Two university chaplaincies in the diocese were recently awarded program grants by the Episcopal Church. The Lutheran Episcopal Ministry at MIT, led by the Rev. Thea Keith-Lucas, and the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Boston University, led by the Rev. Cameron Partridge, both received grants.
The Lutheran Episcopal ministry at MIT applied for the program grant in order to add a professional musician to its ministry. Keith-Lucas said that several musician students have graduated recently, prompting a need for rebuilding the chaplaincy’s music ministry. She said that music is crucial to making services a welcoming and peaceful space for students.
“We want our services to be a place where students can just land, just rest in the music,” Keith-Lucas said.
The Lutheran Episcopal Ministry hired Rachel Carpentier to lead its music. Carpentier holds a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Boston University. The program grant of $4,000 will help pay her salary. Carpentier started work in September, and has taken quickly to the job.
“She immediately understood how to work with the small group, and the intimacy of our chapel,” Keith-Lucas said.
The Boston University Episcopal Chaplaincy received a $1,500 grant to develop Web-based resources for campus ministries to use in supporting LGBT young adults. The grant was written in cooperation with Integrity USA, an Episcopal organization that works to equip clergy and lay people of the Episcopal Church to proclaim and embody God’s love for LGBT people. They are planning a conference to develop these materials for some time in spring 2013.
The idea for the conference was born at the annual college chaplains gathering in Chicago.
“We found a really strong response from the student contingent and from fellow campus ministers, that one of the major things that come up in campus ministry are issues of identity and sexuality, and gender identity in particular,” said Partridge. “Campus minsters find themselves working with LGBT students who are dealing with coming out, or trying to figure out ways to be supportive.”
Partridge said that Episcopal campus ministries face a range of challenges when it comes to the LGBT community. “On campuses where the overall climate is not supportive of LGBT people, Episcopal campus ministry can be one of the few places of support,” Partridge said.
Conversely, on campuses with a supportive climate for LGBT people, Episcopal ministries sometimes need to overcome the misconception that all religious communities are not supportive of the LGBT community, he said.
Partridge partnered with Integrity USA to write the grant because the group has been increasingly active on issues associated with coming out in young adulthood. “Churches are realizing that it’s so important to make resources available to people when they are coming out as young adults, and even earlier,” he said. “Campus ministry is one of those places that can help equip people and help them know that they are beloved of God and supported by God, and by their faith and people of faith.”
The Episcopal Church awarded a total of $99,750 to recipients of the Campus Ministry Grants for the 2013-2014 grant cycle. These funds were distributed in the form of one leadership grant and 24 program grants in 20 dioceses. The leadership grant will help establish, restore or re-energize a campus ministry, and is for a two-year period. The program grants provide seed money to assist in the start-up of new, innovative campus ministries or to enhance a current initiative.
A total of 65 applications were received, reflecting $1.3 million in requests. “This is clearly an indication of the exciting growing interest in campus ministry in new, creative, innovative models,” said Sam McDonald, Episcopal Church deputy chief operating officer and director of mission, in a Nov. 11 media release.
--Ellen Stuart