nashotah.edu 3
A SCHOOL FOR THE LORD’S SERVICE
& VETERAN Featuring the
Dr.
CONVERSATIONSByTHEYByTHEBySTANDOUTWatkinsSUMMERMr.LabinDukePARABLESOFJESUSDr.GarwoodAndersonAREJUSTOLDTHINGStheRev.JasonTerhuneWITHTHEROOKIE Rev. Deacon Julia Roane Hendrix & the Rev. Canon Wilson Roane Dr. Elisabeth Rain Kincaid the Rev. Homer Rogers (Transcribed by Robert Stephensen, 2000)
LENT + EASTERTIDE AT NASHOTAH HOUSE By
THE
ISSUEthisIN The Missioner is a free publication for Alumni and friends of the House, but there is a hard cost to bringing our magazine to you. Please consider a donation today at nashotah.edu/give Thank you! This is a publication of the Nashotah House Advancement Team. Contact Labin Duke, VP for Institutional Advancement, at SHARElduke@nashotah.edu.INOURSPECIAL nashotah.edu GIFT OF BEING Watkins
MOMENTS
By Katia NASHOTAH HOUSE By Jim
THERE By Dr. Jim
WHY IS INCENSE USED? By
ON THE COVER: Original black and white photograph of the Blue House. Circa 1953.
ADVANCEDCrabbDEGREES AT
THE VALUE OF MENTORSHIP: THE CURACY EXPRESS ALUMNI CAMPUSUPDATES&COMMUNITY3834322824221916121084
THE MISSIONER4 HYBRID-DISTANCE LEARNING
I was speaking with a student recently who told me that there is nothing that can replace the beingthere of Nashotah House. This student has been in our advanced degree program for years. He regularly attends courses on our campus during the Winter and Summer terms. He knows what it is like to study at a distance and also to study in residence. I think what he meant was that his experiences at Nashotah House are like a whole other way of being – a distinct and vital form of being in relationship with other people and a place that is indispensable. The first thing that strikes every visitor to Nashotah House is the beauty of the campus, and the second is the realization that students get to live here.
GIFTTHE OF Being There
DR. JIM WATKINS Director of Distributed Education
The gift of residential formation, of being-there , is one of the greatest gifts that Nashotah has to offer the church. It is the gift of a community that seeks first the Kingdom of Heaven and that encourages one another toward that end. It is the gift of the devotional rhythms of the daily office. It is the gift of a place dedicated for over 175 years to spreading the gospel of Christ. This may sound counterintuitive to some, but it is precisely because the being-there of Nashotah House is so important that we offer some courses in a hybrid-distance format. Among the pioneering seminaries offering an alternative to residential programs, Nashotah House began offering courses in a hybrid-distance format in 2006. It was clear from the beginning that this new vehicle would address a need in the church. From the very early days, we saw immediate growth, as students who had long hoped to study in a seminary – for many, specifically Nashotah House – now had a chance to do so. We began with a 48-credit program, then called the Master of Arts in Ministry (now the Master of Ministry). Some deacons-in-training, some priests who had read for orders, and many lay persons training for ministry joined the program. Now, Nashotah House offers five degrees and one certificate and currently serves over 80 students in a hybrid-distance format. Hybrid-distance courses give a Nashotah House education to those who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to live on campus. Some students take hybrid-distance courses while they live
Hybrid-distance courses come with gifts unique to that mode of education. One of those gifts is surely the opportunity to toggle between different contexts. When they convene on campus for a residential continued on page 6
A hybrid-distance student takes a class from her home Students gather for a class on campus
Hybrid-distance students have their own way of being at Nashotah House. Unlike our residential students, hybrid-distance students are not bound by the typical academic calendar. They are usually working full-time jobs alongside their graduate study, and so it is common for hybrid-distance students to take one course at a time all year long. Instead of the academic liturgy of a fall term and spring term punctuated by winter and summer breaks, hybriddistance students study continuously through all four terms (Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall), and each term has its own week in residence.
and work in far-flung places around the world. Others take hybrid-distance courses because family or work circumstances do not allow them to live on campus full-time. God does not necessarily call his ministers at a time when they can conveniently uproot their lives and move to Nashotah. Hybriddistance courses allow Nashotah House to serve many more people where God has called them to be. There is no “typical” hybrid-distance student. They come in all shapes and sizes and from all sorts of situations. Hybrid-distance students come from as far away as Singapore and as nearby as Oconomowoc. The goals of hybrid-distance students vary, from parish ministry to military chaplaincy to lay ministry and more! A hybrid-distance student may be in his twenties or in her seventies. Hybrid-distance courses allow students in all stages of life, and in many different occupations, to receive a Nashotah House education that otherwise would be inaccessible to them. What is it like to be a hybrid-distance student?
DR. WATKINS
BEING continuedTHEREfrom page 5
THE MISSIONER6 week, their time is like a contracted crucible of formation. They step out of “normal life” and dive into the rhythms of life at the House in a highly saturated and intense way. From 7:45 am until 5:15 pm, hybrid-distance students are either in chapel, a classroom, or the refectory, and then maybe an event planned in the evening! Not a minute is wasted as students are challenged and inspired to soak in all that they can. When they return home, the work of a hybrid-distance student is hardly finished. Typically, school work and interactions with professors and fellow students will continue, but in their context. We are always hopeful that hybrid-distance students return home with a renewed sense of perspective, purpose, and calling. At a time when many colleges and seminaries are boasting 100% online education, Nashotah House is resisting this trend. We offer a number of degrees in a hybrid-distance format, and they all require students to spend significant time in residence at Nashotah House. That’s what puts the hybrid in hybrid-distance. Three of those degrees are taught at the Master’s level. The Master of Pastoral Ministry (MPM) is designed for students seeking a career in professional ministry, such as parish ministry or chaplaincy. This 72-credit program is the hybrid-distance alternative to the residential MDiv. The Master of Ministry (MM) is a shorter degree designed for lay ministers or vocational deacons. Finally, the Master of Theological Studies (MTS) is a 60-credit degree, especially suited for those considering advanced graduate study or lay teaching ministry. In addition to those three Master’s level degrees, Nashotah House offers two advanced degrees in a hybrid-distance format. The Master of Sacred Theology (STM) is a short degree designed for those who have completed Master’s level
whoministrypriestsisoflevel.worksteppingstudytheologicalandwantastonetoatthedoctoralTheDoctorMinistry(DMin)idealforparishandotherleaderswanttoengage in academic research for the purpose of enhancing the study and practice of ministry. Both the STM and DMin culminate in a large research project guided and evaluated by experts in the student’s field of study. One certificate is also available in a hybrid-distance format. The 30-credit Certificate of Anglican Studies (CAS) is ideal for someone seeking ordination in the Anglican tradition who has already done graduate study in another tradition. Parish priests, deacons, or lay people who want to deepen their understanding of Anglican history, theology and liturgy are the perfect candidates for the CAS. We want all of our students to experience the beingthere of Nashotah, but not all of our students can live here. There is no doubt that being-there is an essential ingredient in the formation that takes place at Nashotah House, and I think that the sons and daughters of the House would agree! If you’ve ever wondered about studying at Nashotah House but think studying residentially is impossible, consider trying a hybrid-distance course. This may be the right type of course at the right time for you. Please consider visiting us at Nashotah House so you can experience the gift of being-there too. Z “We are always hopeful that andofwithstudentshybrid-distancereturnhomearenewedsenseperspective,purpose,calling.”
