ECF Fellows News: Fall 2014
Pamela Cooper-White (1995) delivered the endowed Litzinger Lecture on "Braided Selves: Multiplicity” at Wake Forest Divinity School/Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, NC. She also published articles in Quarterly News, Jung Society of Atlanta (September and December) and three articles in Pastoral Psychology online. In October Pamela delivered the plenary lecture "Tending to One's Own Spiritual Self" and gave workshops on "Art as Spiritual Practice," Spiritual Care Grand Rounds for National Spiritual Care Week at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. She was the featured speaker at the 19th annual conference Preaching Perspectives at Gettysburg Seminary and co-led a professional ethics workshop for the faculty of Gettysburg Seminary. In November, Fortress pressed released Exploring Practices of Ministry, a new book she co-authored with Michael Cooper-White. Pamela facilitated the "Multiple Religious Identities" session for the Psychology, Culture & Religion (PCR) Group at the American Academy of Religion Conference in San Diego and serves on the PCR Steering Committee. Pamela is the Ben G. and Nancye Clapp Gautier Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care and Counseling at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA and Co-Director of the Atlanta Theological Association’s joint ThD program in Pastoral Counseling. She serves as Assisting Priest at Holy Trinity Parish in Decatur, GA.
John Daly (1988) continues for the seventh year in leading writing workshops for residents of Bonaventure House, a halfway house in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago for people living with HIV-AIDS who are on a journey out of homelessness and addiction. Their monologues, poetry, and play scenes will be presented to the public on World AIDS Day, December 1, in a cabaret-style performance to raise money for Bonaventure House. John is Professor of Theology and Culture at Bexley Seabury in Chicago, IL.
Natalie Finstad (2014) left her position in August as the Executive Director of Tatua Kenya, a ministry she co-founded that creates dignified, locally-based solutions to poverty through building transformational communities across East Africa. Upon her return to the United States, Natalie began working with Mary Beth Mills Curran to launch of Katallasso: A Movement for Reconciliation. Katallasso will connect, support and enrich the ministry of leaders in The Episcopal Church who are building church: a counter-cultural and deeply relational community that affirms the presence of Christ in all people and works towards realizing the Kingdom of God today. Currently the design team for Katallasso is developing the structure for the network; Katallasso plans to launch in May of 2015. To learn more about Katallasso you can visit Natalie’s website.
David Gortner (1998) published "Clergy leadership for the 21st century: Are we up to the task?" late this summer in In Trust magazine and launched the Clergy into Action website featuring research and stories from the four-year study of mainline Protestant pastors and priests in their first 10 years of ordained ministry. In the Fall, David wrote, "Devolution: The Dynamics of Power and Permission," regarding clergy-congregation tensions for Caring for Clergy in Difficult Calls, a joint project of the National Association of Episcopal Clergy and Episcopal Women’s Caucus. This past October, David was the plenary speaker at the Anglican Church of Southern Africa's Leadership Indaba in Durban, South Africa. The conference drew 60 Anglican leaders from five southern African nations to design a leadership development program for laity, priests, and bishops in the region. David presented two papers at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Indianapolis, IN: "'Personal Theology' Navigating between the Methodological Pitfalls of 'Religion' and 'Spirituality'" and "Housing Development Projects and the Disappearance of a Religious Center in New Urbanist American Neighborhoods." In November, he led a three-day conference for Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) residents in Houston, TX, on developing chaplains' capacities to access their own narratives and the narratives of others in the work of pastoral care. Closer to home, David consulted with the Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s task force on evangelism and Fresh Expressions in August. In October, he preached at Peace Fellowship Church in Washington, DC, a Mennonite-affiliated non-denominational church featured in Sojourners for its deeply integrative, multi-racial congregation. David is Director of the Doctor of Ministry programs, and Professor of Evangelism and Congregational Leadership at Virginia Theological Seminary.
Gary Hall (1983) published “The Purpose of Cathedrals” in the most recent issue of the Anglican Theological Review. The essay is the second article in the Anglican Theological Review’s Practicing Theology series on the ministry of cathedrals in the twenty-first-century church. In it, Gary explores a more comprehensive vision of the role cathedral churches can play in public life and how Washington National Cathedral has started into this type of work. Gary serves as Dean of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Leander Harding (1986) gave three talks on the Biblical Background and Theology of the Eucharist for the third Annual Bible Symposium at the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, NY. Leander is Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Catskill, NY, having previously served on the faculty of Trinity School for Ministry.
Cynthia Kittredge (1990) attended the Association of Theological Schools Biennial Meeting in Pittsburgh and the Union of Black Episcopalians Annual Meeting in Atlantic City. While on vacation in New Brunswick, Canada, she read her poem, “Angel Cake,” at the Fourth Annual Poetry Evening at the Grand Manan Museum. She taught at the Gathering for Mentors of the Iona Initiative, “Using the Voice to Engage the Epistle to the Colossians.” At St. Paul’s within the Walls in Rome, she spoke on “New Testament Metaphors for Community” at the vestry retreat, preached at the English service, and lectured on St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. With Margaret Aymer and David Sanchez, she coedited the Fortress Commentary on the New Testament, released on October 1. Cynthia is Dean and President of Seminary of the Southwest, in addition to her teaching as Professor of New Testament.
