Three bishops, eight clergy and one layperson met in New York City Dec. 18 to discuss with the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop, ways to increase the number of young priests in the Episcopal Church. By the end of their meeting at St. Bartholomew's Church, each participating bishop had agreed to form individual pilot programs that will encourage and expedite young vocations to ordained ministry.

The bishops also agreed to meet again in a year to share their insights and approaches. The overarching title of this project is the Young Priests Initiative, and it is one of the fruits of the Gathering the neXt Generation conference, held at Virginia Theological Seminary in June 1998 [TLC, July 5].

The bishops were the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt. Rev. Peter Lee, Bishop of Virginia, and the Rt. Rev. Thomas Shaw, Bishop of Massachusetts. They were joined by a group composed of lay and ordained persons who have worked on supporting and increasing the number of young clergy.

The clergy were the Rev. William Danaher, assisting priest, Grace and St. Peter's, Hamden, Conn., the Rev. Canon Mary Hays, canon missioner of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Very Rev. James Leo, retired dean, Christ Cathedral, Cincinnati, Ohio, the Rev. Christopher Martin, curate, Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, Conn., the Rev. Christine McSpadden, associate rector, St. Bartholomew's, New York, N.Y., the Rev. Canon John Powers, executive vice president, the Association of Episcopal Schools, the Rev. Margaret Schwarzer, Episcopal chaplain, Boston University, and the Rev. Paul Walker, assistant rector, Christ Church, Charlottesville, Va.

The lay participant was Henry Burt, clergy deployment officer of the Diocese of Virginia.

Seeds of this project were planted early last year when, in the weeks before he retired, Dean Leo set aside $75,000 from his discretionary fund in an account at the Association of Episcopal Colleges, on whose board of trustees he sits. "Jim's hope," said Fr. Powers, "was that at some point the funds could be collaboratively used to advance the cause of young vocations in the church."

After hearing about the success of Gathering the neXt Generation, Fr. Powers contacted Fr. Danaher, a member of its organizing team. Fr. Danaher was asked to outline a program that could implement his vision.

After speaking with the other members of the organizing team for the conference, Fr. Danaher developed a plan where Fr. Leo's bequest would help initiate concurrent pilot programs in three dioceses that represent the breadth of the church.

"Basically we contacted three bishops who were willing to commit their time and energy to addressing the problem of young vocations to ordained ministry," Fr. Danaher said. "We asked them to bring some of the people in their diocese who were either ordained and under the age of 35, or who had some kind of administrative responsibility for the ordination process. We thought that if we could get these three different bishops in the same room discussing the problem, we could decide on a program that would have a wide vision, but would also be flexible enough to work in a particular diocese."

Ms. McSpadden, who helped organize and host the meeting, said, "So few people seem to be aware of one of the more frightening statistics concerning the Episcopal Church today, which is that there are less than 300 priests under the age of 35. This is going to lead to an extreme shortage of experienced priests in the near future."

Bishop Lee sees the Young Priests Initiative meeting this need in the following way: "This church needs young priests. I hope the Young Priests Initiative will encourage a climate in which the Holy Spirit's call to young people may be heard more clearly and that more young people will find that a vocation in holy orders is deeply rewarding and challenging."

At the end of the meeting, the bishops agreed to develop proposals that would match portions of Fr. Leo's bequest with their own funds.

The Presiding Bishop and his wife, Phoebe, who had visited the Gathering the neXt Generation conference, hosted the group for lunch midway through the recent meeting.

After listening to the different impressions of the participants, the Presiding Bishop responded. "The image that comes to mind when I listened to the conversation was that of the Exodus," he said. "This group, like the Hebrews, have left Egypt, and they know that they want to reach the promised land, but are not sure of the way yet. Well, the journey has begun, and faith will keep us moving until we reach our destination."