In the week before coming to the NAES conference this year, our chaplaincy and school came together to prepare a memorial service for a beloved faculty member who died suddenly on Halloween. One evening, in the difficult days that followed her death, I opened a file in the chaplain’s office containing years of memorial service bulletins faithfully prepared in the midst of similar tragedies. These service bulletins, compiled by chaplains, like the Rev. Preston Hannibal, who will soon celebrate 50 years of school ministry, serve as a reminder that we are not alone. For we are accompanied by those who walked this way before us–the men and women who faithfully ran chapels, pastored students and faculty, taught classes, and served as advisors and coaches. 

NAES Biennial Conference serves as a homecoming for the fellowship and support that comes from being a part of this beloved community of Episcopal schools, as we navigate the ups and downs, joys, and celebrations within the vibrancy of school life. This year’s conference, “Let your Light Shine,” began with keynote speaker Steve Pemberton’s moving stories about the people who served as lighthouses for him in his transformational story about the power and dignity of being seen and affirmed as a child of God. 

Later in a session on the Anglican Vision for Education, Dr. Sarah-Beth Wright reminded us that the word respect, from our baptismal call to respect the dignity of every human being, is from the Latin specare, calling us to “look again” or “see anew.” At this year’s conference, I came with three newcomers to Biennial from a newly formed chaplaincy team consisting of our music director, our Mathematics teacher and assistant chaplain, our Director of Enrollment Management, and our athletic director. The synergy of these different perspectives has allowed us to see anew, enriching the spiritual life of the school in ways we never predicted, especially in light of our recent loss. As the church continues to grow and change in ways we never anticipated, how might we re-imagine our chaplaincies to create broader partnerships across school life? 

At Biennial, this larger team allowed a wider scope to our professional development, as we returned home energized and renewed by the shared wisdom in the Haiti Partnership sessions, mindful drawing practices, learned how to implement A Case for Love for our upcoming confirmation retreat, or imagined how we might steal a fellow chaplains idea for “Faith and Fire” nights at our own school. 

Biennial Conference is a dedicated space where we come together in fellowship to share ideas and see anew, finding ways to broaden the ways we respect the dignity of one another and reconcile ourselves to God. While the demands of our ministries can be daunting, we are not alone–we stand with one another, guided by the light of God and the support and strength of the angels, saints, and ministers of God who walk with us each day, where we are no longer strangers but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

The Rev. Katie Solter is Head Chaplain at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA.