The Very Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas has written her first letter as dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary.
“The nation, the world and indeed the church, need leaders who embody the kind of priestly humility, prophetic vision, and principled witness that can address the complicated social and moral challenges of our day,” she wrote on Sept. 7 from the seminary’s new address of 3041 Broadway at Reinhold Niebuhr Place in New York City. “EDS at Union will be a place that nurtures this kind of leadership, and I commit to you that our seminary will be the institution that is really taking on the work of social justice and dismantling racism at the core of the Jesus Movement that our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry urges us to embrace.”
She added: “During this transition year, EDS’s trustees and I will work together to develop a new kind of Anglican Studies program that will prepare people not simply to work in or for a church, but to be the church. At EDS at Union, our goal will be to educate people, lay and ordained, to be both priestly and prophetic in ways that will be transformative both for them and the diverse ministries they serve and create. We will offer hands-on experiences beyond CPE, equipping students with the tools, skills and knowledge to carry forth competent, effective and transforming ministries in culturally pluralistic global contexts.”
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
