grant by the Episcopal Church.

in Audio Data,” as visiting scholar in the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University; presented “Remixed Rituals & SelfStyled Canon: Scenes of prophetic leadership in a hybrid faith-adjacent mentoring network” at the 2023 conference of the Global Network for Digital Theology; and won second place for the podcast category in the 2023 Polly Bond Awards from Episcopal Communicators.

Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda published “Ecology” in Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity Vol. 7: Christianity in North America; published “Resistance and Re-building Economies for Life” in Blessed are the Peacemakers: Theology, Compassion and Action for a Global Mission; published “Paradox explored: Climate shame, moral agency, the church, and the birds” in Dialog: A Journal of Theology; presented “Growing Beloved Community by Building Moral Economies” for the Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Communities webcast series for the Episcopal Diocese of California; gave the keynote “Advocacy as Spirit Work” at Advocacy Days for the Lutheran Office of Public Policy; and served as the co-editor of the recently published volume An Earthed Faith, Vol. 2: How Would We Know What God is Doing?.

The Rev. Susanna Singer (MDiv ‘89), PhD, served on the Search Committee for the Ninth Bishop of California.

The Rev. Kyle Oliver, EdD, co-published “The mess in the middle: Portraying the unrecorded purposeful labors of care that emerge throughout multimodal ethnographic methods and researcher peer support” in Anthropology & Education Quarterly; presented “The Sound & the Story: Affect, Orientation, and Relationality

The Rev. Andrea Baker ‘10 was promoted to lieutenant colonel, as a full-time Army Reserve chaplain.

The Rev. Ashley Gurling ‘23 was ordained to the diaconate at Church of the Resurrection in Centerville, UT, on April 26 and called as rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Park City, UT.

The Rev. Joanna Benskin (MDiv ‘21), PhD, has been called as rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Clinton, NY.

The Rev. Brett Johnson ‘21, has been called as the twenty-first rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Wakefield, MA.

Dr. Jennifer Snow published the book Mission, Race, and Empire: The Episcopal Church in Global Context; presented a three-week series of adult education forums on the book’s material at All Souls Parish in Berkeley, CA; participated in the panel “Freedom of Religion in the Twentieth Century” at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, co-sponsored by the National Museum of American Religion; and was awarded a Conant Grant by the Episcopal Church.

The Very Rev. Nicola Dance (MDiv ‘20), PhD, was called as dean of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Des Moines, IA, having previously served as canon provost and then acting dean.

The Rev. Jed Dearing ‘20 was quoted in “‘God loves everyone.’ Episcopal Church celebrates same-sex weddings in Ohio” in the Ohio Capital Journal.

The Rev. Jessica Frederick ‘23 was named a Trinity Leadership Fellow.

The Rev. Katherine Frederick ‘23 was ordained to the priesthood July 27 at Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento, CA. The Rev. Angela Furlong ‘23 published “Bible Study for Easter Day (Year A)” and “Bible Study for Easter 4 (Year A)” in Sermons That Work; was received as a PastoraLab Fellow through Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity; and was a guest preacher and workshop leader at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, speaking on “Social Justice and Kintsugi of the Soul.”

The Rev. Elizabeth (Betsy) McElroy ‘23 was ordained to the priesthood on June 18.

The Rev. Dr. Charles Davies ‘62 died July 2 in Las Cruces, NM.

The Rev. John Rawlinson ‘70, PhD (GTU ‘82), published “‘I ... have $100 for my burial’: Deaconess Emma Britt Drant” in Anglican and Episcopal History; wrote the cover story, “More than just ordination,” for the spring 2023 issue of The Historiographer; conducted a series of trainings on establishing and operating a church archive at the congregational and diocesan level; and is serving as vice president of the San Lorenzo Family Help Center in San Lorenzo, CA.

The Rev. Michael Davis ‘66 died May 4 in Austin, TX.

The Rev. R. Dale Smith ‘23 was ordained to the diaconate July 1 at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA. The Rev. Mary Luck Stanley ‘97 is co-author of the recently published Grace in the Rearview Mirror: Four Women Priests on Brokenness, Belonging, and the Beauty of God. The Rev. Jani Wild ‘17 is the new rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Bellingham, WA. The Rev. Robin Woodberry ‘20 was ordained to the priesthood June 3 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Canton, OH.

