“After 30 years as chaplain of Hebrew Health Care in West Hartford, Rabbi Gary Lavit ‘83 S.T.M. celebrated his retirement in May–but not the end of his professional life. The Bloomfield resident plans to make aliyah in the fall, to engage both in yeshiva study and in the nascent spiritual care movement of chaplains.” Online in the Jewish Ledger (CT), July 16.
“We traditionally think of redistricting as an issue that impacts us only politically,” wrote Jamie Crumley ‘15 M.Div. in a blog post on Patheos. “Redistricting is the redrawing of districts based on the shared ideologies within the district without regard to the actual citizens that compose the district.” Online, August, 4.
“The to-do lists, the professional and personal pressures, even the big spiritual questions—all of it fades away into the background,” wrote Anna Doherty ’08 M.Div. in a post for YoungClergyWoman.org. “All we needed to do was put one foot in front of the other. All we needed to do was to be together.” Online, July 22.
Emmanuel Episcopal Church (Coos Bay, OR) announced that Christy Close Erskine ‘94 M.Div. has accepted the call to become Emmanuel’s sixteenth rector.
“Labor unions are a tried and true way to remind yourself, your co-workers, and your boss that you are a human being, worthy of respect,” wrote Amy Laura Hall ‘93 M.Div. ‘99 Ph.D. in the Herald Sun (NC). “You are not a tool.” Online, August 2.
Mark J. Hostetter ‘40 S.T.M. a United Methodist clergyman, died on Tuesday morning, July 15, 2014 ten days short of his 100th birthday. Online on pennlive.com, July 18.
Tim Kennedy ‘14 M.Div. joined the faculty of Washington Episcopal School (Bethesda, MD) as chaplain in July 2014. Online on Washington Episcopal School.
The Church Pension Group (CPG) announced that Anne Mallonee ‘86 M.Div. will join CPG as Executive Vice President and Chief Ecclesiastical Officer on September 29, 2014. Online on Episcopal Digital Network, August 5.
Richard Mammana ‘12 M.A.R., founder of Project Canterbury and a member of the Living Church Foundation’s board of directors, has been named associate for ecumenical and interreligious ministries of the Episcopal Church. Online on LivingChurch.com, July 22.
Will Mebane ‘06 M.Div. assumed interim leadership of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral (Buffalo, NY) in July. Online on Episcopal Digital Network, July 18.
“We can do better in Christian theology to think about suffering, not as something abstract, but as a phenomenon around us that needs to be addressed, and that’s what I do with returning veterans,” said Shelly Rambo ’99 S.T.M. in an interview with Faith and Leadership. “We have an obligation to re-integrate persons into a new community, and theology matters in doing that.” Online, July 29.
Saint John’s University recently named Anthony Ruff ‘94 S.T.M. OSB to its Board of Trustees. SJU trustees are eligible to serve three consecutive three-year terms. Online, July 17.
“I remember very well the night I watched the news with my father, and the newscaster said that the Episcopal Church had voted to ordain women as priests,” wrote Janine Schenone ‘12 M.Div. for All Saints Church (Pasadena, CA). “At the time, I was a young teenager in a Roman Catholic family, a girl who always wondered why I couldn’t be an altar server and why women couldn’t become priests.” Online, July 22.
“If any place has been predestined to generate gospel karaoke outreach, it’s Los Angeles, a region that’s home to 1.5 million Asian Americans, the nation’s first karaoke bar, and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a Pentecostal denomination founded in the 1920s,” wrote Betsy Shirley ’15 M.Div. for OnFaith. Online, August 4.
On August 8, Angelique Walker-Smith ‘83 M.Div. will be honored at a special Thanksgiving Celebration and benefiting The Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis for her 19 years of service and ministry there. Online on IndyRotary.com, July 17.
Senior Lecturer in Religion and Literature Christian Wiman and Win Bassett ’16 M.Div. both published poems in the recent issue of Image.