I recently came across a school memory book from my childhood, where it asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I filled in: a teacher. This entry was long forgotten when I entered college. I pursued anthropology and archaeology in New York City, and while working part-time at the Museum of Natural History, I had the opportunity to teach children about dinosaurs and ancient man. I assisted other teachers in their lectures, great archaeologists like the Leakys and the renowned naturalist and bird lover, Roger Tory Peterson. At that time, women were not invited to any serious endeavors in the field, so I changed direction, took a more practical approach to my education, and learned a trade. The museum offered an aviation ground school course where I learned about the wind and technical terms and discovered a love of flying. After many years of training, I became an airline pilot and began safely transporting souls from place to place. Later in my career, having been laid off, I was asked to take on a training position and teach other pilots. During this time, I became pregnant with twins, so I left that career behind for the role of mother and teacher, educating my boys in a classical education curriculum. Now my children are finishing high school, and I can look back to see the slow work of God. He has used all these experiences to grow my faith and my desire to teach and serve Him so I can “stir up love and good works.”
Nashotah House is, as Benedict would say, “a school for the Lord’s service,” set apart for His glory, equipping all of us to be servants of the Lord. The Lord is our Teacher, and Nashotah House participates in His equipping by the interweaving of prayer, work, and study, which strengthens our spirit, body, and mind, so we may go into the chapel and out into the field where the “ . . . harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” I hear these
HYBRID-DISTANCE LEARNING
KATIA CRABB A REFLECTION ON BEING A HYBRID-DISTANCE STUDENT a School for the LORD’S SERVICE
“When I return home and dig into Scripture, the ancient wisdom of the church, and the surprising work of God in all my studies and day-to-day activities, Nashotah House is a part of who I am because it is part of the Lord’s house.”
A wise professor at the House has reassured me that “those the Lord calls, He equips.” Nashotah House invites us to learn the ways of Christ so we may be equipped to glorify God in all things.
At Nashotah House, I have been seeking God and desiring to know Him better, and He has been faithful. I have learned to lay aside all worries, love Christ above all else, and follow Him in obedience.
Katia Crabb lives in Allen, Texas, with her husband of 23 years, Andy, and their twin sons, Jack and Sam. They are members of the Church of the Holy Communion Cathedral in Dallas, Texas. Katia’s undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Science in Aviation, and she is currently in her second year at Nashotah House pursuing a Masters in Theological Studies. She enjoys beekeeping, quiet walks in the fields and woods of her farm with her faithful dog, Gracie, retreating with Benedictine communities, and especially reading old books with a cup of tea in hand.
Katia (middle) joins classmates for a walk after class Katia (six from left) and her matriculating class of 2019 Katia signs the book during matriculation ceremony
The “workshop where we toil faithfully at all these tasks” is where we live, work, pray, and worship with the stability and support of the Nashotah House community. When I return home and dig into Scripture, the ancient wisdom of the church, and the surprising work of God in all my studies and day-today activities, Nashotah House is a part of who I am because it is part of the Lord’s house.
nashotah.edu 9 words directed toward me, knowing this is Jesus’ invitation to join Him in His work in the world. Time spent with professors and fellow students and reading and writing have helped deepen this calling and my understanding of the beauty of prayer, discipleship, and life with God. Unlike my earlier college days, I am now blessed to learn and pray, not with experts in bones and birds, but with fellow disciples of Christ, who seek to know how dry bones live and the ways of God – who is likened to a Mydove.focus of study is the ascetical life based on sound doctrine, which is preparing me to serve the church in what I love to do: speaking of the Lord by leading quiet-day retreats, providing prayer guidance, and assisting the clergy and others in the education and care of souls. Not everyone is called to “go and sell all you have” and move to Wisconsin. So those who cannot live in the community full-time can share in the life and learn to serve the Lord as hybrid-distance students. As a student in the world, I look forward to the sense of belonging and the nourishing weeks spent on campus: praying, eating, and learning face-to-face with others. Students arrive from all over the world and enter into the hospitality of the House’s people, not as visitors but as sons and daughters. And that familial connection remains when we return home to our studies. The Hybrid-Distance program allows us to continue serving our families and local parishes while deepening our formation in the Anglican tradition.
– MTR. ELIZABETH PAPAZOGLAKIS, DMin ‘20
HYBRID-DISTANCE ADVANCEDLEARNING
“I don’t know of another place to study theology in North America that invites students to integrate scholarship and spirituality in as intimate a way as the House. Dogma is no good if it doesn’t issue in doxology, as it does at Nashotah every morning, midday, and evening. My STM work here has shaped my ministry as a chaplain to students at the University of Wisconsin in every way: my teaching, preaching, counseling, leadership, and exhortation has been drawn deeper into the church’s intellectual and spiritual life which is at once rigorous, deeply rooted, sacramental, and spiritual – just like Nashotah. ”
DR. JIM WATKINS Director of Distributed Education
– DANNY HINDMAN, STM ‘22
Nashotah’s mission does not end with ordination. Some may assume that Nashotah exists to train priests and that once they are ordained and working in a parish our job is done. This is far from the truth. In fact, we hope our students continue in relationships with us and return for further coursework to deepen and enhance their ministry.
This is why we offer an Advanced Degree program, featuring two degrees: the Master of Sacred Theology (STM) and the Doctor of Ministry (DMin). Both degrees provide opportunities for clergy and lay leaders to grow in their practice of ministry, but they do so in different ways. The STM is designed for students who want to hone and develop their academic skills. Ideal for someone with a teaching ministry or seeking a PhD, the STM affords students the chance to study with well-known and respected scholars. It culminates in a rigorous academic thesis on a research topic of the student’s choosing, which is then defended in an oral presentation. The DMin is designed for students who want to develop as practitioners and sharpen their ministry skills. The typical DMin student has served in
THE MISSIONER10
At Nashotah House, we care deeply about the ministry of the church. The core of our mission is to train clergy and lay people who will spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. And where do people encounter the gospel? In the words and actions of people who have been shaped by Word and Sacrament.
“I chose to enroll in the DMin program at Nashotah House because of the excellent standards that Nashotah House has always maintained. I have run my DMin project four times now in the parish I serve. It has made a significant difference for the parish leadership as they have received direction in presenting everyone mature in Christ. I am blessed to have had the experience and the benefit of such excellent direction in this endeavor.”
– FR. WESLEY WALKER, STM ‘22
NASHOTAHHOUSE
nashotah.edu ministry for at least three to five years. As expert observers of their own ministry contexts, DMin students bring questions and concerns they want to explore in our program. They engage with ministry leaders and develop strategies to address the challenges and opportunities they face and resource their congregations. The capstone of the DMin is a large project tailored to their own ministry that will equip them to shepherd their flock. Both the STM and DMin are taught in a hybriddistance format. Students enjoy at least two intensive weeks in residence per year. On the one hand, by visiting Nashotah’s beautiful campus they benefit from the spiritual formation of our Benedictine rhythms and the special camaraderie that forms within our Advanced Degree program. On the other hand, by working and living most of the year off campus, Advanced Degree students are able to apply what they study at Nashotah House to their particular ministry contexts. Can you imagine yourself pursuing an STM or DMin? Are you looking for an academic community that will support you in your ministry and challenge you to grow in the knowledge of the faith and the love of God? Look no further than Nashotah House. We would love to talk with you about joining our Advanced Degree program. But don’t just take my word for it. Read on to see what our students have to say about the impact of our program on their ministries.atdegrees
“The STM program at Nashotah is one of the best education decisions I’ve made. The thing that has most impressed me has been the world-class faculty. It has also been a fantastic experience when it comes to formation – worshiping with a beautiful liturgy in an historic chapel. The program has been a wonderful opportunity to make connections and build relationships with other students around the Anglican world and beyond. This program has been a huge blessing to me, and I hope it will be for many other students.”
