Alumni/ae Happenings is published as part of the Crossings newsletter. Please submit news and photos to:

Alum Happenings
CDSP
2451 Ridge Road
Berkeley, CA 94709-1217
via our web form or
e-mail alumoffice@cdsp.edu
The deadline for the next issue of Crossings is June 1, 2003

In compiling Alumni/ae Happenings, we have taken care to ensure accuracy in spelling and dates; however, if there are errors, we apologize and ask that you let us know.

Spring 2003 Update

Ordinations

Gayle Harris ’81 was ordained and consecrated Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts on January 18, 2003 at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston.

Jon Anderson ’02 was ordained to the priesthood on December 14, 2002 at the Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, NM, for the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Richard Helmer ’02, Dennis Tierney ’02, Martha Kuhlmann ’02, and John Allen ’02 were ordained to the priesthood on December 7, 2002 at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, in the Diocese of California.

Susan Dean ’02 was ordained to the priesthood on January 25, 2003 at St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, in the Diocese of Olympia.

Betsy Hawley Monnot ’02 was ordained to the priesthood on January 25, 2003 at Grace Church, St. Helena, CA in the Diocese of El Camino Real.

First Calls

Jon Anderson ’02 is the curate at the Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, NM.

Sally Monastiere ’02 is assisting at St. Martha’s, West Covina, CA.

2000s

Shintaro David Ichihara ’02 is at the Church of Ueda St. Michael and All Angels [3-16-1 Chuo, Ueda-shi, Nagano 386-0012 Japan, tel. 0268-22-1361]. He reports that life in a rural Japanese city is very different from Berkeley. He and his wife, Shoko, both miss Berkeley and CDSP, and hope to return for commencement this year.

Martha Lewis ’00, who currently serves as Minister of Christian Education at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Waco, Texas, returned this past summer from the first international Music for Healing and Transition Program (MHTP) conference in Seattle, where she received the MHTP Award of Excellence for eight years of dedicated and exemplary service. The program certifies musicians to play for the ill and dying. Martha is co-founder of MHTP, served as its first national executive director, and continued serving on its board of directors through March 2002.

Mary Beth Rivetti ’00 is the new rector at St. James, Pullman, WA. She has been at St. Paul’s, Walnut Creek, CA since graduation.

Mary Frances Schjonberg ’00 has been named to the Convention Daily team covering General Convention in Minneapolis this summer. Mary Frances serves as the associate at Christ Church, Short Hills, NJ.

Carol Westpfhal ’00 is now assistant for adult education and spiritual formation at Trinity Church, Newtown, CT.

1990s

Henry G. Bayne ’90 celebrated the 35th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood February 17, 2003.

Mark Malisa ’99 is studying for a Ph.D. at the College of Education, University of Nevada-Reno. He expects to graduate in August and then return to Africa.

Sue Thompson ’99 is the Interim Education Coordinator for the Diocese of California. She has had a busy year. Since leaving her position as priest-in-charge at Christ Church, Alameda, she has served as Interim Associate for Children’s Education at St. Thomas, Sunnyvale, CA, taught Christian Education at the School for Deacons, and served as Coordinator of the Center for Faith Formation for the Diocese of California.

Valerie Duecker ’99 reports that she was recently approved for ordination by the Northern California Conference of the United Church of Christ, and has begun her ministry as the chaplain at Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. She spent the last year as a minister-in-training at the Congregational Church of San Mateo. The death of her husband, Phil, and her struggle with cancer have made for a difficult few years. The last year has brought happier news with her call to ministry in the UCC, and her daughter Nathalie’s wedding this December.

Wilton Bunch ’98 reports that he is Professor of Ethics at Beeson Divinity School, an interdenominational seminary, and has published 10 ethics articles and presented his research on moral reasoning at the Society for Christian Ethics. On weekends he assists at a small parish.

Cathy Richardson ’98 is the new rector at St. James, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, after serving as interim at St. Paul’s, Elk Rapids, MI.

Courtney Shucker, ’96 recently celebrated five years as vicar of two congregations in Carbon County, Utah, one of which is a new Episcopal-Lutheran congregation. His previous position, after graduating from CDSP, was as pastor of a joint Methodist-Episcopal congregation in Nevada.

Dominic Barrington ’95 will be Priest in Charge of Kettering Parish Church in Northamptonshire, England, beginning this spring. He reports that the church is “the principal town centre church, with the civic element of life that such a position entails, and the parish also contains a vast new estate of housing, so there will be many challenges.” He and his wife, Alison, are very excited about this move.

Peter Fritsch ’92 is rector at St. David’s Episcopal Church, Feeding Hills, in western Massachusetts. He describes it as a growing evangelical parish, “re-emphasizing the healing ministry of Jesus and opening up and developing more of the thirty small group fellowships in the church to the steady influx of newcomers.” Previously he was rector of St. Paul’s, Lubbock, Texas, after starting a church east of Sacramento right after graduation from CDSP. Peter is working to help develop a local Episcopal Clergy Association. He and his wife, Brenda are enjoying New England, while their children, who were in high school while in Berkeley, are scattered around the globe—one in Georgia, having served in Afghanistan in the last year, one in the Marine Corps in Japan, and one teaching English in Korea.

