Profiles
Students at the Yale Berkeley Divinity School come from every part of the church, and as graduates they serve in many varied capacities throughout its ministry. They become parish priests, seminary professors, school chaplains and teachers, missionaries, bishops, cathedral canons, social workers, and more.
Students and graduates alike have much to say about their vocational intentions and experience at the School: below are some comments and brief profiles from current students and graduates.
Current Student Profiles
Rachel Lyle '08: Lay Ecumenist
I am a young student, so my path the Berkeley Divinity School was not as long and winding as some others. After graduating from college, I spent a year studying at Trinity College, Dublin. Not quite ready to settle back into life in the US, I spent a second year abroad in Gorow, Poland teaching English. After all of that, I knew that I wanted to come to a place where I could deepen my fundamental grasp of the Christian religion, while also continuing my ecumenical emphasis.
A central tenet of ecumenism is that one must be steeped in his or her own particular tradition in order to engage with a religious "other" in dialogue. Because of this, it was very important for me to be in a place where Anglicanism is lived, prayed and learned, and I have certainly found that with Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. Two types of experiences have been particularly meaningful for me. First of all, I have had exposure to remarkable Anglicans—visionaries who have emerged among their peers as exceptional spokespeople and mediators within our tradition, such as Archbishop of Ireland Robin Eames, and the Episcopal Church's Director of Women's Ministires Margaret Rose. Secondly, I continue to be shaped through liturgical experiences (the Wednesday evening Eucharist and fellowship is a highlight of my week!); the Anglican Studies colloquium in which we learn from each other as fellow students and future ministers of the church; the Annand spirituality groups in which we attempt to live a more prayerful life together; and the Lutheran-Episcopal ecumenical relationship lived out through our respective populations at YDS.
Through these encounters, I have discerned that I'm called to a ministry of peer leadership either in ecumenical organizations, the Episcopal Church, or academia. Thanks to the Office of Supervised Ministries, I will intern next year at the Office of Women's Ministries at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City.
Rachel is a research assistant at the Institute for the Future, Menlo Park, California.
Michael Cover '08: Scholar and Teacher
I came to Berkeley Divinity School because it offers not only the best of two worlds, but direct access to three. Berkeley is a denominational seminary, in an ecumenical Christian divinity school, at a secular research university. The desire to seek Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church has been one which I have been aware of since at least high school. Perhaps as strong and enduring has been the call to engage in critical linguistic study of the Bible, and to trace the theological and philosophical presuppositions which have shaped the history of its interpretation. Despite the current crisis in the Episcopal Church, I began seminary as an act of faith that God will not abandon his Church.
The experience thus far has exceeded my expectations. Berkeley at Yale has provided me a place to study and pray, in a truly ecumenical community. Eucharist is celebrated nearly every morning at St. Luke's Chapel on Bishop Samuel Seabury's old writing desk, a living relic of our Episcopal identity. The household names at YDS of Jaroslav Pelikan and Henri Nouwen (to name just two) attest to the joint pilgrimage of Protestants and Roman Catholics through this place, which continues to this day. As a full member of Yale University, I have also been able to pursue my interests in Classical languages in the department downtown.
My sense of vocation at this point is to combine ordained ministry and academic teaching, at the college or secondary school level. You would be hard pressed to find an Episcopal seminary in America which would provide better preparation for such a dual vocation as Berkeley Divinity School.
Michael is a graduate student in New Testament at Notre Dame University.
David Dill '08: Building an Image of God
In the summer of 2005 I left a career as a documentary television editor, and my wife Mary Alex, our two year old daughter Ella, and our big yellow dog Eli packed up and moved to New Haven. Long before I came to Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, exposure to a variety of Christian traditions had been a major theme of my life. I was raised in the United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, attended a Catholic high school, sang in an Episcopal choir in college, and married a woman who was raised in the Greek Orthodox Church. All of those traditions are a part of who I am as a Christian. I believe the work of the church is largely about celebrating the rich differences that make us the body of Christ. Our distinctions are signs to us of God's amazing vitality and variety. Those signs are on display in this community.
Rich relationships are being built among those within my own denomination, but I am also developing deep bonds with people from other traditions—the folks who will be in those other churches in my neighborhood, ministering to the same community of need, rowing the same boat. The work of Jesus Christ gets done in many ways. "Aren't we glad we are all alike?" is not a question you're likely to hear at YDS. Diversity of opinion, tradition, background and belief is the rule. Assumptions are hard to come by, which makes this school a great training ground for ministry in a complicated world.