“I chose the DMin at Nashotah House because I wanted to study in a place rich in the theology, history, and worship of the Anglican tradition. The coursework has been exemplary, and the rhythms, worship, and community of the House have been sweet times of respite and nourishment for my body and soul. My parish family has reaped the rewards of my time at the House in innumerable ways, as my courses and experiences have influenced my preaching, teaching, and practice of the liturgy.”
11
– FR. JOHN GULLET, DMin ‘22
JW: For starters, Fr. Holtzen, Nashotah’s Professor of Historical & Systematic Theology, is offering a course titled “Spirituality of Minimalism” that explores the intersection of spirituality
STANDOUTand SUMMER
Students enjoy a walk around campus after a summer class
LABIN DUKE: It’s been a long year for everyone. But coronavirus case numbers seem to be going down, and the vaccine roll-out is picking up pace. People seem optimistic about the summer of 2021. Why should people use their newfound freedom to attend a Nashotah summer course?
THE MISSIONER12
In this interview, Mr. Labin Duke sits down with Dr. Jim Watkins, Nashotah’s Director of Distributed Education, to talk about the 2021 summer course offerings. Dr. Watkins has worked at Nashotah since April of 2020. In his current position, he directs Nashotah’s hybrid-distance and advanced degree programs. In that capacity, he is also responsible for planning Nashotah’s well-loved summer courses.
JIM WATKINS: Honestly, I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t! It’s hard to beat summertime on Nashotah’s beautiful, historic campus. For many of us, the last year has felt like a loss of connection with the people and places we know and love. I think this summer would be a fantastic time for Nashotah sons, daughters, and friends to return to the House. As always, we are going to offer excellent courses taught by scholars of a very high calibre. Although I am clearly biased, I would wager that we have the most impressive line-up of summer courses on offer anywhere in North America. But what makes summer at Nashotah unique is not the courses themselves but the combination of excellent academics, community life, and spiritual formation. Relationships form during a week-long summer course that can blossom into years of academic and spiritual friendship. The Anglican spiritual rhythms of Nashotah House frame and re-center our academic work around the worship of God. Students come to Nashotah in the summer not merely to learn more. They register for a summer course to participate in a community growing closer to LD:God.There’s a lot here to talk about, but let’s start with the academic classes. What makes the summer of 2021 so special?
MR. LABIN DUKE
minimalism through apophatic theology and ultralight backpacking. Students will enjoy a week hiking with Fr. Holtzen in Kettle Moraine State Forest while discussing Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses . How cool is that?!
Another unique course I’m really excited about is Dr. Trevor Hart’s “Taking Flesh: Incarnation, Embodiment, and Artistry.” Dr. Hart is a leading scholar in the area of theology, imagination, and the arts, and he is traveling from his home in St. Andrews, Scotland, to be with us this summer. His course will explore what Scripture means when it says that God “takes flesh” in Jesus Christ, in light of the arts that routinely take and transform “flesh” in a whole variety of ways. Anyone interested in biblical studies should be very excited by Dr. Amy Peeler’s course titled “A Fearful Thing to Fall into the Hands of the Living God: Warnings in Hebrews as a Window to its Rhetoric, Theology, History & Pastoral Application.” Dr. Peeler is Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, and her course will focus on the dire warning passages in the epistle to the Hebrews. Our summer course line-up also plays to Nashotah’s traditional strengths, such as historical theology. Fr. John Behr, Regius Chair in Humanity at the University of Aberdeen, is teaching a course on St. Gregory of Nyssa. Dr. Lewis Ayres, Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University, is teaching a course “ClassicaltitledTrinitarian Theology.” And Dr. Christopher Wells, Executive Director and Publisher of The Living Church , is teaching “Liturgy in Aquinas.” Several of our own faculty are teaching summer courses. In addition to Fr. Holtzen’s course, Dr. Hans Boersma, Nashotah’s St. Benedict Servants of Christ Professor of Ascetical Theology, is teaching a course titled “Enchanted Worship” that continued on page 14 “Students come to Nashotah in the summer not merely to learn more. They register for a summer course to participate in a community growing closer to God.” DR. JIM WATKINS
STANDOUT SUMMER continued from page 13
LD: That’s a great team of scholars teaching courses this year! You mentioned that students often attend a summer course, at least in part, for the community life and spiritual formation. Could you say more about that?
introduces students to a sacramental ontology.
And Dr. Greg Peters, Nashotah’s Servants of Christ Research Professor of Monastic Studies will be leading the Breck Conference again. The theme this year is parish asceticism, and there’s a for-credit option for those who are interested.
Dr. Elisabeth Kincaid, Assistant Professor of Ethics & Moral Theology, is teaching “Work, Vocation, and Ethics.”
JW: A week at Nashotah House is more than just the classroom experience. It’s about what happens around and in between the classes. Students begin every day in St. Mary’s Chapel with Morning Prayer and Eucharist. Following the liturgy, breakfast is served in the refectory. Meal times at Nashotah are a great opportunity not only to connect with classmates but also with our teaching faculty. Students get to know professors on a personal level over the course of a residential week. A typical class runs every day until about 4:00 p.m., and then students prepare for Evening Prayer. Finishing the day in worship and singing is wonderful, and many people find the daily rhythm of prayer at Nashotah House to be a blessing in the midst of a culture that praises busy-ness and productivity. In the evenings, students participate in community dinners and events, take advantage of the beautiful lake and the campus grounds, or spend time reading in the library to prepare for the next Thereday.are so many ways to connect with students and professors during the summer at Nashotah, and it is my genuine hope that students will leave a summer course with friendships that will encourage and challenge them spiritually and will last for years to come. Z
What I mean is this: Jesus told stories to make us his disciples. Every story has a way of revealing insights, establishing norms, confirming identity, commending the good, exposing evil, and so on. This is why bonded persons, families and institutions, have their lore. The stories we remember and retell explain who we are and mark us indelibly. So it is with the parables of Jesus. Here Jesus reveals a world – the kingdom of God –by juxtaposing its customs, norms, and values in a narrative collision with the world as we know it. That narrative collision takes place between the ears of the listener, who, having heard the “familiar made strange,” is invited to take up the ways of Jesus and the kingdom he proclaims or to doubledown in allegiance to the world as we know it, resisting Jesus’ new visions of rectitude and his unexpected heroes and villains.
the Parables
THE MISSIONER16
DR. GARWOOD ANDERSON With the spectacular response to our first free, online course, The Bible & Theology in Color , offered by Nashotah House alumnus, Fr. Esau McCaulley, we wondered if more of these offerings might be welcomed by our friends and supporters. So, when Labin Duke asked if I’d teach a short course on the parables of Jesus, I was happy to do my part. The good people at Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, Florida, provided the occasion and the hospitality to make it a reality, and off we went.
