The life and ministry of Brent House are chronicled in two reports issued annually: The Report of the Chaplain to the Diocese, which is published in December at the conclusion of the calendar year and submitted for publication in the annual Journal of Convention of the Diocese of Chicago, and The State of the Chaplaincy Report, issued in June at the conclusion of the academic year by the Co-chairs of the Episcopal Church Council at the University of Chicago and mailed to all recipients of our newsletter, including donors. If you would like to see annual reports from previous years, please visit our archives.
We can say with utter certainty that Brent House, the Episcopal Chaplaincy at the University of Chicago, is a remarkable place. As students, then as a peer minister and an intern, and now as members of Brent Houseıs Board of Directors, we have been given the opportunity to be a part of Brent Houseıs life in a variety of ways. It is a place that provides young people with a community in which to explore their faith. It is a place that strives to provide an example how the life of the mind and the life of a Christian are not incompatible. Brent House honors the unique character of the University of Chicago by providing programs that engage students in exploring their spiritual lives.
These past two years have seen major changes at Brent House, changes which present both new challenges and new opportunities. First and foremost, the community of Brent House said goodbye to the Rev. Sam Portaro. A farewell party at the Quad Club brought together a group of Samıs closest friends, colleagues, and students from the past 20 years. At that event over $32,000 was raised to add to the endowment fund. Over the course of his time as the Episcopal Chaplain at the University of Chicago Sam has profoundly affected the lives of many young people. It is as a result of Samıs guidance that many young adults (including Kevin Caruso, one of our co-chairs) have discerned a call to holy orders. Samıs legacy is one that will show itself most clearly through the lives that he has been a part of these many years.
With Sam Portaroıs retirement as the chaplain at Brent House came the search for a qualified person to bring new energy and spirituality to the ministry that he had nurtured. The search concluded when the Rev. Stacy Alan accepted the boardıs call to serve as the Chaplain. She began her work in January, coming to Hyde Park by way of St. Lukeıs in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She lives in the Coach House behind Brent House with her husband, Nacho, and two children, Ignacio and Catherine. We are truly blessed to have her serving this community.
The transition has gone exceedingly well. Since January, Stacy has been incredibly active establishing herself on campus and in the larger Diocesan community. She has preached at campus events and at various parishes around the Diocese. The week to week life of Brent House remains in many ways the same: there is a midweek Eucharist at Bond Chapel, a Sunday Eucharist in the Brent House chapel followed by dinner, regular speakers, a weekly bible study, and regular meetings with peer ministers and ministry interns. Stacy has brought to Brent House a willingness to build on the programs which have been successful, while at the same time looking at the various programs from a new perspective. Changes--subtle and not so subtle--are already in evidence: a new rug adorns the chapel floor, the peer ministers are developing a leadership covenant, plans for wireless internet access at Brent House are in the works, a group spiritual direction program is being explored.
With the advent of Stacyıs ministry at the U of C the students have been provided with an opportunity to think more intentionally about Brent Houseıs mission. She has engaged the students in thinking about how to beautify the chapel space and in how to raise Brent Houseıs profile among students. Brent House will continue to be a place that provides an opportunity for students to explore their faith, joining the ³life of the mind² with the life of the spirit. Building on an already strong foundation, Stacy has also been working on further developing and refining the peer ministry program. There will be a total of 10 peer ministers next year: six undergraduate students, three graduate students and a music intern. The peer ministry program has been in place since 2000 and serves as an important dimension of Brent Houseıs life. Stacy will be attending a peer minister training conference in July to provide her with some additional resources in this important ministry and discernment program for young adults.
Perhaps the clearest indication of the blessed work being done through Brent House lies in the sermons offered by students. Brent House engages students in a conversation, based in a conviction that students are able and necessary proclaimers of the gospel. Students at the U of C are drawn to the opportunity to engage their lives in a meaningful way that honors who they are, and by inviting them to preach, their voices are given a place to be heard. We would like to share with you a part of one sermon preached by a student.
Barnaby Reidel, one of our graduate students, preached recently on a text from the Gospel of Luke, working through what it looks like to be a light in the world and what being a missionary means for an Episcopalian. Barnaby finishes his sermon by saying:
If being a light requires that we be disciplined and humble, then the missionary impulse properly defined does not implicate others so much as it implicates ourselves. Being a missionary means taking upon oneself the task of becoming a model of the message one wishes to pass on. If we are called to be a light that reaches out (and I believe that we are) then Iım convinced our brightness depends on how dutifully we reach in. So long as we do that, surely God will do the rest. For it is not our light that we cultivate but His. And that light, the Divine light, extends effortlessly.
Among the students there is a desire to exercise that missionary responsibility and impulse in ways that are congruent with who we are as Episcopalians. During the spring quarter of this year, the students, with Stacyıs assistance, set up a labyrinth outdoors in one of the quads on campus. It was meant to offer a no-strings-attached opportunity to find a peaceful center in the midst of the stresses of academic life and provided Brent House with some very positive visibility. Around 40 people walked the labyrinth that day (and enjoyed home-made cookies at the center). Even more stopped to look and ask questions.
Brent House, like a labyrinth, invites students to walk on a spiritual journey, a journey that is traveled both alone and in community. All are welcomed into this community, wherever they are on their journey. It calls each of us into an earnest and heartfelt exploration of what it means to be a person of faith in the world today by providing us with resources with which to explore our relationship to God, the world, and others.
The leadership of Brent House, both Board and chaplain, is committed to maintain the excellent stewardship of our programs and resources. These resources the foundation for this amazing ministry can be maintained only through the cooperation and generosity of our supporters. We rely on contributions of every size to continue a work so well begun. If you havenıt been to Brent House in a while and are in the Chicago area, come and join us for worship or for one of our dinner programs. If youıre not in the area, feel free to contact Stacy and talk to her about her dreams and the dreams of our student leaders for this ministry. And, as always, we welcome your much-needed and always-appreciated financial gifts so that peer ministers, seekers and inquirers, labyrinth walkers and spiritual travellers can find a door open at Brent House and encounter the Gospel.
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Caruso and David Albertson Co-Chairs, The Episcopal Church Council at the University of Chicago