CDSP Holds 120th Commencement on May 23
Dr. Jenny Te Paa-Daniel, Anglican Communion leader and Maori lay woman, to give commencement address
Berkeley, CA, May 14, 2014—Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP), a seminary of the Episcopal Church and a member of the Graduate Theological Union, will hold its 120th commencement on Friday, May 23.
The ceremony will take place in the St. Margaret’s Courtyard on CDSP’s campus at 2451 Ridge Road in Berkeley, California and is open to the public. The event will be streamed live over the Internet at www.cdsp.edu beginning at 10:30 am Pacific.
Dr. Jenny Te Paa-Daniel, an Anglican Communion leader and former principal of Te Rau Kahikatea, a constituent of the College of St. John the Evangelist in Auckland, will give the commencement address and receive a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa.
Te Paa-Daniel, who will be a visiting scholar at CDSP during the fall 2014 semester, earned her PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in 2001. She is the first Maori person to earn a PhD in theology.
“Jenny is personally engaging and a passionate communicator,” said the Very Rev. W. Mark Richardson, CDSP’s dean and president. “She is an advocate of a strong Anglican Communion that recognizes the gifts of all regions and cultures. She presses toward full inclusion of women in the church, and she is a strong advocate of theological education for all.”
The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal ’81, bishop of Southern Ohio, and the Rt. Rev. Edward Konieczny ’94, bishop of Oklahoma, will receive honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees.
Breidenthal, who was elected bishop of Southern Ohio in 2006, is a distinguished pastor and theologian who holds a DPhil from Oxford University. In 2013, he created one of the inaugural CDSP bishop’s scholarships, which are full-tuition scholarships for students identified as leaders by Episcopal bishops who will return to their home dioceses after graduation.
Before his election, Breidenthal was dean of religious life and of the Chapel at Princeton University and John Henry Hobart Professor of Christian Ethics and Moral Theology at General Theological Seminary in New York City. He is the author of “Sacred Unions: A New Guide to Life-Long Commitment,” published in 2006, and “Christian Households: The Sanctification of Nearness,” published in 1997.
Konieczny was elected bishop of Oklahoma in 2007 and has served churches in Texas and Colorado. Before attending seminary at CDSP, he was a law enforcement officer for seventeen years. He holds a DMin in congregational development from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.
Church Divinity School of the Pacific, a seminary of the Episcopal Church and a member of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, educates students in an ecumenical and interreligious context to develop leaders who can proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world through traditional and emerging ministries. Learn more at www.cdsp.edu.
