“The majority of violent crimes against women — including the sexual assault that will affect one in five U.S. college women — happen in private. Universities and justice authorities need to listen to women’s accounts of sexual violence and take them seriously,” wrote Allyson A. McKinney ’15 M.Div. in an op-ed for the Tallahassee Democrat, Sept 26.
“I believe street violence is not the answer,” Charles Graves IV ’15 M.Div. told the New Haven Register. “The more people see men like us and other community members, the more they will be able to see that there are other options out there.” Online Aug. 30.
Norman Wirzba ‘88 M.A.R. has been added to the Palliser region School’s wall of fame for his contributions to issues of faith, ecology, agrarian, and environmental studies. Online in The Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada) Herald, Aug. 29.
“I grew up in South Texas, I am a daughter of migrant workers, and I was educated in a Japanese internment camp. My formative years included visiting Jewish Holocaust survivors at my mother’s place of employment,” said Thelma Herrera Flores ‘98 M.A.R., a recent recipient of the American Theological Library Association’s diversity award. Online, ATLA.com.
“The more I learned about Honeywell’s consumer products, the more I noticed them around me in my daily life,” said Chelsea Faria ’16 M.Div., a campaign director for Badhoneywell. Online on truth-out.org, Aug. 31.
“No matter what you did or where you went this past summer, it was almost impossible to escape the heaviness of the headlines,” wrote Barbara Lundblad ‘79 M.Div. “Thousands of children traveled alone from Central American countries to enter the U.S. as refugees.” Online on Day1.org, Sept. 1.
Ally Brundage ’02 BA, ’11 M.Div. ’14 S.T.M. was ordained on September 14 in Wallingford, CT by The Right Reverend Mark Beckwith ‘78 M.Div., Bishop of Newark, NJ. Ian Oliver, Rowena Kemp ‘13 M.Div., and Alex Souto ‘12 M.Div. participated in the service and many other YDS folks attended.
Jim Waits ’61 B.D. has recently been appointed Co-Chair of a Commission on the Future of Africa University. He also continues as Chair of the Advisory Board of The Georgia Prison Ministries, Inc. supporting ministries of the chaplaincies in Georgia’s prisons.
Kelly J. Stone ‘06 M.Div. has been hired as Chaplain and Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at Macalester College. Online Macalester.edu, Sept. 12
Preacher and retired United Methodist Bishop William H. Willimon ’71 M.Div. is the guest leader for Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church’s fifth annual convocation Sept. 14-15. Online on Herald Dispatch (Huntington, WV), Sept. 13.
“I think there are challenges and I think that we face them and I think that the fact that women are being counted among those who are capable of facing those challenges at the highest level is a very positive sign,” said Ginger Gaines-Cirelli ‘96 M.Div. Online, Religion News Service, Sept. 29.
Joan B. Horwitt ’77 M.Div. passed away on Sept. 19. Joan was in the front lines of the struggle to get the Episcopal Church to accept women into the priesthood and in 1979 she became the first woman to be ordained by a Connecticut Bishop. Online, Hartford Courant.
Carla Dietz ’08 M.Div. was recently installed as the new pastor of Greendale People’s Church in Worcester, MA.
Alan Sorem ’66 M.Div. is the author of Lucy Scott’s Grand Stand: Age is an Attitude, Not a Condition (Wipf & Stock, 2014). He has previously authored Time: Jesus in Relationships: A Novel (Wipf & Stock, 2013).