Brian McVey (2011) was one of twenty participants invited to participate in the Anglican Alliance Consultation on Modern Slavery / Human Trafficking, which was hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury's personal envoy to the Holy See, Archbishop Sir David Moxon, at the Vatican November 2-8. The purpose of the consultation was to understand approaches in the Anglican Communion and to define a road map for a Communion-wide response in prevention, rescue, care and support for survivors, and in policy and advocacy work. Read more about the event here. The Archbishop of Canterbury and His Holiness have jointly committed to tackle, giving their joint blessing to the ecumenical effort and interfaith initiative, the Global Freedom Network, launched in Rome in March of this year. The consultation hosted a worldwide webinar on November 6 to share the results of their work and to discuss the way forward in the fight against modern slavery. Brian has spoken extensively about the problem of modern slavery in provincial trainings, church settings, colleges and universities, as well as business forums, sharing the stories of those enslaved in our midst, as well as the stories of those who use them. Brian currently serves as Rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Davenport, IA and will assume his duties as Rector of Church of the Advent, Nashville, TN beginning January 1.
Thomas Hui Liang Ni (2014) oversaw the successful launch of the Chinese Lay Leadership Training Program at the Li-Tim Oi Center. On October 25, ten students from Chinese congregations in the Diocese of Los Angeles began their first course on liturgy and the Book of Common Prayer. The Rt. Rev. Diane Bruce, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles, preached in the Eucharistic service for the opening of the course and the Rev. Canon Dr. Sylvia Sweeney, Dean of the Bloy House, the Episcopal School at Claremont, offered words of encouragement to the students. The Chinese Lay Leadership Training Program at the Li Tim-Oi Center offers a three and half year program with seven courses crucial to the development of a congregation. Additionally, Thomas is working to see that the Li Tim-Oi Center is a resource to Episcopal schools for building relationships with schools in China by developing student exchange programs, teacher and administrator exchange programs, and to recruit students from China for study during winter and summer terms. Thomas is the Executive Director of the Li-Tim Oi Center and Associate for Chinese Ministries at Church of Our Saviour in San Gabriel, CA.
Robert Prichard’s (1978) A History of the Episcopal Church was released in its 3rd edition this Fall by Morehouse Publishing. The earlier editions were published in 1991 and 1999. The 2014 edition is 100 pages longer than the revised 2nd edition and includes both a narrative of the past 15 years and reworking of the earlier chapters in order to take account of recent scholarship. Bob is the Arthur Lee Kinsolving Professor of Christianity in America and Instructor in Liturgy at Virginia Theological Seminary.
Albert Rodriguez (2013) is in his second year of his ECF Fellowship project entitled, the American Latino Evangelistic Outreach (ALEO), a “trans-generation” Latino ministry aimed at evangelizing the U.S. born, English-dominant and bilingual Latinos into both Spanish and English-speaking congregations. Al presented at the fall Diocese of Texas Clergy Conference in Camp Allen, and you can get a copy of this by emailing Al. Upcoming presentations include: a webinar at the Sewanee University of the South, School of Theology and “Cruzando las Fronteras,” an Austin-based seminar sponsored by the Episcopal, Lutheran and Presbyterian seminaries in Austin. Al’s work includes consulting with three English-speaking congregations to help them explore and field test the cultural nuances of attracting multi-generational, English-dominant Latinos in the real world of congregational ministry. Al continues in his second year with the Seminary of the Southwest where he teaches the ALEO form of Latino, multi-generational ministry while also serving as “pensioned, but not retired,” Assisting Priest at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Austin, TX.
Regina L. Walton (2005) presented a paper at the George Herbert Society Fourth Triennial Conference in Phoenix, AZ on October 17th, titled "Choice Observations on 'Love Unknown': The Identity of the 'Friend' and Spiritual Direction in The Temple." Regina was inducted as Pastor and Rector of Grace Episcopal Church, Newton Corner, MA on October 22nd.
Joseph Wolyniak (2012) was appointed a Theologian-in-Residence at the Church of the Ascension in Denver, CO. A member of the Scholar-Priest Initiative (SPI) Leadership Team, the 'New Tracts for Our Times' series he produced featuring ECF Fellow Ellen Davis (1984) was recently identified as a 'Top-5 Resource for Christians' by the Anglican Communion News Service. His most recent publication is an essay titled “‘The relief of man’s estate’: Transhumanism, the Baconian project, and the theological impetus for material salvation” in Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement, edited by Calvin Mercer and Tracy Trothen (Praeger, 2014). Joseph is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford and visiting scholar at the University of Denver.