If I remember correctly, my interest in studying the parables goes back to a visit to a used bookstore in 1987. Barely a master’s student in seminary, and intent on building my theological library, I came across a book, Rediscovering the Parables, by Joachim Jeremias. I had heard that he was an important New Testament scholar and that he had written an important book on the parables. Novice that I was, I didn’t even know how to pronounce his German name, but I thought this might be a good place to start. In truth, being new to the methods and assumptions of biblical criticism, I found the book a bit scandalous, but it sent me down other paths under the mentorship of my New Testament professor at the time. Soon that little book was surrounded by dozens of others, and the parables of Jesus became something of a scholarly hobby for me – one that would eventually bear fruit in a PhD dissertation and a few professional publications after that. But the fascinating scholarly questions and the history of interpretation are not my primary interest in the parables of Jesus, even if they were the doorway in. At the risk of sounding overly pious, my real interest in the parables is Jesus.
nashotah.edu 17
In the world as we know it, things go a certain, expected way: farmers are careful about where they sow seed; austere parents make sure their children bear the consequences of their choices; religious leaders do the right thing; people get what they deserve – for better or worse. In these stories of Jesus, however, nothing is for sure; we find our well-known world meeting a previously unknown alternative and we’re either caught up in its thrall as disciples of the storyteller or we leave the scene of accident with hardened hearts. This, no doubt, is why Jesus implores us, “Pay attention to what you hear” (Mark 4:24 NRSV). Having heard the good news of the kingdom of God, we won’t remain as we were before. We will either be softened, tilled, and mulched into good soil, or packed down and baked hard by the sun, where nothing good can grow. But we won’t be the same as before. When we listen to the parables of Jesus, we meet a three-dimensional God of love and justice, of longing, long-suffering, and wrath. We meet the people of God, occasionally at their best, but more often at their worst. More importantly, we find out that the people of God are not the bounded set, as we had supposed. Perhaps this, more than anything else, caused the greatest offense among Jesus’ listeners – and offered the greatest hope the once-excluded. Although scholars love to debate this, we also meet Jesus, a son of the vineyard owner, a sower of seed, a traveling nobleman, at once a champion and a curser of fig trees. Perhaps most importantly of all, we meet ourselves, now seen as through the eyes of the Son of God, and as we listen, we are asked if we really see ourselves. Are we beaten, robbed, and left halfdead? Or are we priests and Levites, avoiding inconvenience? Could we possibly be oncecontemptible, now-compassionate Samaritans? And are we okay with that?
“Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you” (Mark 4:24 ESV).
JESUSof
What they won’t let us do is to see our natural face in these story-mirrors and go our merry way unchanged (James 1:23-24).
As David was laid bare by the prophet Nathan, the parables have a way of saying, “You are that man!” whether we would have thought of ourselves that way or not. Or, like Mary singing the Magnificat, the parables tell of kingdom that “scatter[s] the proud in the imagination of their hearts,” “lift[ing] up the lowly.”
Consider taking this five-part Parables of Jesus course for your own personal or small group study, compliments of Nashotah House. Visit nashotahchapter.com for more information.
“When you walk out to this odd little home with its many doors and awkward staircase and take a moment to recall that this is where our forebears lived, prayed, ate, worked, studied, and worshiped, you realize it is a place to rejoin our purpose, that is, our mission.”
Exterior of Blue House in current condition (pre-renovation)
We often talk about how the frontier has changed. We no longer just look just to the west but in every direction to see that the mission itself has not changed. As we seek to train men and women each There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
– G.K. Chesterton, “The Thing” (1929) continued
THE REV. JASON TERHUNE Sr. Director of Operations and Student Services
nashotah.edu 19
THEY ARE justOLD THINGS
In the case of the Blue House – so named for its historic blue exterior – it is clear why it matters. This fourteen-by-twenty-foot “tiny house” of 1842 has been held in the hearts of so many who recall those first missioners who followed God’s call to share the gospel in the frontier west. This is where it all started. Work, study, prayer. The Mission began its life together in daily prayers. The work was necessary to survive. The study was for preparation. Prayer to fulfill all that God has called us to be. In this little house in the wilderness, the Mission began. Those first missioners, led and inspired by Jackson Kemper, lived here and began the important work of sharing the gospel to an unsettled and, to them, a foreign land. They carried the message of Christ in which they were grounded here at Nashotah House. It would have been easy at any point to say the Blue House had served its purpose or no longer held any value for the mission. But, when you walk out to this odd little home with its many doors and awkward staircase and take a moment to recall that this is where our forebears lived, prayed, ate, worked, studied, and worshiped, you realize it is a place to rejoin our purpose, that is, our mission.
on page 20
At Nashotah House change comes slowly. We value those who have gone before us. We have trouble getting rid of things. Often, we must discover or learn why it is that something has been kept, whether it be a tradition or a box of papers.
. Interior stairwell (from second floor) disrepair. Date unknown. 5
7
Picture Key: 1. Interior stairwell in disrepair. Date unknown. 2
. Interior ceiling and walls in disrepair. Date unknown. 6
. Interior second floor room in disrepair. Date unknown. 3
. Interior first floor in disrepair. Date unknown. 4
THE MISSIONER20 BLUE continuedHOUSEfrom page 19 to answer their call in lay and ordained ministries, we continue in work, study, and prayer, just as our founders did. This is why others have joined us to support the work required to restore and maintain this place that symbolizes our beginnings. Yet, as you draw closer and as you linger and enjoy the breeze coming up front the lake, you realize that this is more than a symbol. This blue house embodies what it means to answer God’s call for the church to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ whenever and wherever we find ourselves. As I look out my office window to see the Blue House having undergone its structural straightening and the pallet of hand-cut cedar shingles that await warmer days to find their new life on the roof of this little house, I am reminded that it is Christ’s mission that endures: each of us here, inspired by decades of service to an ever-changing mission field. Soon, the Blue House will house missionaries in various stages of serving Christ. Some will be working on a degree and others will be on furlough. Some will come for retreat and others will come to teach. What they will each have in common is a call that is rooted in work, study, and prayer as they share Christ in the world.
. Current renovation exterior rendering. 1
. Current renovation floor plans.
6 7 2 3 4 5
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE
A unique interview experience between a current student &
* Note from the Rev. Canon Wilson Roane regarding his favorite prank: I was an observer of balloons that some upperclassmen released in chapel in “recognition” of Ascension Day. The faculty clergy roundly criticized the perpetrators for their misunderstanding of the meaning of the event as described in the Bible.
JULIA: My background has some similarities. Because, like you, Dad, I felt this call to serve God – I thought it was to religious orders because when I was a teenager I couldn’t think about being a priest; women weren’t allowed to be ordained. And so I went down to talk to Sister Mary Helen at the Sisters of the Holy Nativity and asked her if I could become a nun. And she said, “Go to college and then come back and talk to us.”
So, I went off as an English major at Carroll College, now Carroll University, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where I met my Presbyterian boyfriend, Steve, who is now my husband. (Actually now he’s an Episcopalian.) My husband and I moved to Washington, D.C., after we married and then, right after our first son was born, I went to law school. But like you (Dad), I wrestled with, “Well, how will I serve if I can’t be a religious? I want to do something that glorifies God.” I thought working with the poor would do that. So I worked as a lawyer for the poor. I also worked in immigration law. And you know that Steve’s job has always taken us around the world, to developing countries where we tried to help them solve problems of poverty and oppression – and I became a teacher, while working overseas. Then I received a master’s in education. Still, I kept feeling like I wasn’t doing what God wanted me to do. Steve and I would have long discussions; I kept pointing to the story of the rich young man. I continued on page 24
In the following interview, the Rev. Canon Wilson Roane and his daughter the Rev. Deacon Julia Roane Hendrix speak about their respective calls to serve God, their ministries, families, and time spent in formation at Nashotah House. We kicked off the interview with a question to get them started, but father and daughter ran with it from there.
nashotah.edu
23
MISSIONER: Tell us a bit about your backgrounds, influences, and roles prior to your respective calls to WILSON:ministry.I was involved with investment management, trust departments, and various banks prior to attending seminary and then getting ordained. I have an undergraduate degree in economics from Kenyon College, and a master’s degree in business administration, with an emphasis in finance, from the University of Chicago. And, of course, my MDiv from Nashotah House. I married my high school sweetheart. We have three children: Julia is the oldest, and then two boys –Andrew and Michael. Both my wife Sue and I were raised in Evanston, Illinois, and baptized at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston. Our families then attended St. Matthews – I served as an acolyte and on the vestry. My wife and I were youth leaders. Then we moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, when I became the Vice President for a bank there. For my entire life, I had been thinking that I should go into the ministry. But I had a family . . . so I kept putting it off. I would get up at 5:30 every morning to say the Daily Office. Then, when you (Julia) were about 22 years old, I thought maybe I should pursue this and see where it got me. I talked to my priest, Bill Galaty, a Nashotah grad. He set up a meeting with Bishop Stevens, who thought I should go to General. I told him that I really thought I was meant to come to Nashotah House.