Questions you will hear go something like this: "How can we worship together? What do we do with our differences? Who got left out? What is the future of our churches?" Ecumenical engagement isn't just an idea at YDS; it is an everyday reality. Exposure to many ways of worshipping the same God is a central part of life in this community. Together, we are building a composite image of the God who continually confounds and amazes us and calls us out to that other shore, beyond ourselves.
David is on staff at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston.
Graduate Profiles
Kate Bryant '06: Grounded in the Practice of Ministry
I first felt called to ordained ministry when I was thirteen. I remember looking up at my home parish rector while he was preaching and thinking, "I'm supposed to be doing that." But I didn't know how to respond. After college and graduate school, I embarked upon a twenty-year career in banking, advertising, and corporate communications. Finally, I just had to cooperate with God. I couldn't resist any longer, so I entered the discernment process at the parish level.
It was my Canon for Ministry in the Diocese of New York who encouraged me to apply to Berkeley/Yale. After I was accepted, I came to the school for a daylong visit. I worshipped in both Berkeley's St. Luke's Chapel and Yale's Marquand Chapel, went to classes, talked with students and faculty. That did it for me. I knew BDS was the place for my theological education and formation as a priest-to-be.
Study, worship, community life, spiritual direction, field work—all of these have contributed to a great sense of what I feel God is calling me to do. The academics here are first-rate; I really enjoyed being able to study with and ask questions of some of the leading thinkers of the day in biblical studies and theology. Corporate worship was also really important for me. The daily service of Morning Prayer and Eucharist fed me a great deal. It grounded me. I couldn't imagine beginning a day without it. Services in Marquand Chapel provided another opportunity for daily worship, where I experienced real cutting-edge worship, with liturgical approaches I could never have imagined.
Through BDS I took advantage of two summer opportunities. First, I particated in a three-week program of Anglican Studies for seminarians from all around the Anglican Communion at Canterbury Cathedral. It was a transformative experience for me. The Anglican Communion is not some vague, abstract concept but a living and breathing organism that is in a constant state of growth and evolution. Second, I participated in a week-long Preaching Excellence Program for Episcopal seminarians, where the week was dedicated to crafting, listening to, and critiquing sermons—as well as getting to know other seminarians.
As I prepare to enter the world of parish ministry, I know that I don't have all the answers to all the questions. But I do feel that Berkeley/Yale gave me an excellent set of the basic tools I need to begin to figure them out, on my own.
Kate is the Assistant to the Rector for Adult Ministries at St. James' Church, Leesburg, Virginia.
Eric Jeuland '06: Seeker and Confirmand
I just finished my degree at Berkeley/Yale, and I'm so thankful for both places. Before seminary, I had varied church experiences, first a liberal not-so-kid-friendly American Baptist church, the a few Vineyard churches and campus fellowships, and then finally an experimental phase bouncing between Episcopal, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran churches. I came to seminary feeling a strong call to full-time ministry but knowing I still needed a denomination. I knew Yale would offer me a cornucopia of options in this regard.
After a year of looking around at all the options, I got plugged into the Berkeley community my second year. The Episcopal Church was the best fit for me theologically and liturgically. The Berkeley community added focus to a wonderful but sometimes overwhelmingly diverse YDS. By that I mean the focus of a smaller, worshipping community life as well as a helpful theological framework on which to build my developing sense of ministry and life.
I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church at the wonderful monastery guesthouse of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts in February, 2005. And now here I sit writing this profile from Canterbury, England, with the great cathedral glowing in the night sky just out the window. I came here on pilgrimage with the senior class, and have gained even more perspective on the Anglican tradition by being where much of it started.
Eric is youth minister at St. Paul's Church, Riverside, Connecticut.
Will Mebane '06: A Life Transformed
My journey to Berkeley Divinity School started, unbeknownst to me of course, around the age of nine when I was first told, "you know, young man, you're gonna be a preacher one day." Forty years later, the decision to attend BDS was made after consulting and interviewing with other seminaries. It became clear to me that I wanted the challenge of being in classrooms and discussions with faculty and students from traditions different from my own.
Before arriving on campus as a student, I was told to expect to be transformed over the next three years. As a fifty-year-old, I assumed I had it all figured out. A successful career in executive and management positions with some fairly high-profile national media, non-profit, and marketing organizations had prepared me, I assumed, to resist change.
