ECF Fellows News: Summer 2015
Nancy Frausto (2013) served as part of the Latino Ministries communications team at General Convention this past summer, while also providing testimony to legislation on immigration issues. Earlier in June, Nancy hosted an evening discussing racism and privilege with high school-age young people from throughout the Diocese of Los Angeles who were on an annual L.A. City Pilgrimage. Nancy serves as priest-in-charge of Trinity Church and Assistant at St. Mary's (Mariposa), both in Los Angeles, California.
Gary Hall (1983), Dean of Washington National Cathedral, has announced that he will step down from his position on December 31, 2015. The announcement, which was covered widely in the press, noted his outspoken activism and leadership as well as the difficult realities he faced such as the severe damage caused by an earthquake in 2011. Click here for an article in the Washington Post and click here for an article in the New York Times. Gary had also made headlines earlier in the summer by calling on the leadership of Washington National Cathedral to remove two stained-glass windows honoring Confederate generals. Click here for an interview and here for an article on the topic. Earlier in the summer, Gary had presented two keynote addresses on the topic "Creating a Culture of Generosity" at the annual conference of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship at Camp Allen in Texas.
Edmund Harris (2013) has begun his new position as Priest in Charge at St. Peter's Episcopal Parish in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1908 as a mission to Japanese immigrants, St. Peter's has a remarkable, yet sometimes bittersweet history. Over the coming year, Edmund will be using his ECF Fellowship to help the congregation engage in a storytelling project entitled "We Are St. Peter's." The project will enable the congregation to reflect on and share its story in 2015, and will include filmed interviews with many members of the congregation.
Jordan Hylden (2014) co-authored "Marriage in Creation and Covenant: A Response to the Task Force on the Study of Marriage" with the John Bauerschmidt, Wesley Hill, and Zachary Guiliano. The essay was published in the Conversations series of The Anglican Theological Review alongside responses from other scholars. Jordan also attended The Episcopal Church’s General Convention in Salt Lake City as part of The Living Church’s team of writers, for which he contributed a daily column. While there, he also participated on a panel discussion entitled "Defining Marriage" hosted by The Living Church, alongside Ruth Meyers, John Bauerschmidt, Cameron Partridge, Dorsey McConnell, and ECF Fellow (1983) Thomas Breidenthal. Earlier in the year, in the March issue of Political Theology, Jordan published a review of James K. A. Smith's recent book Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works. This fall, Jordan will be teaching Introduction to Theology at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina, while finishing his dissertation on Yves Simon at Duke Divinity School.
Richard Leggett (1996) has been active in the process of preparing new contemporary-language liturgical texts for the Anglican Church of Canada. As a member of the Liturgy Task Force, Richard has been convening the working groups responsible for an inclusive-language emendation of the Psalter, new resources for Morning and Evening Prayer, and a new series of alternative collects that reflect the scriptural texts in the Revised Common Lectionary. Richard is Rector of St. Faith’s Anglican Church in Vancouver, British Columbia and Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Studies at Vancouver School of Theology.
David Mason (1970) has an article, "Christianity and World Religions: the Contributions of Barth and Tillich," in the summer edition of The Anglican Theological Review. In his article, David explores the divide between exclusivism, the view that Christianity is the sole path to salvation, and pluralism using the contributions of Karl Barth and Paul Tillich. He further explores the question of whether this is a way to strengthen the insights of pluralism while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of Christianity.
Sarah Nolan (2012) has been named one of The Beatitudes Society’s 2015-16 Fellows. This Fellowship aims to foster entrepreneurial faith leaders as an investment in the communities their Fellows are building and provides a year-long financial award and leadership development program. She will be continuing her work with The Abundant Table, which operates a five-acre organic farm, on-the-farm immersion experiences, a campus ministry and Episcopal Service Corps program, and a weekly worshipping community. Additionally, Sarah has been active in the founding of the Episcopal Faith, Food, and Farm Network. Sarah is the Director of Programs and Community Partnerships for The Abundant Table which is located in Ventura, California.
Kathryn Reinhard (2009) successfully defended her dissertation, "Recognizing the Spirit: An Ecclesial Pneumatology," this past spring to complete her PhD in Systematic Theology at Fordham University. She has been named a Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow at Fordham for the 2015-2016 school year. Kathryn also serves as Priest Associate at Christ and Saint Stephen’s Church in New York City.
C. K. Robertson (1998) is pleased to announce several new releases in the "Studies in Episcopal and Anglican Theology" series from Peter Lang Publishing, of which he is the General Editor. These include books on engaging Islam by Bonnie Evans-Hills and Michael Rusk, an Anglican approach to economics by Gawain de Leeuw, preaching & the theological imagination by Zachary Guiliano and Cameron Partridge, and questions of authority in relation to the early American episcopate by Charles Henry. Upcoming volumes cover issues of authority by ECF Fellow (1985) Ellen Wondra, continuing Indaba in the Anglican Communion by Phil Groves, and leadership and conflict in African churches by Mkunga Mtingele, along with others. Chuck serves as Canon to the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and as Distinguished Visiting Professor at General Theological Seminary.
Albert Rodriguez (2013) began this summer in his new role as Interim Director of Hispanic Church Studies at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. He also coordinated Nuevos Horizontes, which took place August 9-12 at Seminary of the Southwest. This national conference addressed the type of ministry needed for today’s Latino multi-generations, whose lifestyle is predominantly bicultural, bilingual or English-dominant. With the strong support of Seminary of the Southwest of Al’s new paradigm of Latino ministry, his American Latino Evangelistic Outreach project (ALEO), funded through ECF’s Fellowship and the Office of Hispanic/Latino Ministry, has been gaining a wider and firm foothold in Episcopal circles with workshops and presentations taking place throughout the United States. Upcoming events include a webinar class presentation to the multicultural M.Div. class at Sewanee School of Theology.
Robert Royalty’s (1991) book The Origin of Heresy has been published in paperback this summer (Routledge, 2012). In the book, Robert traces the construction of the idea of ‘heresy’ in the rhetoric of ideological disagreements in Second Temple Jewish and early Christian texts and in the development of the polemical rhetoric against ‘heretics,’ called heresiology. Differing from other scholarship on this topic that have focused on the second century, Robert looks to earlier texts including the New Testament. Bob is Professor of Religion at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Andrew Thompson (2011) was awarded a Constant Grant to further his work at the Center for Religion and Environment at Sewanee. Constant Grants are given in support of research, writing and course development undertaken by faculty members at Episcopal seminaries. Andy’s book All My Holy Mountain: A Christian Ethical Approach to Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining, will be published this fall. Andy is Assistant Director of the Center for Religion and Environment at Sewanee, the School of Theology at the University of the South.
Malcolm Young (1999) was named 9th Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California and began his new position on August 3. Click here and here read articles about the announcement. Malcolm succeeds ECF Fellow (1991) Jane Shaw who is now serving as Dean for Religious Life and Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. In his role as Dean, he will continue the work “in fulfilling its goal to be a model cathedral for the 21st century and its mission to share the love of God through worship, education, service and the arts.” Malcolm had served as Rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Los Altos, California and was involved in the development of Ventana School, an Episcopal elementary school in Silicon Valley to encourage artistic expression, critical thinking, and investigative learning. Malcolm is also the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in the Wilderness: Economics, Ecology and God, and has authored many chapters for numerous other theological books.