JULIA: Yeah, but we don’t listen to our parents when we’re young. Did anybody tell you you should be a priest and you didn’t listen to them?
Back(laughing)inthe day, the Eucharist was celebrated daily at St. Matthew’s, and the younger acolytes were assigned to serve the priest at those early Eucharists, so my father and I would walk over (it was about a mile walk) on Thursdays. Then my father and I would go to a local greasy spoon restaurant for breakfast; then he would go to work, getting on the commuter train at Central Street Station, and I would go on to middle school. But we were expected to participate. That was just part of what we did: this family goes to church. So that was my big influence. Both your mother and I came out of a cultural environment where church was a natural thing for everybody to participate in.
WILSON: Fr. Scott Jones, who was the priest-incharge of the youth at St. Matthews, and ended up officiating our wedding, came over to our house one night at my mother’s instigation and invitation because she knew he held a very influential role in my life. Plus, she wanted to get the application to Kenyon done. And he said, “You should take the course that will lead you to seminary.” And I thought to myself, “I want to get a real job.” Ha! If I only knew – I never worked so hard as when I was a full-time priest.
JULIA: On the topic of influences, of course, you and Mom were so significant. You guys were very active in church, and you also kept us active. Mom made me go to church when I had the chickenpox. I know that she didn’t believe I was sick, but we sat in the front row, and I had chickenpox.
I was also influenced by Nashotah House in terms of liturgy – understanding liturgy much better than I did, even though I came out of churches that had good liturgical traditions.
WILSON: You’re not saying anything about your father telling you you should go.
WILSON: I remember Ralph McMichael was one of the professors, and he and I got involved in a feeding program in Milwaukee. That was significant for me because I believed in the idea that feeding people was a great need. I came to see how important it actually was because of the number of people who needed a meal.
JULIA: How did your experience at Nashotah House help form you for your pastoral role? Give a couple examples, please.
THE MISSIONER24 ROOKIE & VET continued from page 23 kept saying, “We have to do this; we have to sell everything and follow Jesus.” And the light bulb went off when Steve said, “Maybe this is about you.” So that’s why I’m here at Nashotah House.
WILSON: She’s going to deny that.
JULIA: Well, it happened. I remember when I was going through discernment I was asked if Cursillo had been an influence on me. I responded that the youth version, Cursillo Happening, was by far the most influential thing that ever happened to me. And I know Cursillo was important for you and Mom. I was also very active in youth group and summer church WILSON:camp.Iwas raised in a family that was very active in the church. My parents were active and we kids were expected to be in church. As I mentioned earlier, I was an acolyte when I was younger, but there were times when I didn’t want to get out of bed on a Sunday morning, and my mother would come up to my room and make me get out of bed by calling me a heathen backslider.
JULIA: Very relatable these days, as well – tempers can flare!
WILSON: I think that the more involved you can be, the better, for a couple of reasons: first of all, there’s the plain reason of the church reaching out to people in need, in terms of housing, hunger, leadership, that sort of thing. But it also has the effect of allowing people in the community to actually see you and know that you care about your community. Although they may not come to your church, you never know the influence you might have.
JULIA: I remember seeing you help people in Waupaca. I don’t know where we were or what we were doing exactly, or why I was there, but you said, “Come on, Julie, I need to take some food to some people. This woman doesn’t have any food, and I’ve got to take her some milk and some bread because continued
JULIA: For me, the community at Nashotah has had a tremendous impact. You know the events that have happened here have been more on the personal level. As I think about graduating this May, I think about how this community really affected me and took care of me. Every single time, without fail, Nashotah was there for me personally. Without this community, I don’t know if I would have been as emotionally complete as I am right now. No place is perfect, but holy cow, if somebody can say that when they were going through a crisis the community wrapped themselves around that person and helped them, I don’t know what else you could say about a place.
on page 30 Julia and Wilson at Julia’s baptism
WILSON: Pastoral care is so terribly important –visiting people in a hospital, calling them – just pick up the phone and find out how they’re doing. People recognize that the priest cares. That’s going to go a long, long way toward establishing the church as a place of comfort, rest, and refuge. It’s terribly important. I see too many situations where people are neglected. I’ve had the privilege to have good friends, some of whom have needs, and I’ll ask if they want me to pray for them. They might not even go to my church, or they go to some other church in town, or maybe they don’t even go to a church, but I still pray for them. I’m not doing it because it’s going to draw people to the church, although that has certainly influenced many to return to the church. I do it because that is what I believe Christ has called me to do – to be involved with what people’s needs are just as Christ was.
WILSON: Well, you know how the juniors are assigned to ring Michael the Bell? I was on “bell duty,” and I had to ring the bell half an hour before chapel. The intention was also for it to be a “wakeup” call. However, I got the wrong day. I think I was supposed to ring it at seven o’clock, but I got the wrong day. So I’m out there, all pumped to go and ringing the bell. All the middlers and seniors stuck their heads out of the Cloister windows and started screaming at me because I was waking them up much earlier than they should have been awake. (laughing) Also, I remember when I was a junior, a middler friend of mine and I decided to go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. We were sitting in the stands, and this guy in front of us was smoking a cigar, the smoke wafting into my buddy’s face. So my friend asked the guy to stop smoking the cigar because it was annoying him. When the guy told him he wasn’t going to stop smoking . . . let’s just say I had to restrain my “more mature” friend.
nashotah.edu 25
JULIA: How do you engage with people who are hurting in the world – offer Christ’s message of salvation and hope?
Speaking of being out in the world, how do you think a clergy person should get involved in the needs of their parish and city?
On to another question: do you have an amusing story to share about your time at Nashotah House?
The Rev. Jamaal Scarlet (U.S. Navy Chaplain, District 8 – Western Rivers and current student, Nashotah House – ACNA) points us inward to the awareness of our own finitude which each human experiences when confronting our own death and that of others.
continued on page 31
Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious, and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
– 1 Peter 2:4-5
AT
In this year’s Lenten devotional, we have collected reflections on keeping a Holy Lent written by students, alumni, faculty, and friends of the House. For many of us, the gap between Ash Wednesday 2020 and Ash Wednesday 2021 felt like a year of Lent, rather than a normal liturgical year. At Nashotah House, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt in our worship, community, and learning. However, despite the physical separation which we have endured, we are also hopeful that our persistence throughout these challenges have actually made each aspect of life as a seminary community both stronger and sweeter. Our contributors to the Lenten devotional capture this same awareness in a spiritual sense. They highlight how Lent both makes us aware of death and separation from God, but also teaches us how to hope for resurrection following the risen and glorified Christ. By capturing both aspects of the Lenten journey, they point us towards the process by which the people of God are, together, being built into “a spiritual house . . . a holy priesthood” in Christ. The Rev. Aaron Damiani (Immanuel Anglican Church – ACNA) describes the Christian’s desperate cry for deliverance at some points in the spiritual life, while the Rev. Sarah Puryear (Diocese of Tennessee – TEC) reminds us that the purpose of our Lenten abstinence is to prepare us to feast.
