Young Women Preachers 2008

Registration is Open

Registration is open. Go here to sign up!

Space is limited, and will be filled first-come, first-served. Young clergy women (whether or not they are members of the group), future young clergy women, and any other female preachers under 40 are welcome to attend. These conferences are intentionally fairly small (we max out at about 30). You will not be viewing the instructor on a jumbo-tron! We live, eat, worship, and learn together. Please take the word "lecture" in the following as a very loose interpretation of what will happen.

General schedule (subject to change)

Tuesday: 3-5:30 introductions, first lecture 5:30 social time, 6 p.m. dinner, and 7 p.m. opening worship.
Wednesday: continental breakfast 8-9:30 (optional morning eucharist at the cathedral, 7:30 a.m.) morning lectures 10-12 a.m. lunch at 12:30, 2-5 small preaching groups. evening: affinity groups.
Thursday: possible early Eucharist at 7:30 (the Eucharist will happen, whether or not Professor Hooke is preaching is not yet determined!), breakfast, morning lectures 9-noon. Afternoon and evening off to explore the city.
Friday: same as Wednesday schedule
Saturday: breakfast at 8 a.m. final lecture at 9 a.m. closing Eucharist at 11 a.m. lunch at noon is last meal of the conference.

What are preaching groups? Each participant will be randomly placed in a group with 4 or 5 other preachers. An outside facilitator will lead each group. On Wednesday, we each preach and offer critiques on an old sermon. On Friday, the process is repeated with a new sermon.

What are affinity groups? Affinity groups are evening conversations with those who share a characteristic with you. For example, last year, we did single women, married and partnered women, and women with children. This year, we may repeat those, or choose some other characteristic. It's all very casual and fun.

Commuting: If you live in the metro-DC area, you can commute to the conference. The fee for commuters is $450, which includes all meals, as well as instruction.

Questions? Most questions about housing, food, schedule, registration, payment, etc. can be handled by contacting the Cathedral College staff. Content questions can be sent to youngclergywomen@gmail.com.

Official Course Description--Registration begins soon!

 

Deep Calls to Deep:  Embodying the Sermon

Faculty:  The Rev. Dr. Ruthanna Hooke

The depths of Scripture call for preachers to meet Scripture from their own depths.  This meeting of deep and deep occurs not only in the writing of the sermon, but also in the speaking of it.  A sermon is not primarily words on a page, but is a living, breathing event of one human being speaking to others.  This course focuses on developing the skills needed to be fully present for this speaking event.  This full presence and availability for the sermon is necessary in order to convey the depths found in Scripture and also the depths in preachers’ own lives as they meet Scripture.  In this course we will work toward developing this availability by drawing on techniques of actor training that aim to enhance the freedom of the body, the breath, and the voice.  These techniques will help us discover how we can more fully bring our bodies as well as our minds and souls to the preaching event.  We will also examine what the demand that we bring all of ourselves to preaching requires of us spiritually and emotionally.  In addition, this conference will focus on the particular challenges for women in claiming their voice, not only metaphorically but literally, in the pulpit. 

Young Women Preachers Conference

Information is skeletal right now, but we'll add to this as we get more information.

Dates: August 5-9. We begin on Tuesday, August the 5th at approximately 3 p.m. We will conclude on Saturday, August 9th at approximately noon.

Location: Cathedral College of Preachers, which is in Washington, DC.  Cathedral College is on the close of the Washington Cathedral. This is a residential conference center--meals and housing are provided.

Topic: The precise topic is being formed, but the teacher's area of expertise is embodiment and voice in preaching. It will be something in that arena.

Instructor: The Rev. Dr. Ruthanna Hooke, of Virginia Theological Seminary. Professor Hooke is ordained in the Anglican tradition but also educated at the broadly ecumenical Yale.

Who can attend: Young women (under the age of 40) who preach. Ordination is not required for participation in the conference, though most of the women in attendance will be ordained.

What's the schedule like? There will be a variety of activities: lectures, preaching groups, and affinity groups. There will also be meals and free time.  Because we are mixing up the schedule by being Tuesday-Saturday instead of the cathedral's normal Monday through Friday, we're working on the precise schedule. you can count on one afternoon/evening totally free (probably Thursday), two afternoons spent in preaching groups (probably Wednesday and Friday), and two evenings in casual conversation with affinity groups (probably Wednesday and Friday). A tentative schedule is attached. (This is tentative people, things can change!) Download youngwomenpreachers2.xls

How much does it cost? Are there scholarships? The event costs $750 plus your travel. This includes all meals but Thursday night supper, and your housing (double occupancy). Should you desire a single, there is a small surcharge for that.

Scholarship funds from The Young Clergy Women Project are not available this year.  Participants are encouraged to approach their judicatories, women's groups, national offices, etc. for funding (if your church can't cover it). If you need a letter to be sent to your bishop (or some other person or group like that), just ask! The Director of the program can take care of that for you. 

Know of national-level scholarship programs that might help another young woman out? Let me know (youngclergywomen@gmail.com ), and I'll add the information to the sidebar.

Is this one of those things where you see the instructor on the jumbo-tron and spend all week squinting at nametags to try to find someone you know? Not at all! We will be 12-32 in number, no more than that. You will have ample opportunity to engage the instructor and to meet as many (or as few) of the participants as you wish!

No, really, what will it be like? Check out the pictures and some of the reflections from last year's conference for a glimpse! (We're hoping to avoid the record-setting heat wave this year, though.)

Questions about housing? food? wheelchair accessibility? early arrival/late departure?registration? The Cathedral College is so happy and able to help you with those things.  TYCWP is cooperating in planning, but it's really the Cathedral College's program to administer.

Registration will begin in the next couple of weeks. We are waiting on the workshop description, and then it will be up and available right here!