"As our world continues to fracture, connecting with the Holy Spirit's active work in ministry being done from Trinity Church in Gladstone, MI to Trinity Church on Wall Street grows in significance. GTS is committed to empowering our students to become lay and ordained leaders for the church and all its diverse personalities, histories, and needs of each community."

The historic city of San Antonio played host to the first in-person conference of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and American Academy of Religion (AAR) since the pandemic struck. Long before being founded as a Spanish mission and colonial outpost in 1718, Payaya natives called the land “Yanaguana,” refreshing waters. Indeed, after twenty months of Covid-19 chaos, being enveloped by the elite Biblical scholarship and warmth of the theological academy felt like refreshing waters.

Attending the General retreat made it possible for me to finish the semester with a greater sense of peace and clarity. Being in seminary is a lot to carry in the best of circumstances. Add to that a global pandemic, an institution undergoing significant change, and a church in need of transformation, and seminary becomes even more of a lift. I needed a retreat more than I knew.

“As a Latino coming as an ordained clergy member from a different Christian denomination, I worried that this fact could be an obstacle to being welcomed in the Episcopal Church. I often wonder, What do I have to offer to the Church? What gift can I bring to this Christian community? The Episcopal Church has many ordained women and men who are priests. Did they need another priest? These other priests were already active and engaging with their communities. What new thing could I bring to them? My only possible answer: I can bring my faith, and my experience as a Christian believer. I remembered that I was seated in front of Bishop Stokes, not as a priest, but as a disciple, as a follower of Jesus.”

“For all our diversity, we who arrive at General are confronted with one ordeal: we all must run the gauntlet of our first Solemn Mass in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd.”