Clergy College looks at the church and the world
By Ana Watts
The 2008 Clergy College offers a wide view of the church and the world through preaching, healing, and exploring religion, culture and spirituality. Like its predecessors, this eighth annual diocesan clergy college is unashamedly academic in tone and presented by highly regarded teachers, writers and thinkers.
Bishop Bill Hockin, retired from his episcopal duties in this diocese but with a popular and on-going preaching ministry, gets this year’s college off to a positive start. All day Monday, June 9 and half of Tuesday, June 10, he will share his gift for preaching that also informs his writing. He is author of three books: God for a Monday Morning (1987), Twelve Stories You and Your Children Need to Know (1994), and The Habit of Hope (2001). His weekly Advent and Lenten talk in Fredericton are popular with Christians of several denominations. Diocesan clergy are well acquainted with his engaging style and presence and anxious to share his insight.
The Rev. Donald E. Baustian is a retired priest in the Diocese of Arkansas, a former North American Warden of the International Order of St. Luke the Physician, and he and his wife now make their home in the Arkansas pine forests. “The ministry of healing is not an option for Christians,” according to Mr. Baustian. It is part –– an essential part –– of our call and commission. If our life and ministry are to be true to the life and ministry of Jesus, then we must be about the business of ministering healing and wholeness in his name.” His presentations begin Tuesday evening, June 10 and continue until 4 o’clock on June 11.
Dr. Michael Higgins, who will discuss religion, culture and spirituality in
a presentation called Pilgrims of Peace and Wisdom: Henri Nouwen, Donald Nicholl and Thomas Merton all day Thursday, June 12 and Friday, June 13 until noon, holds an impressive list of titles and accomplishments. He is president and vice-chancellor of St. Thomas University, a full professor of English and religious studies, past president of St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, and the author and co-author of several books including Thomas Merton: Pilgrim in Process; Women and the Church: a Sourcebook; Portraits of Canadian Catholicism; My Father’s Business: The Biography of Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter: The Jesuit Mystique; Heretic Blood: the Spiritual Geography of Thomas Merton; The Muted Voice: Religion and the media; and Stalking the Holy: In Pursuit of Saint-Making.
Dr. Higgins has also published many articles and reviews in scholarly publications, enjoyed a long career as a documentarist and writer for CBC Radio One’s Ideas, as a script writer for programs like Testament and Celebration, was a regular contributor to the Globe And Mail as well as the Literary Review of Canada, and is a former columnist for the Toronto Star.
The Eighth Annual Clergy College takes place at the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Complex off Regent Street in Fredericton.
Ana Watts is communications officer for the Diocese of Fredericton.
Diocesan Communications
22 April 2008
