Editor’s Interview with a Member of the Task Force: The Rev. Heather Blais

Editor’s Interview with a Member of the Task Force: The Rev. Heather Blais

This interview has been edited for length.

Vicki: [Exploring Common Mission] is about stewardship?

Heather: Yes. The bishops invited this team together to explore how we can be better stewards of one another’s resources, how we can continue to deepen our collaborations. During these bishops’ tenures, there has been more and more collaboration.

Vicki: The document that sets the grounding of the task force lists the members and a little bit of the history. What I really appreciated about it was that it wasn’t a history lesson. It was about what we’re doing in the present moment together already.

Heather: Two meetings ago, with thanks to Rich and Bill, who puts their heads together, we spent some time talking about the ministries we are already doing together and there’s an actual list. We were asked at our last meeting if we would each take responsibility for signing up to have some conversation with a leader from one of these ministries. I signed up to check-in with leaders involved with the joint COVID communication policy making.

Vicki: Do the meetings have a structure? What’s the dynamic?

Heather: Each meeting begins with prayer, or a devotional or a Bible Study. That’s been helpful, grounding. As newcomers we don’t all know each other. It just helps to get to know one another in a different way. Then, our fearless leaders, Claudette and Nathaniel, guide us in what we’re going to focus on that day. They’ve been really wise about it. They really are intentional about a focus and making sure that we can be reflective about our experience of these things in our individual diocese, and what our hopes are about these things. The very first one began with Doug and Alan offering their “why,” and sharing our varied experiences in our own diocese, and our hopes for exploring collaboration. The focus has been on the list [of current collaborations.]

They [the co-chairs] are trying to do two things at once: get to know one another, and establish trust amongst the group. I think they are doing it really well. They are creating a sacred space every single time where there is mutual trust and respect for where people come from, and the different experiences and perspectives. It’s been helpful, for example, at our last meeting, spending time talking about the role of Black churches in our two dioceses. How do we make sure that there’s always a place at the table? It’s been a place to name any fears or concerns people have, as well. It’s not a fast-moving group. It’s doing the work of building trust and getting to know and understand how each diocese works and operates. The hope is that we’ll hear this in the one-on-one conversations

Vicki: What’s it like to work without a goal? Here you are not given the end product.

Heather: There is an end product. There’s a lot of celebration for all the ways we continue to collaborate. While there’s not a specific outcome, it seems like there’s a lot of hope that there will be some form of continuing or expanding that sharing. It feels a little like a friend you are being intentional with about going deeper in your friendship.

Vicki: What do you like about being on the task force?

Heather: I really like learning about the Diocese of Massachusetts. Already, just in the short time we have been working together, I have a much better appreciation for some of their ministries, some of the work they are doing around racial reconciliation, Becoming Beloved Community, the issues they are facing in a more urban context than those of us in the foothills or the valley are necessarily facing. Getting to know the individuals on the team and their perspective on the Church. We forget that things are done differently elsewhere. There are other ways of being the Church. I find it exciting, and I hear a mutual energy and excitement about hearing how we do things. The more we learn about one another, the deeper appreciation we are developing for one another and for each diocese. ♦