It's impossible, I now believe, to engage in the Berkeley/Yale community without being transformed. Daily worship, internships, Clinical Pastoral Education, class assignments, "coffee hour" discussions, and hallway debates have all contributed to a reexamination of the assumptions I had prior to attending Berkeley. Seminary really became a time of intense and active discernment for me.
Will is a chaplain at Griffin Hospital, Derby, Connecticut.
Kirk Stevan Smith '80: Urban pastor
I was born in 1951 in Soap Lake, a tiny town in eastern Washington where my father served as a Presbyterian pastor. I attended Lewis and Clark College, where my experience of the mystical, sensual, and artistic tradition of the Episcopal Church led to my gradual conversion. My deepening faith took me on to Cornell University to earn a PhD in church history, and then to Oxford, England for a year of independent research. Though deeply interested in church history, I increasingly felt God moving me from my academic pursuits toward the front lines of parish ministry. The support of the Episcopalians in my home parish in Arizona sent me to seminary at Berkeley Divinity School.
I had prayed for a parish that confronted the life-and-death challenges of contemporary life, and those prayers were more than answered when, in 1991, I was called to St. James', Los Angeles. From the peaceful rural town of West Hartford, I went to urban streets and homelessness, to earthquakes and civil unrest.
My interests beyond the church walls are many and varied: ecumenism, interfaith dialogue, church history, and the relationship of science and technology to religion. Recently I've discovered a new passion—the reconcilation and gathering together of those in our church who hold strongly differing viewpoints, especially now as concerns human sexuality. All these reflect the central theme of my ministry, which is a passion for relating the beauty of our ancient Anglican tradition to our fast-paced, culturally diverse, technological, and spiritually hungry society.
Kirk is Bishop of the Diocese of Arizona.
Rosalind Brown '97: A Passion for the Arts
I am a canon at Durham Cathedral, with responsibility for the "nave ministries" including visitors, education, pastoral care, the arts, and relationships with the city and university. My book (written with Christopher Cocksworth), On Being a Priest Today, is in its second edition, and I have also written Being a Deacon Today.
My time at Berkeley and Yale gave me a strong academic grounding that has proved invaluable since ordination. The three years were catalysts for further exploration, giving me an academic base from which to begin following up ideas. It is hard to say which courses have been most influential, but the opportunity to fit in one extra course each semester for sheer enjoyment gave me the luxury of exploring the arts and religion which is a bonus that many of my colleagues have not had.
I valued the combination of ecumenical worship and life at Yale Divinity School, which exposed me to many different Christian traditions and has been helpful when teaching and working in ecumenical contexts. The Anglican base at Berkeley, with the pattern of daily worship and weekly community Eucharist, was a vital balance to the intensity of academic study. Regular worship at Berkeley helped to keep study and formation in balance, encouraging me to love God with both my mind and my heart. Finally, the friendships and the contacts have continued to be significant, with many of us staying in regular contact.
Rosalind is the first female Residentiary Canon at Durham Cathedral in its 900 year history.
Mark Hummell '02: Serving God by serving those in need
In August, 1999 my partner and I loaded our rented truck and made our way from Arizona east towards New Haven, Connecticut. Looking back at the cross-country trip, I would never have imagined that I would one day minister through Episcopal Charities in New York City. Berkeley was instrumental in my formation and shaping my call to serve God through those in need.
The trip to New Haven was frightening: I was not in any formal diocesan formation process, and my partner left a very secure job as controller of an Indian tribe. We were taking a pretty major leap of faith. But the staff at Berkeley met me in the midst of my spiritual journey. Just living from day to day in a community like Berkeley, with a few who questioned my ministry in a healthy way, several who were supportive, and some who were also trying to balance their faith and sexuality, helped me to mature spiritually and realize that I, too, could live out God's call as a priest. Added to this was the formation that comes from participation in daily worship services, and the sense of community built through the Wednesday evening Eucharist and dinner.
When I visit the ninety outreach programs and parishes that Episcopal Charities supports, I see God's hand at work in those who help others in need. I also feel the presence of God in those who worship at the Cathedral, whether on a routine Sunday, or the thousands who come to Christmas, Easter, or with their pets on St. Francis Day. I am grateful that Berkeley helped me to become the priest I am today, and to live out God's call.
Mark is Associate Director of Episcopal Charities in the Diocese of New York, and an Assistant Priest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Christopher Martin '96: GenX Parish Priest
I am the rector of a church located twenty mintues north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The church is located in the center of the largest town in the most secular county in the United States. People here in Marin County think they invented the phrase, "I'm spiritual but not religious!"