EastertideLent+ NASHOTAH HOUSE
THE MISSIONER26 Fr. Matthew S.C. Olver (Assistant Professor of Liturgics and Pastoral Theology) ends his Ash Wednesday reflection for Nashotah House’s 2021 Lenten devotional with this verse. The description of the transformation of those called by God who become living stones through Christ and are built up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood captures the core of the project of Nashotah House.
DR. ELISABETH RAIN KINCAID
The Rev. Julia Hendrix (current student – TEC) points us outward by describing the Christian call to welcome all, an echo of Christ’s infinite welcome.
“Despite the physical separation which we have endured, we are also hopeful that our persistence throughout these challenges have actually made each aspect of life as a seminary community both stronger and sweeter.”
Transcribed by Robert Stephensen, 2000
Once upon, a time, in a far-away land, before the days of AirWick and indoor plumbing, people’s houses would get musty, and the odors of cooked cabbage and garlic would cling to the walls and curtains, and on damp days a crowded house might smell like the locker room of a gymnasium. Folks discovered, probably at first by accident, that if they would burn certain fragrant resins and gums, the smoke would sweeten the air and make life indoors much more pleasant. However, since these aromatic resins and gums were rare and costly, they were saved for those occasions when company was coming. Thus it came to be that burning incense became a sign of somebody important coming to the house. You walk in, smell incense, and ask, “Who is coming?” Royalty and the aristocracy had incense burned before them on all public occasions. If you wished to honor a friend, you burned incense when he visited Incenseyou.was burned in temples and all places of public and private worship in honor of the God who was to visit the temple. It purified the place in anticipation of his visit. The Jews did this and the Christians took over the custom. “From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered in my name, and a pure offering; for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 1:11).
It is instructive to notice the places in the church service at which incense is offered. On the entrance into the sanctuary, at the beginning of the Mass, the priest “censes” the altar to prepare it for the coming of God on the altar. Then he himself is “censed” by the deacon or thurifer because the priest himself is to become an instrument through which God acts in the service.
The bread and wine are “censed” at the offertory, because God is going to visit them and make them his habitation. Then the congregation is “censed,” for they are going to receive their communion –God is going to visit them. They further are due honor in their own right as the Mystical Body of Christ through which (with the priest) God acts to consecrate the Holy Sacrifice.
THE REV. HOMER ROGERS
THE MISSIONER28
At the moment of Consecration, the bread and wine (becoming the Body and Blood of Christ) are again “censed” by the thurifer, because God becomes present there.
WHY USEDIS?
The Rev. Homer F. Rogers was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1915. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Dallas, where he was raised in the Baptist Church, graduating from Baylor University in 1939 with a degree in sociology and Greek. He discovered the Episcopal Church, graduated from SeaburyWestern Theological Seminary and, in 1942, was ordained a priest. His bishop sent him as rector to St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Denton, Texas, where he stayed until 1953, when he became professor of Pastoral Theology at Nashotah House. From 1956 until his death in 1980, he was rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Dallas, Texas. During that time, he served on the faculty of the School for Spiritual Directors, the School for Spirituality, and the Anglican School of Theology in the Diocese of Dallas.
Fr. Rogers was married to Dorothy Rae Jones Rogers in 1943, and they had six children and twelve grandchildren, one of whom, the Rev. Matthew Rogers, ’20, serves as Curate for Youth and Children’s Ministry at St. Laurence Episcopal Church in Southlake, Texas. continued on page 31
nashotah.edu 29
The above essay is reprinted by The Missioner courtesy of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, and may also be accessed online at Project Canterbury.
God is really acting through His priests. God is really present on our altars under the forms of bread and wine. God is really speaking to us through the reading of the Gospel. And, finally, God is really and actually present in the Christian who receives the sacraments or hears His Word. Incense is not used merely because it is pretty, or because it smells sweet, or because we like “high church,” but rather because, as a living link with Christians and Jewish antiquity, it assures us that the early Christians believe as we believe, that when we gather together in His Name, God is in our midst, that we do not merely remember a dead Jew but have Communion with a living Christ, that we do not merely long for a heaven that is “up yonder,” or “in the sweet by and by,” but adore an Eternal Lord who is “right here and now.” It adds to our service an atmosphere of mystery –and well it should – for it signifies an invasion of the Eternal into time, of the Infinite All Holy into the midst of his people. So when incense is offered, it should properly awe and impress us, with the terrifying fact of the imminent entrance of Him who flung the stars into space and who numbers the hairs of our heads, yet whose tender love is concerned with the sparrow’s fall, who willed to be laid in a manger and nailed to a cross that you and I might know his love for all eternity. Understanding its ancient meaning, as purification before the entrance of an important visitor, incense as the church uses it is eloquent testimony and a vivid dramatization of the church’s most cherished beliefs and vital experiences: God’s coming to man, really and actually, in man’s worship of God.
JULIA: Along those lines, how has Nashotah helped to form your priestly ministry?
THE MISSIONER30 ROOKIE & VET continued from page 25 they’ve run out of food.” And she was not part of your congregation. But you and I went over to her house – she was a single mom with two or three kids – and we delivered a couple gallons of milk and some bread. That really left an impression on me. Regarding prayer, community, and people, what was your first great challenge in ministry?
WILSON: When I first came to St. Mark’s in Waupaca, the average Sunday attendance was about 15. I knew I had to do something. I read about one of the other churches in our diocese who had a feeding program and suggested we try to start one. We started a program and named it The Breadbasket. It was so successful that we had to move it out of St. Mark’s because we didn’t have a facility that was large enough to accommodate the Therecrowd.were many who said there were no poor people in Waupaca, but we did it. And I’m thinking that as soon as we can recover from this pandemic, we might have to start something like that again. We also built an addition to the building because we didn’t have space for Sunday school. We also built a parking lot because it was important for people to be able to park near the church. I give a lot of credit to the people who bought into that vision for the church. And God honored what we prayed for.
WILSON: Well, I was assigned my senior year to be rector of the small church of St. Mark’s of Waupaca. And as you can well imagine, I was nervous. When a friend of mine came to visit me at Nashotah, I told him about my concern. He said that the way to handle it is to just love them. And I never forgot that – just love them. And that, of course, fit in with a pastoral care attitude that I feel is so terribly important – just love them. And that’s been kind of my Evermantra.sincethen, when I talk to people graduating from seminary, going into their first assignment, their first call, and they seem a little hesitant, I always tell them the same thing – just love them.
Being a priest is not easy. I worked as the vice president of a couple of banks, and I worked hard, but I never worked so hard as when I was rector of St. Mark’s. It’s a small church in a small community, but trying to build relationships can still be difficult –you just have to love them. Z Julia and Wilson with their family
The clinical pastoral education was an outstanding program that I attended at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Milwaukee, with a wonderful supervisor, Richard O’Donnell, a Catholic priest, who was also very influential.
JULIA: What was an “aha” moment for you at Nashotah House that influenced you spiritually?
WILSON: The idea of pastoral ministry was important to me from the get-go. Nashotah did a good job of reinforcing that with the TPP we had at the time. I was assigned to Fr. Russell Jacobus, who became our Bishop eventually, and he had a good instinct for pastoral ministry. I followed him around like a shadow the whole time, and I saw pastoral ministry in action.