The Rev. Frank Geer ‘76 died July 19 in Plymouth, MA. The Rev. Frederick W. Heard ‘03 died August 1.

Philip M. Jelley (DHL ‘00), longtime trustee, chair of the board, and friend of CDSP, died April 5.

The Rev. Sallie Elliot Shippen ‘82 died August 10 in Tualatin, OR. The Rev. Duane Sisson died April 28 in New York, NY. Charlene M. Smith, widow of the Rev. Prim Smith ‘64, died July 15.

The Rev. Iain Stanford ‘16, a leader in the TransEpiscopal community for many years, died July 10 of a rare, aggressive cancer diagnosed shortly after his sixtieth birthday.

Grant to them eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them. May their souls, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

SHARE YOUR NEWS The Rev. Canon Winnie M. Bolle ‘69 died June 2 in Boca Raton, FL. The Rev. Ann S. Coburn ‘77, who served as alumni relations director and a member of alumni council during her trailblazing career in the Episcopal Church, died June 7 in Oakland, CA.

Please send news items about members of the CDSP community, including death notices, to communications@cdsp.edu or via the CDSP website at cdsp.edu/alumni/information-form/

The Rev. John Connell ‘85 died January 21.

The Rev. William E. Crews ‘58 died April 9.

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 21

Your Response Needed: Toward a new rhythm of communications for our new model By the Rev. John F. Dwyer Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Is Your Information Up to Date?

In our communications throughout the fall, including this issue of Crossings, you’ve been hearing a lot about how we are preparing to step ever more fully into our new model of hybrid learning and formation for ministry leadership. I hope it has been clear to you that one of our chief concerns is creativity to match this remarkable moment and distinct opportunity.

As Dean Fowl said in his interview (see “Meet the Dean,” pp. 8–11) we want to do this new thing exceptionally well. And we want our assets as an institution—especially our connection to stakeholders like you—to guide that process.

Through it all, we want to ask the question of what becomes possible when we practice letting go, not just of our dependence on buildings and year-round physical proximity, but also of other possible vestiges of the system of seminary education as we know it.

Consider the publication you’re reading right now. In some ways, a print magazine is deeply connected to the institutional patterns that are built into onsite education. You can pick up a magazine off a rack placed on the CDSP campus. If you receive it in the mail, you can expect it to arrive according to a schedule that corresponds to the traditional academic semesters to which we have been committed.

22 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

But there’s a good chance that Crossings magazine is not the only way that you hear from us. You might subscribe to our monthly e-news or receive our occasional email updates that are especially for alums.

You might join in congratulating student and faculty award-winners, ordinands, and authors by commenting on posts by our social media accounts. You might even have made a commitment to yourself, while reading this issue, to download some episodes of our Crossings Conversations podcast to hear more of the interviews that have been excerpted in this publication.

We think it will be appropriate to our new model—and that it might help us provide you with more compelling and timely coverage of our community—if we focused a bit less on magazine production twice a year and more on innovative and even interactive opportunities throughout the year.

But as Dean Fowl also said, we don’t really know yet. We’re going to make our best guess, and then adjust as we learn more. We want that guess to be richly informed by the insights and opinions of members of our community.

And so we are asking for your opinions, preferences, and ideas. We have prepared a brief survey for you to share your thoughts about how you

want to hear from us. Please visit cdsp.edu/comms-survey to complete it. If you are willing to share your contact information as well, you will be entered to have a $100 contribution to the Episcopal Relief & Development donation fund of your choice made in your honor.

We do our best to communicate with the entire CDSP community, but we know many of you are on the move!

Please use the forms to keep us posted on your whereabouts, roles, contact information, and news to share.

Combined with planning by our faculty and staff and with digital metrics available to us from the publications we are already producing, this feedback will help us responsively restructure our communication with you.

In classic Anglican fashion, we are not proposing an either/or shift. This magazine is already in some sense a hybrid publication, so it’s not hard to imagine, for example, producing a shorter print magazine with even more opportunities to go deeper with supplemental digital materials.

