Welcome Class of 2015!

Last weekend the University of Virginia Class of 2015 descended upon Charlottesville for move-in weekend.  These first years, their parents, and likely siblings, close friends, and extended family scrambled to unload everything into a dormitory in under 30-minutes or less.  Unfortunately, this reporter wasn't able to snap any action shots; but as somebody who's been through it three times, I can assure you it IS, in-fact, like a game show.  Perhaps more akin to Legends of the Hidden Temple.  That's right, I went there!

On that Sunday the Class of 2015 assembled on the lawn, facing Mr. Jefferson's Rotunda, for Fall Convocation.  This is a joyous event where these new students are officially welcomed to the University by the President, the Deans, elect faculty, and their peers.  During it, they also sign the University's Honor Pledge, both as a literal contract and as a symbolic act of agreeing to build a community of trust in everything they do.  You may watch remarks from the University of Virginia's President Teresa A. Sullivan by clicking the arrow below.



To all members of the Class of 2015, Congratulations and Welcome.  Now come visit us at Canterbury!

Spring Break, Charlottesville Edition

Most everyone at the University seems to be at Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  But for us, the ones who stayed behind to work on projects due throughout the term, we've gotten a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of everyday life here on Grounds.  This photo was taken looking towards Jefferson's Rotunda, standing in front of Alderman Library.  Enjoy and happy Mardi Gras everyone!

Visit with Bishop Ted

Sunday, we had the privilege to visit with one of the Diocese of Virginia's Bishops, Bishop Ted.  I'd never met him before and really didn't know what to expect.  Bishops can be such interesting characters that none are ever the same

During his time here he performed Baptisms, Confirmations, and Receptions into the church; but he also was very interested in meeting the members of U.Va.'s Canterbury Connection, showing his (and the diocese's) interest in supporting youth/campus ministry at several colleges and universities around the state.

There was a lovely catered lunch, courtesy of St. Paul's and great conversation on not just our concerns for campus ministry, but also the bishop's experiences in other parts of the country where he previously worked to help other youth/campus ministry programs flourish.  Especially in this day, it was very refreshing to know that the church's administration was not only aware of, but committed to the importance of ministering to their youth since, with the predominant trend among people our age being disillusionment towards organized religion (and yes, I often count myself amongst those people), we're in danger of losing very talented individuals from the body of the church.  He really emphasized the responsibility we have, as people of faith, to encourage others (either those who grew up in the church or are thinking of coming to it for the first time),  to think about their faith, to think about those tough questions, and to not just "sweep them underneath the rug" -- so to speak.  We have a duty to let people know that it's OKAY to not have all the answers and that it's good, in fact (my own opinion), healthy to question a belief system: rather than taking it for granted. 


I snapped a few pictures for you all on my internet phone to share with the community. 


Here are some photos of the lovely spread and interested group that assembled at the Canterbury House this Sunday. 

A C'ville Winter

Photos from C'ville in the Winter.  Looking towards University Avenue and the Corner, Medical Center in the Background. 

Diocesan Funding for Campus Ministry-Diocese of Virginia

After reading Rector Jim's blog post this morning concerning the bolstering of diocesan support for campus ministry, I thought I would join in the conversation.  Many of you may know that I am a student here at the University of Virginia, but you may not know that I'm going into my fourth year.  Something more - the Canterbury Episcopal Fellowship at U.Va., supported by St. Paul's Memorial Church, has been an integral part, not only of my university experience, but also of my education.

Four years ago, I came to Charlottesville, never having seen the campus or the city to begin my undergraduate career.  A student advisor in my first year residence house encouraged me to visit the Student Activities Fair and find something to get involved with that would suit my interests.  People always told me that college was the time for re-inventing yourself; for figuring things out; for being who, what, or whatever you wanted to be, without the stigmas surrounding your identity in high-school: so I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to continue my identity as "Sean: the kid who's heavily involved with church stuff."  Like most adolescents my age, I was experiencing the world in an entirely new way.  And that meant thinking for  myself, which, to use the words of comedian Lewis Black - "I would love to have faith that the world was created in seven days, but I have thoughts; and thoughts can really f%#! up the whole faith thing.  Just ask any Catholic priest."

So, upon arriving in Charlottesville and spending a week in the sweltering August heat at camp for the Cavalier Marching Band, I had thoughts and they (you guessed it) did mess up the whole faith thing.  And, since only one other person from my small, rural high school attended the University, I was blessed with complete freedom to re-invent myself, to be anything I wanted to be.  I even briefly considered being a golden-lion tamarin, just because I could.  Then, at the activities fair, I stumbled across the Canterbury table where the Episcopal Shield welcomed me.  I thought, sure, why not give it a chance.  After all, they did give me water and home-baked goods, not the big box-store treats that have been so over processed, they endanger the individual identity.  That following Wednesday, I walked across the Grounds towards the only landmark familiar to me.  The Corner.  And there it was, Chancellor Street.  Home to sororities, St. Paul's, and the Canterbury House.

At our first meeting, we celebrated an ancient Eucharist out-doors, in the backyard of Canterbury House.  For some reason, I thought that was very unique and interesting and so unlike anything I had experienced back home in the Diocese of Southern Virginia.  Something kept me coming back.  I'm not quite sure if it was the people or the fact that there was a group of religious people who didn't ask me to check my brain at the door; and, furthermore, a group who didn't mind the fact that I had questions, doubts, and concerns about my faith.  That was it!  They encouraged me to think!  For someone who grew up in one of the most conservative dioceses in America and who came from such a small town that I was forced to attend youth events with the fundamentalist churches, to be able to freely think about and question my beliefs was a novel concept.

During the latter years of middle-school and all throughout high school, my rector encouraged me to attend diocesan youth events and worked very hard to fund these trips (sometimes out of his own pocket).  At the time, there was one event that almost every youth in our diocese attended.  Happening, a Christian Experience.  It was a weekend long retreat held at the diocesan conference center, Camp Chanco on the James.  The event changed my life, opening my eyes to the idea of God as Love: which, to me, seemed more comforting than a paternal figure-head existing somewhere in another dimension that people only reached after death.  Rather than viewing my religion as an exercise to ensure my admittance into heaven, this event allowed me to see God as a feeling, an emotion that exists in our daily lives.  Not as an end-goal.

Shortly after graduation, I learned that the diocese, which had for years underfunded their youth programs, had decided to put this event on hiatus until they could get their finances back in order.  That was 2007.  It's now 2011 and youth events such as Happening (and it's middle school equivalent, New Beginnings) are still inactive.  A very good friend of mine and former EYC (Episcopal Youth Community) President for DioSoVa, who worked tirelessly to ensure that exactly what happened wouldn't happen, moved to New York to study screen-play writing at the Pratt Institute will have nothing to do with any of these programs, mostly because of the Diocese's disregard for the importance of the youth.  I can very vividly remember her standing up at Annual Council my senior year of high school and very pointedly telling the clergy and bureaucrats that they were, essentially, signing their own death certificates if they did not take more seriously the importance of youth ministry.  Where, 4 years ago, alumni of the Happening retreat would return bi-annually to the closing ceremonies of each retreat to welcome a new class of Happeners into Love, almost none of us return now, because the event has ceased to be.

I would ask the Annual Council to seriously consider expanding their funding for campus ministries, and youth ministries, at large.  We have something to offer the community.  Arguing that we're young and naive, thus rendering our opinions banal only serves to further alienate an entire generation from the Church.