The Rev. Homer Rogers was the author of several books including The Romance of Orthodoxy (1991) and Uncommon Sense (1993), which offers a collection of 25 of Fr. Rogers’s lectures explaining basic Christian beliefs. Uncommon Sense has been referred to as pithy, not patronizing, innovative and, at times, humorous, with essays that teach the tenets of Christianity, explore Scripture, and speak to modern dilemmas.
nashotah.edu 31
Fr. David M. Allen, SSC, ret., Rector St. Francis Anglican Church Fr. Rogers taught the Catholic Faith in its entirety, without reservation and without compromise. I give thanks daily to God for the solid dogmatic foundation which Padre laid in this parish. I suppose that other priests have done the same but very few with the sheer delight that Fr. Rogers had in it. But the unique thing about Fr. Rogers was the way in which he taught the people of St. Francis how to live out that faith. “God does not need your money, but you need to give it away.”
Cover of Lent + Eastertide book
These contributors come from different countries, different backgrounds, and ascribe to theologically diverse expressions of Anglicanism. In many ways, their disparity reminds us of the brokenness of our own church tradition, even as their words calling us to repentance remind us of the brokenness of our lives. However, their contributions and their ministry of accompaniment to each of us are also marked by a spiritual unity. Each disparate voice plays its own role in better shaping each reader into a living stone, ultimately intended to be part of Christ’s one, holy, and catholic church. Z
“If you get your feelings hurt, it’s your problem not the other guy’s problem.” “If you get serious about God, the devil will get serious about you.” I should have gotten sick and tired of hearing these and many other aphorisms quoted, but I have not. They remind us that the Catholic religion is to be lived out in the perfectly ordinary details of perfectly ordinary human lives. As Fr. Rogers said, “the only way to be one in a million is to realize that you aren’t.”
continuedHOMER from page 29 The Rev. Rogers’ book “Uncommon Sense”
To order copies of next year’s Nashotah House Advent or Lent Devotional, please contact Laken Been (lbeen@nashotah.edu) by November 1, 2021 (Advent) or January 15, 2022 (Lent).
AN APPRECIATION OF FR. ROGERS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
continuedLENT from page 27
Curacy Express VALUE OF MENTORSHIP:
THE
Imagine your graduation – a stirring rendition of Canon Joseph Kucharski’s “Seminary Hymn,” a lector announces “Descendit alumni,” and suddenly the reality sinks in. Three years of preparation, term papers famous for the “Holtzen hermeneutic of Turabian criticism,” and a real-world call awaits.
Scary indeed since residential “curacies” or handson apprenticeships are now mostly a thing of the past. Or are they? So much has evolved from bricks and mortar to virtual. And the church, which has endured COVID-19 and survived, is finding its presence – stronger than ever and now, curiously, with more offerings online. Raising the next generation of ordained church leaders poses a challenge in every generation. The rapid changes in our culture, coupled with the decline in numbers and financial resources of the average parish have compounded this problem. In the past, the church offered a curacy system, whereby recent seminary graduates could gain on-the-ground experience while serving as a junior assistant. This equipped them for ministry as a rector of their own parish. Those days are largely a thing of memory. Mentoring, however, is never a thing of the past. Now, the model is different. Curacies are famously understood as phenomenal growth opportunities, but the accompanying financial packages are often enough to starve a family, especially with the burden of student loans. The scarcity of parishes with finances robust enough to host a second priest on staff for typical two-year curacy are minimal. Precious few dioceses exist anymore with formal curacy programs strong enough to undergird that financial burden even for a single curate, while multitudes of small family-sized parishes are begging for clergy they can actually afford. These are the ideal settings for curates-in-charge. It seems curacy, and therefore clergy mentoring, is undergoing a massive change from curate-in-residence to Borncurate-in-charge.ofhisownexperience, Fr. Robert Lewis composed a mentoring program in his work, Curacy Express . The central program offered in the book published by Wipf and Stock consists of 33 self-paced units designed to be completed by a curate-in-charge with a mentor in another parish via Zoom, Facetime, or Skype. This program was tested in three different dioceses as part of Fr. Lewis’ 2015 Doctor of Ministry Project at the House. Fr. Lewis’ journey began after graduation in 2007, when he was called to a mission outside Peoria, Illinois. Significant effort had been exerted to gather support for a priest, but that was limited to two years because of tight finances. His then-bishop, Peter H. Beckwith, indicated that this situation was a sink-or-swim initiative. Without a successful
THE MISSIONER32
The Diocese of Nebraska began a program called the “Bishop’s Society for Clergy Excellence.” This is a new way of envisioning the curacy process into a step-down model. The curate begins their ministry as an associate in an Omaha- or Lincoln-area parish and then finishes their curacy as a curatein-charge of a mission in Western Nebraska. These learning centers were given Curacy Express as a tool to facilitate their formation. The remote learning has proved effective in situations where it may be a hundred-mile drive between parishes. Sadly, most dioceses do not have a curacy program. In many cases, dioceses are willing and happy to send people who are discerning a call to ministry off to seminary but without financial resources and often only to “plant churches” when they finish, without promise of guaranteed income for their family.
“Using a covenantal process between curate, supervisor, and mentor, Lewis provides a guide that uses theoretical perspective, practical context, and actual examples of the practice of ministry,” said Kevin E. Martin, congregational consultant and retired Dean of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Dallas. “ Curacy Express provides a great tool for both the newly ordained and any judicatory concerned with the future of the church and its leadership.” The units include a variety of subjects: a balanced work week, weddings from start to finish, leadership flaws and how to redeem them, ecumenical work, problematic parishioners and stewardship programs. One curate who used the program referred to the work as “a textbook, caulk to seal up the cracks of what one might forget from seminary – a go-to manual.” Seminary is geared to intellectual knowledge the same way that curacy is geared to practical knowledge. Every seminarian is cognizant of how very much he or she does not know. Seminary is only the first portion of the journey. Without mentoring, the first few years of ministry can be incredibly daunting. It has been said that the Evil One’s principal strategy is discouragement. Without the sounding board of an experienced voice, the priest placed in a sink-orswim situation is bound to lack the practical skills needed to navigate their first cure.
The Rev. Dr. Robert M. Lewis is a two-time graduate of Nashotah House (M.Div., ‘07, D.Min. ‘15). He has served parishes in Illinois, Florida, and Nebraska. He is currently the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Yuma, Arizona, in the Diocese of San Diego.
nashotah.edu 33 mentoring relationship, it would have been a fool’s errand to place someone with no actual experienceparishwithsomuchatstake.Yet,thesmallcongregationgrewfrom23onatypicalSundayto45–a phenomenal blessing and future for two years’ effort. Fr. Lewis kept meticulous notes on his mentoring sessions and embellished those experiences with those of his Nashotah graduate colleagues. This seeded the start of the curriculum. Without the wisdom of Fr. Brian Kellington, his mentor, both the future of the mission and the success of the mentoring would have failed to bear fruit.
Fortunately, the coupling of a seminary formation with a mentoring relationship has proven to form priests who are able to grow their parishes.
While the twenty-first-century church is changing dramatically, the one thing that remains the same is the need for good mentors to pass on practical knowledge necessary for providing pastoral care. Mentoring relationships will always be needed within the church. Sure, curacies are changing, but that first-call mentorship will always be one of the pivotal keys to successful ministry.
