Early Returns: CDSP-funded curates already adding new life in new roles

By the Rev. Kyle Oliver, EdD

Editor’s Note: This is an early preview of an article in production for the Spring ’24 issue of Crossings magazine. Stay tuned for expanded art and graphics.

The idea for the new signature initiative at Church Divinity School of the Pacific began as a lament.  

In 2019 and 2020, after CDSP and Trinity Church Wall Street announced their strategic partnership, senior leaders from both organizations met extensively with bishops. Their goal was to learn more about dioceses’ hopes and challenges surrounding theological education, and how a revitalized CDSP could contribute.  

One answer rose to the top in these conversations: the loss of so-called curacies, a once common model of continuing leadership formation after seminary.  

Fast forward four years. The result of those conversations is an exciting reality for new CDSP graduates. The seminary is in the process of rolling out a fully-funded curacy program for which graduating MDiv students will be eligible.  

Several of those graduates spoke to Crossings about their experience in the early days of this new initiative: the Rev. Mees Tielens (MDiv ‘23), PhD, is curate at St. Anna’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, CA; the Rev. Angela Furlong ‘23 is assisting priest and associate for youth and families at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Frederick, MD; and the Rev. Katherine Frederick ‘23 is curate at Grace Episcopal Church in Fairfield, CA. 

The challenging post-seminary status quo 

At the core of regional leaders’ frustration during those listening sessions is that it has become difficult for many newly ordained priests to return to their dioceses after seminary and serve with an experienced supervisor in these crucial formative years. The parish and diocesan budgets that once made curacies an attractive and somewhat normative option are under increasing strain.  

Unfortunately, the alternatives to curacies can be less than ideal for supporting new clergy. Seminary graduates open to relocation can often find work on the denomination-wide job market for assistant or associate clergy roles. However, this option means needing to rebuild the network of local connections that helps mission-minded leaders thrive. For CDSP’s hybrid students, the ability to preserve that network and serve close to home is often a significant part of their interest in the program in the first place.  

What’s more, some new clergy report that these positions don’t always have a new leader’s maximal growth and development in mind.   

“When I was job searching, I went on several different interviews. There were more rectors than I expected who want you to stand beside them as they do things,” Tielens said. “It was very clear that they had ideas about what the associate did, and the associate stayed in their lane.”  

The increasingly common last resort is for new graduates to immediately take on one or more priest-in-charge roles, sometimes but not always with the promise of supervision, mentorship, or peer support. This approach has its own challenges.  

“I do know people who are out on their own serving,” Frederick said. “When I hear about some of the things that they are facing, I think, ‘Wow, I’m really grateful I have someone who’s actually in charge that can help negotiate, and I can watch what they’re doing rather than it being on me to work through those things right out of seminary.”  

There has to be a better way, participants in the bishops’ consultations agreed. Their analysis planted the seeds for bringing new life to the time-tested model of intentional post-graduation curacies.  

New funding for a traditional formation model 

The seminary is making the transition to its new curacy program in stages. As a first step, alums who graduated in May 2023, both from the residential and hybrid programs, qualified for $60,000 in yearly salary assistance. This is the iteration of the program in which Furlong and Tielens are participating.  

Furlong said this funding made the difference for the viability of her full-time position, and it allowed her to build on the knowledge of the parish she developed there as an intern before seminary.  

“It’s a pastoral position, I think, for myself and for the congregation,” she said. Citing the challenges of the pandemic and other factors, she continued, “They’ve been through about five different priests over the last three years. Both the priest in charge and myself are new. We offer some stability going forward, which is welcomed by the parishioners.”  

While All Saints has traditionally been served by two priests, Tielens’ new parish has a very different history. Tielens said the significance of his arrival as part of this program has not been lost on St. Anna’s, a “scrappy” mission congregation formed in 2019 by the merger of two small churches.  

“This is a congregation that is very aware that churches close,” Tielens said. “I think it feels like a sign of hope and vitality that they have two priests and can develop new initiatives and programming. The congregation can see that there’s more time for the vicar. There are things I can take off her plate, or things that were just not her skill set or priority—like we have a youth group now, which we didn’t have before.”  

Alums graduating later than May 2023, a group that includes Frederick, qualify for the full financial support of the new initiative. Their dioceses receive quarterly grants from Trinity Church Wall Street to pay the full cost of curates’ salaries and benefits for two years.   

While the program represents a major investment both in newly ordained clergy and the faith communities where they serve, seminary and local leaders acknowledge it is not a panacea. The approach is about supporting and accelerating students’ professional formation in a challenging church landscape, not putting a bandage on church or diocesan finances. 

“We’re asking questions about how to be compellingly faithful for changing times and contexts,” said the Rev. Mark Chung Hearn, PhD, now dean of academic affairs, when the program was announced. “The vocational flexibility that this curacy program will support means new opportunities for our students and their bishops to think creatively about ministry leadership and continuing formation.”  