We know we can’t do everything. And we know we can’t satisfy the reading, listening, and viewing preferences of every member of our community of alums, friends, and other colleagues.

But with your help, we are confident that we can continue to keep you informed and inspired about the remarkable work of this community.

We know our new hybrid model should have a lot to say about how we do so, and we look forward to learning with you in the coming days.

For alums: cdsp.edu/alum-form For other individual friends of CDSP: cdsp.edu/friend-form For congregations and other organizations: cdsp.edu/org-form If you’re not currently receiving our monthly email newsletter, we encourage you to sign up at cdsp.edu/subscribe

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 23

Your Response Needed: Toward a new rhythm of communications for our new model By the Rev. John F. Dwyer Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Is Your Information Up to Date?

In our communications throughout the fall, including this issue of Crossings, you’ve been hearing a lot about how we are preparing to step ever more fully into our new model of hybrid learning and formation for ministry leadership. I hope it has been clear to you that one of our chief concerns is creativity to match this remarkable moment and distinct opportunity.

As Dean Fowl said in his interview (see “Meet the Dean,” pp. 8–11) we want to do this new thing exceptionally well. And we want our assets as an institution—especially our connection to stakeholders like you—to guide that process.

Through it all, we want to ask the question of what becomes possible when we practice letting go, not just of our dependence on buildings and year-round physical proximity, but also of other possible vestiges of the system of seminary education as we know it.

Consider the publication you’re reading right now. In some ways, a print magazine is deeply connected to the institutional patterns that are built into onsite education. You can pick up a magazine off a rack placed on the CDSP campus. If you receive it in the mail, you can expect it to arrive according to a schedule that corresponds to the traditional academic semesters to which we have been committed.

22 | Church Divinity School of the Pacific

But there’s a good chance that Crossings magazine is not the only way that you hear from us. You might subscribe to our monthly e-news or receive our occasional email updates that are especially for alums.

You might join in congratulating student and faculty award-winners, ordinands, and authors by commenting on posts by our social media accounts. You might even have made a commitment to yourself, while reading this issue, to download some episodes of our Crossings Conversations podcast to hear more of the interviews that have been excerpted in this publication.

We think it will be appropriate to our new model—and that it might help us provide you with more compelling and timely coverage of our community—if we focused a bit less on magazine production twice a year and more on innovative and even interactive opportunities throughout the year.

But as Dean Fowl also said, we don’t really know yet. We’re going to make our best guess, and then adjust as we learn more. We want that guess to be richly informed by the insights and opinions of members of our community.

And so we are asking for your opinions, preferences, and ideas. We have prepared a brief survey for you to share your thoughts about how you

want to hear from us. Please visit cdsp.edu/comms-survey to complete it. If you are willing to share your contact information as well, you will be entered to have a $100 contribution to the Episcopal Relief & Development donation fund of your choice made in your honor.

We do our best to communicate with the entire CDSP community, but we know many of you are on the move!

Please use the forms to keep us posted on your whereabouts, roles, contact information, and news to share.

Combined with planning by our faculty and staff and with digital metrics available to us from the publications we are already producing, this feedback will help us responsively restructure our communication with you.

In classic Anglican fashion, we are not proposing an either/or shift. This magazine is already in some sense a hybrid publication, so it’s not hard to imagine, for example, producing a shorter print magazine with even more opportunities to go deeper with supplemental digital materials.

We know we can’t do everything. And we know we can’t satisfy the reading, listening, and viewing preferences of every member of our community of alums, friends, and other colleagues.

But with your help, we are confident that we can continue to keep you informed and inspired about the remarkable work of this community.

We know our new hybrid model should have a lot to say about how we do so, and we look forward to learning with you in the coming days.

For alums: cdsp.edu/alum-form For other individual friends of CDSP: cdsp.edu/friend-form For congregations and other organizations: cdsp.edu/org-form If you’re not currently receiving our monthly email newsletter, we encourage you to sign up at cdsp.edu/subscribe

Fall 2023 C R O S S I N G S | 23

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