Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2014 Issue | Page 13

and well,” said Faeth. “But sometimes
it’s hard to know where to go for the
resources.” The first webinar will focus
on creating a welcoming church, with
future topics planned to meet the
educational needs of leaders in all orders
of the Church. “The opportunities are
boundless,” said Faeth. “I think that the
challenge is to keep the quality up, to be
in tune with the needs of the Diocese.”

And the needs of the Diocese
are constantly changing, particularly
as they pertain to discernment and
ordination. “We are trying to help
people be more realistic about what
their call may look like,” said Ward,
the Discernment Committee chair. “A
priest will not necessarily have full-time
work in one church. … We are asking
the seekers questions about how they
would handle that kind of situation,”
she added. “We are trying to help
people grow in their awareness of
some of the realities of what it would
mean to be a priest in the present and
the future, given what’s happening in
the landscape of the Church.”

created a program [called the Second
So just what is happening in the
Three Years] that provides continuing
landscape of the Church? According to
education, support and mentoring
the Very Rev. Dr. Katherine Hancock
to students for the first several years
Ragsdale, president and dean of
after graduation” as one way to help
Episcopal Divinity School, the problem
students prepare for some potentially
can be attributed to both social
harsh academic realities. The Diocese
and economic sources. “As religion
also sponsors Fresh Start, a support and
becomes less central to U.S. culture,
resources group for clergy in transition.
fewer people choose to belong to
For Faeth and
churches,” she writes in
the Committee on
her essay, “Disrupting
An inquiring and
Leadership Formation,
the Institutional
discerning heart is
the truly exciting piece
Imagination: A Seminary not just for priests
for the Twenty-first
and deacons or those of the discernment
puzzle in Virginia is the
Century,” published in
in elected positions.
focus on inclusivity. “The
the anthology, What We
It’s for those who are
first gift we ask for the
Shall Become (see full
serving Christ.
newly baptized is an
review, p. 23). “Churches
inquiring and discerning
may find themselves
The Rev. Dr. Sam Faeth
heart,” said Faeth. “In
unable to support
every single baptism I do, it always feels
full-time professional leadership…in
fresh to ask God for those particular
response, seminaries have begun to
gifts. An inquiring and discerning heart
teach students to anticipate, perhaps
is not just for priest ́