FTE Director of Alumni Relations and Development
February 20, 2012
Earlier this month, Frank Yamada was inaugurated as tenth president of McCormick Theological Seminary,
and the first Asian American president of a Presbyterian Church (USA)
seminary. I was able to attend, along with other FTE staff, at the tail
end of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference.
First, a moment of full disclosure: I am an alumna of McCormick. I
was part of Frank’s ordination commission. We have worked together when I
was in Chicago. Now I know Dr. Yamada as one of many important partners
in the work FTE does with leaders in theological education.
This inauguration? It was cool..
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Assistant Professor of Historical Studies
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology
(FTE '03, '06)
February 13, 2012
At this point in my career, I have come to recognize the seasonal nature of my vocation. Raking a few leaves and drinking hot chocolate has also helped bring this thought to a blog. My professional calendar as a doctoral student had roughly “four seasons:” Coursework (including languages), qualifying exams, the dissertation, and the job search. The seasons of the academic’s life, moreover, continue in the tenured and non-tenured position. They just have different names: teaching, research and writing, mentoring, and committee work.
One may find that seasons have some imbalance based upon...
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February 07, 2012
This weekend five of us from Hollywood attended a conference in
Seattle put on by Volunteers Exploring Vocation. While it a was a short
retreat, the time was spent doing some serious reflection and discussion
on what vocation means and how to discern vocation.
Before the conference, I simply associated the word vocation with a
career path. I expected to attend this conference and learn about
different ministerial and social justice vocations. Instead, we
discussed vocation in a way that I never considered. Vocation is more
than just a career; it’s your lifestyle. Throughout the weekend, the
definition of vocation revolved around this central theme: where your
greatest desire and the world’s great need meet.
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January 30, 2012
Wanna learn how to start a fire in religious circles? Pay attention: Jefferson Bethke is an Eagle Scout.
His most recent video, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”, opines
over the lack of authenticity in religious leadership, calls into
account the
dangerous compound of faith and politics, and berates the self-righteous
(Amen!). But in making a few good points, Bethke may have thrown the
baby out with the bath water.
If you’ve ever played the “Blame Game” before (who hasn’t?), then you
know how this works. Something goes wrong Someone gets blamed. This literally
takes on “biblical” proportions when you...
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January 20, 2012
About a year ago, my faith community formally blessed me and the gender transition
I was in the midst of undergoing by including a re-naming rite as a part of our regular Sunday
liturgy. In addition to being a parishioner at House For All Sinners and Saints in Denver, CO, I
also happen to be transgendered. For me this means that at birth I was not declared to be the sex/
gender that I am currently living as. So I grew up as a female named Mary Christine Callahan
and then did a legal name change, began hormone therapy with testosterone, went through
puberty a second (and infinitely more enjoyable) time, and now live as a guy named Asher
Herman O’Callaghan.
Like many of my fellow parishioners, I am a religious refugee. Some of us were or are
walking wounded from...
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FTE Congregational Fellow ('11)
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
January 13, 2012
A few hours ago I made the long drive back to Cleveland from Louisville where I had attended and preached at the 2012 Festival of Young Preachers hosted by the Academy of Preachers. I would have thought that after three days of hearing God’s word through 30 different denominations, flowing from the mouths of over 120 preachers that my heart would be quiet and my mind still. Instead my mind is racing in a post-celebratory buzz. It seems that although my suitcase that carried my clothes is unpacked, the suitcase of my mind is just starting to reveal the extent the Festival touched my soul...
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January 05, 2012
God knows women's bodies always have a way of getting our attention. This is not breaking news. But in the past two weeks two storylines have been breaking out and gaining traction on the female body, and I have been both painfully and gratefully reminded that there are always at least two sides to any story.
The headlining of the two stories started back in January of 2011 when Egyptian men and women joined in the collective unrest and civil protests against political and social injustices in North Africa and the Middle East known as Arab Spring. But the story reached a new chapter last week in Tahrir Square in Cario, where the Egyptian military and governing forces offered the world yet another powerfully devastating example of what seems permissible to do to a woman's mind, body and spirit. It is difficult to shake the images from...
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