19181716 1514131211 109876 54321 ALUMNI UPDATES
&APPOINTMENTSORDINATIONS,RECOGNITIONS
AUDREY J. SUTTON (NH SENIOR), was ordained to the transitional diaconate on March 21, 2021, at Epiphany Episcopal Church, Richardson, TX, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. George R. Sumner, Bishop of Dallas. [photo 16] continued on page 36
THE REV. RODNEY ROEHNER, ‘12, accepted a call to serve as rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in New Smyrna Beach, FL. Prior to that, Fr. Roehner served as the associate rector and school chaplain at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in New Orleans, LA. [photo 14]
JONATHAN MOHLER (NH SENIOR), was ordained to the transitional diaconate on February 2, 2021, at Noble Victory Memorial Chapel, St. John’s Northwest Military Academy, Delafield, WI, by the Rt. Rev. Ryan Reed, The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. [photo 13]
THE REV. JACOB BOTTOM, ‘16, was installed as rector of The Church of Our Saviour, Gallatin, TN, by the Rt. Rev. John Bauerschmidt, the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee. The Rev. Matthew Dallman, ‘15, from the Diocese of Springfield, preached at the institution liturgy. [photo 5, pictured center]
nashotah.edu 35
THE REV. DAVID BUMSTED, ‘12, accepted a call to serve as rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Tulsa, OK. [photo 6]
THE REV. CARL HARKINS (NH SENIOR), was ordained to the vocational diaconate on February 27, 2021, in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. [photo 4]
THE REV. KARLA BANACH (NH MIDDLER), was ordained to the diaconate on January 23, 2021, in the Episcopal Diocese of Albany. [photo 2]
THE REV. KEVIN EMGE, ‘15, was ordained to the priesthood on December 19, 2020, by the Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, at Trinity Episcopal Church, in Ottumwa, IA, the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. [photo MARK8]
THE REV. JULIA HENDRIX (NH SENIOR), has accepted a call to serve as rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Waupaca, WI, upon completing her senior year at Nashotah House. Mtr. Hendrix will be ordained a priest in July 2021. [photo 11]
KLAMER & DAVID KNOX (NH SENIORS), were ordained to the transitional diaconate on March 7, 2021, in Springfield, IL, by the Rt. Rev. Dan Martins, ‘89, the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield. [Klamer photo 9 / Knox photo 10] JULIA ROANE HENDRIX & JEROME MOLITER (NH SENIORS) AND DAVID MANLEY, ‘20, were ordained on December 5, 2020, to the transitional diaconate by the Rt. Rev. Matthew Gunter at Grace Episcopal Church, in Sheboygan, WI, the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac.
PETER C. SCHELLHASE, ‘20, was ordained to the transitional diaconate on March 14, 2021, at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Oak Cliff, Dallas, TX, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. George R. Sumner, Bishop of Dallas. [photo 15]
DR. HANS BOERSMA, was ordained to the transitional diaconate on March 7, 2021, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Trevor Walters, Suffragen Bishop of Western Canada. Dr. Boersma was ordained at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. [photo 3]
THE REV. JONATHAN JAMESON, ‘19, was ordained to the transitional diaconate on February 8, 2021, by the Rt. Rev. Gregory Brewer, Episcopal Bishop of Central Florida. [photo 12]
THE REV. JOHN ALEXANDER, ‘04, has accepted the call as Interim Priest at the Church of Saint Uriel the Archangel in Sea Girt, NJ. [photo 1]
THE REV. JESSE LASSITER, ‘19, accepted a call to serve as of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Norfolk, and St. Bride’s, Chesapeake, VA.
THE REV. ANDREW CRUZ LILLEGARD, ‘18, was installed as rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Saranac Lake, NY. [photo 7]
NOTIFICATIONS OF DEATH ELIZABETH ANN CONSTANTIAN, ‘70, died November 24, 2020. Elizabeth Ann studied at Nashotah House from 1969-1970, one of the first women to do so, and received a bachelor’s of divinity degree.
THE REV. RALPH EVANS, ‘80, died January 27, 2021. Fr. Evans served as rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Gainesville, FL. THE REV. CANON M. FRED HIMMERICH, ‘62, died January 21, 2021. Fr. Himmerich served as an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Milwaukee, and held multiple positions during his time with the diocese, having served as director of Camp Webb, and adjunct professor at Nashotah House. A Requiem Holy Eucharist and committal will take place at All Saints’ Cathedral in Milwaukee on October 16, 2021. THE REV. MICHAEL A. JASPER, ‘89, died November 2, 2020. Fr. Jasper served as priestin-charge at Trinity Episcopal Church in Guthrie, OK (2016-2020), and rector of the Church of the Resurrection, Oklahoma City (2002-2015). [photo 18]
THE REV. DR. ROBERT CRAFTS, JR., CAPTAIN, MC-USN, ‘89, ret. died November 7, 2020. In 1986, Crafts retired from the U.S. Navy to pursue a full-time master’s in divinity from Nashotah House. He received the M.Div. in 1989 and returned to the Diocese of San Diego to oversee the congregation of St. John’s Episcopal Church. [photo 17]
THE VERY REV. DR. ROGER W. RASKOPF, died December 18, 2020. Fr. Raskopf served in many parishes during his nearly 60 years of ordained ministry. He was a clinical psychologist, professor, and chaplain/consulting psychologist at Nashotah House. [photo 19]
ALUMNI UPDATES send alumni ordinations, appointments, obituaries, and other newsworthy announcements to: Laura Groetsch at lgroetsch@nashotah.edu
THE MISSIONER36
HAVE AN UPDATE TO SHARE? WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Please
Angelico Press recently published Christ the Liturgy by the Very Rev. William O. Daniel, Ph.D., ‘12. Canon Daniel serves at St. Michael’s Church in Geneseo, New York, and is the Dean for Liturgy and Formation in the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester and adjunct professor of humanities at SUNY Geneseo.
The Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley (STM, ‘15) won the Beautiful Orthodoxy 2021 award from Christianity Today for his book Reading While Black (IVP Academic, 2020). Notices of winners were posted in the January/February 2021 edition of Christianity Today
THE MISSIONER38
ALUM HAS BOOK PUBLISHED
Alum Featured in Harper’s Magazine
DR. M c CAULLEY RECEIVES AWARD
CAMPUS&
NEW ALBUM RELEASED New York Polyphony’s album, And the sun darkened: Music for Passiontide , was released March 2021. The album is a collection of vocal music for Passiontide from the 15th and 16th centuries from Flanders and 20th and 21st century works from Estonia and Norway. Geoffrey Wiliams, D.M.A., is Asst. Professor of Church Music and Director of Chapel Music at Nashotah House and founder and artistic director of New York Polyphony.
The Rev. Adam Bucko (‘19) was featured in Harper’s Magazine in the article “The Gates of Heaven are Everywhere” by Fred Bahnson. The article was published in the January 2021 issue.
DR. BOERSMA’S NEW BOOK IVP Academic will publish Hans Boersma’s book Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew in August 2021. Dr. Boersma is the Saint Benedict Servants of Christ Chair in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House. Chaplain of the Day
DR. PETERS PUBLISHES NEW BOOK Wipf and Stock recently published Thomas à Kempis: His Life and Spiritual Theology by the Rev. Dr. Greg Peters. Dr. Peters is the Servants of Christ Research Professor of Monastic Studies & Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House and author of The Story of Monasticism and The Monkhood of All Believers
Georgia State Representative Katie Dempsey (R-Rome) welcomed the Rev. Austin Goggans, ‘15, first vicar and parish priest at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Rome, Georgia, as he served as the “Chaplain of the Day” for the Georgia House of Representatives on February 9, 2021.
nashotah.edu 39 community
REAL PRESENCE. REAL PREPARATION. 2777 MISSION ROAD NASHOTAH, WI 53058-9793