My Berkeley education shapes how I go about the work of proclaiming the gospel to a popultation more sympathetic to pop-Buddhism than Christianity. I find it takes every bit of my theological formation to stay true to orthodox belief while staying relevant to people immersed in a culture increasingly hostile or indifferent to Christianity. Berkelely continues to support me in my ministry through my ongoing friendships, and most recently, when I returned to Yale to take a course in "English Spirituality" taught by Prof. Christopher Beeley.
After graduation, I served at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, While there I pulled together a small team of recent graduates to organize a conference for GenX priests. The conference, "Gathering the NeXt Generation," attracted half of all the priests in our cohort, and was the decisive event in shifting church support back to young vocations in the priesthood.
Christopher is the Rector of St. Paul's Church in San Rafael, California.
Matthew Heyd '95: Leading social transformation
I arrived in New Haven with the ink on my college diploma barely dry. I came to Berkeley and Yale because I wanted to plumb the connection between faith and action.
Berkeley provided exactly the right combination of spiritual depth, academic rigor, and neighborhood engagement. Understanding the connection between a church and its community had an immediate and lasting use. Right after graduation I helped launch Episcopal Charities in the Diocese of New York, which supports congregations' summer camps and soup kitchens. For the last three years, I've worked at Trinity Church, Wall Street, funding and learning from partners who engage the Episcopal Church in social transformation—not just offering hospitality to those in need, but challenging the systems that allow human need to persist.
And I'm still exploring how faith and work entwine. A retired Yale professor called liturgy and service "primary theology": my time at Berkeley and Yale provided a lasting compass for this journey. It feels like sacramental work.
Matthew is the Associate Director of the Trinity Grants Program in the Parish of Trinity Church, New York City.
Amy Denney Zuniga '05: Missionary Priest in El Salvador
I grew up in the Central Valley of California, the oldest of three daughters of a farming family. Attending the University of California, Davis, and traveling in Latin America (El Salvador, Mexico and Ecuador) expanded my world and deepened my sense of vocation to priesthood I began to feel as a teenager with a desire to accompany the people of Latin America.
I chose to east to seminary because I knew the experience of the church there to be different, and I chose Berkeley/Yale because of its strong academics and ecumenical context. I was not disappointed! My experience was on interlocking circles of community: BDS morning prayer, Marquand Chapel worship, peers and professors in classes, spiritual direction, parish internship, intentional community living, students organizations, local clergy and parishes, and opportunities to be involved with the wider community of Yale University all played a part in giving me a strong, integral foundation for ordained ministry.
Berkeley's increasing emphasis on mission also helped me and my husband as we prepared for service in the Anglican Episcopal Church in El Salvador (supported by a Fullbright Scholarship). I am now service a parish and elementary school in the capital area, and my husband is teaching guitar and working on an agricultural development and reforestation project.
Amy was Priest-in-Charge of San Andrés Apóstol, San Salvador.
Betsy Anderson '97: Spiritual Guide and Teacher
I have been on the staff of my parish now for nine years. In addition to coordinating the pastoral ministries at my parish, I have been responsible for developing and overseeing the Emmaus Small Group ministry, a network of small groups devoted to Christian spiritual formation through prayer, Bible study, outreach, and caring fellowship.
At Berkeley I was involved in the Annand Program for Spiritual Formation, and I have used its resources greatly in parish ministry. I so appreciate the emphasis both on rigorous academic study, and on spiritual formation. I use historical theology every single day of my ministry, for as my parishioners seek pastoral care, they are really exploring their relationship with God, and the questions they have about ultimate reality. Having studied both the history of theology and the history and practice of Christian spirituality, I feel much better equipped to journey with them wherever they are.
Betsy is the Associate for Pastoral Ministries, St. Matthew's Church, Pacific Palisades, California.
Carol Pinkham Oak '85: Innovator in Leadership Formation
Just this year I have been called to serve a 2000-member parish located in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, including a day school, a 15-acre campus, lively ministries for youth, outreach, pastoral care, and Christian formation, as well as both traditional and contemporary worship services.
Most recently, I served as the Associate Rector at Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, where I was program coordinator for a unique pilot project designed to support newly ordained clergy in the first two years of ministry. This ecumenical program, funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc., places new priests in congregations so that they may be mentored by experienced priests as well as by members of the parish. The program has become a model for other programs across the country.
As a teacher of preachers, I developed a preaching mentoring process that builds the quality of preaching through feedback from clergy staff and congregation members.
Carol is Rector of St. John's Church, Ellicott City, Maryland.