2020-08-25 Clergy Retreat

ANNUAL CLERGY RETREAT 2020

[Chronicle, September 8, 2020] In a year of firsts brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Diocese's annual clergy retreat hit the internet for its first virtual event held on Tuesday, August 25, 2020. This was also one of the most "attended" clergy retreats with 47 registrants. Participants tuned in from around the world, including the mainland, Guam, Germany, and Japan. The Rev. Cn. Sandy Graham, who organized the event, was impressed with the response. "I don’t know how many other dioceses have attempted something like this, but I wonder if any had such a global reach!"

The guest speaker was Brother Randy Greve from the Holy Cross Monastery in New York (pictured below), an Anglican Benedictine Community of men. Br. Randy is the Bursar there, but also serves as Priest-in-Charge of Christ Church in Red Hook, NY, and provides spiritual direction upon request, like he did for this clergy retreat.

The Rev. Richard Shields was especially grateful to attend his first clergy retreat in retirement. "The clergy retreat that Bishop Bob and Canon Sandy organized for us this year was such a gift," said Shields. "Via what has now become ubiquitous Zoom, we assembled access to Br. Randy at his community’s monastery in New York, along with the clergy here in Hawai'i and diocesan clergy spread around the world-- (Hi Father Gaylord on the mainland! Aloha Canon Kate in Tokyo! And our colleagues on Guam!)."

"Our stated goal was to consider the basic values of Benedictine spirituality: Community, Hospitality, Humility, Balance, and Mindfulness," continued Shields. "From Br. Randy’s life as a monk and as a parish priest, he brought his wealth of experience into our three conversations. He spoke to individual concerns we have as well as to universal challenges that all of us clergy live within our ministries. All around, a very well spent time of prayer and fellowship and substantive reflection. Thank you all!"

In a follow-up e-mail after the retreat, Br. Randy shared the following of his time spent with the clergy of Hawai'i:

The purpose of the retreat was to be a spiritually refreshing time for clergy to gather and engage with me as a facilitator who brings a unique perspective to the challenges of community, prayer, and trust during these times. I talked about my own background and vocation story, the life and ministry of the Order and monastery, and a few of the distinctives of Benedictine spirituality from a practical perspective as we live them here. I hoped to spark some responses and questions from the clergy on the ways in which monastic spirituality as St. Benedict envisioned life in the monastery can be a surprisingly relevant and helpful resource for parish life in the 21st century. The issues that Benedict addressed are the universals of Christian life; prayer, balance, authority, forgiveness, patience, vision, and mission, to name a few of the big ones.

The clergy were interested in engaging with the monastic tradition in their own spiritual lives and as a resource in helping form communities of trust and hope. Benedict lived in a time of profound cultural and political upheaval and realignment. The popularity of the Rule, especially as Europe reorganized after the Roman Empire began to disintegrate, is partly based on how his monasteries filled a social need of identity, meaning, and security in the midst of chaos. We talked about how to re-engage with church as an oasis from our own relentless atmosphere of political polarization and a place that transcends division by preserving a more authentic, biblical witness of shared worth and value within our diversity.

As we live our daily lives in this blessed ʽohana we call the Diocese of Hawaiʽi, it is a gift to be able to go apart or go away somewhere quietly to be with God, to go within our minds, our hearts, our souls, to know what God has going on with us there. We all-- in our several ministries, institutional chaplaincies, prisons, schools, hospitals, our parish clergy, Alison+ and Willis looking after us retired folk, supply clergy-- get wrapped up in our daily work and sometimes need a jolt to wake us up to be able better to listen to God speaking to us. - The Rev. Richard Shields

(Contributed photos)