Marianne Borg ’91, Canon for Spiritual Development at Trinity Cathedral, Portland, OR, has been invited to be one of 15 clergy from around the country participating in a Lilly Endowment program, the “Pastors’ Working Group”, exploring the challenges of the present and future church.

1980s

Ward Bauman ’89 is the new Director of the Episcopal House of Prayer in Collegeville, Minnesota. He spent the last 11 years as Vicar of St. Edmund’s, Pacifica, CA, where he had developed a spiritual life center and retreat ministry.

Joan LaLiberte ’81 is now rector of St. John’s, Calicoon, NY. Accommodating her gray wolf, Singer, whom she rescued in Idaho, has been an unusual challenge for a parish in New York, but one they welcomed. (The Episcopal New Yorker, Sept/Oct 02)

Albert Krueger ’80 has an active ministry as Vicar of St. Andrew’s, Portland, OR. In the spring, they hosted a First Nations Reconciliation involving a number of North Portland churches. “The main event for a Reconciliation is the apology of the hosting Anglo church for injustices done to indigenous peoples in the name of religion.” In August, they opened the North Portland Annex of the William Temple House, offering counseling, emergency food and clothing, networking and referral. Albert and his wife, Katherine, spent 10 days in Israel in October as part of a Friends of Sabeel fact-finding tour.

Jean Smith ’80 has been appointed Executive Director of the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey. She is the first woman to hold this position. She previously served as Managing Director and COO, as well as Director of the Center for Seafarer’s Services. Among other responsibilities, she leads a ship-visiting ministry of chaplains and volunteers who visit 90% of the more than 4,000 ships that enter the Port of New York and New Jersey each year. She was the founding director of the Institute’s International Training for Workplace Ministry program, and facilitated the creation of the innovative Ministry on the River program, which provides pastoral services from Pittsburgh to New Orleans.

1970s

Brooke Myers ’79 is the new rector of Holy Communion, University City, Missouri. He moved to Missouri last year, leaving his position as rector of Holy Cross, Castro Valley, California.

Harry Ward ’79 is Rector of Church of the Good Shepherd, Grand Bahama.

John Goddard ’76 has left St. James, Pullman, WA and is beginning a term as interim at All Saints’, Boise, Idaho.

Charles Ramsden ’74 reports that after 26 years in parish ministry, he has gone to work for the Church Pension Group and is representing the Church Insurance Agency in the mid-Atlantic territory.

1950s

Paul Focht ’54 celebrated the 48th anniversary of his ordination on December 30, 2002.

1940s

Frank Peake ’49 celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination on Trinity Sunday, 2002, at Christ’s Church, Bells Corner, Ottawa, Ontario. Since 1987 he and his wife have lived in retirement in Ottawa, where two of his children and their families live. Since a slight stroke in 1996 Frank has not been able to serve in public ministry.

Alumni/ae Council Report

THE WINTER MEETING of the CDSP Alumni/ae Council was held Monday, February 10, 2003. Discussion highlights and action taken at that meeting included the following:

• Nominations for Alumni/ae Council: In its desire to elect new members to the Council in time for them to attend the May meeting, the Council moved forward with its nomination process. The Council needs to elect three new members from its membership at large to serve five-year terms. Ballots will be mailed out in early March. Please vote!
• On-line Directory: Progress was reported on the unveiling of the CDSP Alumni/ae On-line Directory. It was noted that this directory is quite an ambitious project. CDSP will be the only Episcopal seminary with a password-protected on-line directory providing full contact information for the use of alumni/ae.
• Adding recent graduates to the Council: Following up on the revisions made to the bylaws last October, the Council attended the Community Council meeting and gave a report on its plan to expand the Council by electing a member to the Council from the graduating class to serve a three-year term. This idea was met with enthusiasm by the students
• Class Agent Program: The Council discussed the “Class Agent” model as a possibility for increasing communication among alums and for expanding the numbers of alums involved in the work of supporting the seminary and alums worldwide. The Class Agent Program seeks to solicit a representative from each class to be charged with, among other things, encouraging communication among classmates and between alums and CDSP, generating interest in alum gatherings, reunions, listserv discussions and other vehicles of relationship-building. The Council will work with the Alumni/ae office to fine tune and develop the program over the course of the spring and summer.
• Deployment Dinner: The Council hosted its annual Deployment discussion with graduating students at a dinner held at 6 p.m. that evening. Students and Council members shared a fine meal and had a vibrant discussion about the intricacies and challenging work of discerning a call, interviewing skills, and negotiating letters of agreement.

The spring meeting of the Alumni/ae Council will take place in May, beginning with dinner on Monday, May 19th. The business session of the Council will take place in Gibbs Lounge on Tuesday, May 20th.

MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL:

• James Blundell '59
• Peter Chase '80
• Dorothy Curry '82
• Stacey Grossman '96
• Norman Hull '95
• Johnson Loud '97
• Caryl Marsh '77
• Robert Reynolds '66
• Victor Thomas '97

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