Bishops with students at the seminary agree. The Rt. Rev. Scott Barker, bishop of Nebraska, says his diocese has for years worked hard to nurture a curacy program and appreciates the model. When CDSP announced its new initiative, he said he “moved with dispatch” to confirm his students’ eligibility for a “an extraordinary opportunity that seemed almost too good to be true”: 

“We need to be educating people to be strong and faithful in their personal discipleship, to have real curiosity and courage about trying new things and looking to the future, and to be resilient and emotionally intelligent,” Barker continued. “Those are the kinds of skills and knowledges that I think you can develop in a real Christian community when you’re serving in a structured curacy. Outside of that context, it’s going to be more awkward and painful, and it’s probably going to take a little longer.”

Continuing learning, contributing new ideas 

There is an encouraging balance apparent in the curates’ accounts of their early months of service. Each expressed appreciation for the chance to transition to more immersive ministry in a supported way. Furlong said it helps her bring her best efforts to serving the parish. 

“I thought I was busy in seminary and then I came to a church. I liken it to parenthood: No matter what people teach you and tell you, you don’t really know until you actually live it what it’s going to be like,” she said. “My supervisor has twenty-plus years as a rector. Working alongside her, I’m learning what she’s learned over the years, but we’re learning together what this parish needs, what this community needs.” 

In the case of All Saints, those needs included extensive redevelopment of the parish budget in light of reduced income and increased costs. Furlong said this is a great example of the kind of learning curates need and simply can’t fully address in seminary.  

“We have a huge focus now on looking for people to rent our space,” she said. “You can read about stuff like that in books, but it’s different when you’re dealing with real people and their real concerns and all of the things that used to happen in those spaces.” Tielens and Frederick had comparable examples of such hands-on learning, including building repair, hiring church staff, and managing insurance claims.  

On the other hand, the new curates bring distinctive gifts to their new calls. Their exposure to new ideas in seminary means they have plenty to contribute to their new community. Frederick, for example, has taken on significant worship planning responsibilities. She said she was once “very opinionated about traditional music” but is now challenging Grace parishioners to expand their liturgical horizons just as she was challenged when arriving at CDSP.  

And like Tielens, she notes that significantly increasing staff capacity seems to have a catalyzing effect. 

“Somebody told me yesterday that they really could tell the difference in energy in the parish since I came,” she said. “It’s really nice for them to have me come in and have a second pair of hands, a second brain [in a clergy leadership role].”  

The Rt. Rev. Kym Lucas, bishop of Colorado, believes that energy makes this program a good fit for the Church’s current moment. 

“Like most dioceses, [in Colorado] we have so many congregations with a single priest that are too big for a single priest, but not big enough to be able to afford a second priest,” she said. “It’s exciting to me that, not only do I have the opportunity to provide a livelihood for new priests right out of seminary and to help them find the mentoring that they need, but it also gives a boost to those congregations who are doing okay but need that one little piece to do better.” 

Still more work to do 

The more programmatic dimensions of the curacy initiative will roll out in 2025, giving CDSP’s new director of formation and recruitment a full year from their planned spring 2024 hiring to finalize the remaining details. These include arrangements about structuring each participants’ supervision and mentoring, as well as ongoing peer community and continuing education with their CDSP cohort. 

Tielens and Furlong noted that completing the “salary assistance” phase of the program’s rollout will be key to its effectiveness. The flat-rate grants may have made it possible to get the program up and running quickly, but the dramatic variance in regional cost of living has led to very different results in terms of different community’s additional hiring capacity.  

Frederick spoke to the strong potential of bringing targeted learning opportunities to the continuing education portion of the curacy, noting that consultation with the same faculty with whom they studied could help alums more effectively connect classroom and field-based learning. 

Tielens added that careful targeting is also important because alums’ situations are likely to be quite different from one another. 

“Doing fieldwork at a small church and being interested in small churches, I noticed a lot of the training we received was not based on that situation,” they said. “I hope the training and mentoring comes either in different pathways or is just well-rounded. Angela and I are in very different churches. If we were both a part of this, I hope we would both receive something that we can really put to work right away.” 

Still, with a new director coming on board and a whole year’s worth of learning to integrate from the salary assistance year, it feels like the pieces are coming into place for the program to make a big difference. 

“How could we not be excited about this?” asked Dr. Stephen Fowl, president and dean of CDSP, who cited the program as a significant source of his interest during the hiring process last spring.  

“We don’t know of any transition-to-ministry program that has included every member of a student cohort and directly funded post-graduation roles that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. For students to get the full benefit of what curacies have traditionally offered, it was going to take this level of commitment. It is a big investment of time and resources, but we trust it will be worth it.”