wfn.org | [ENS] Newsmakers: William S. Bennett and Jan Smith Wood (Daybook)

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

October 27, 2005 - Thursday: People of Purpose

Newsmakers: William S. Bennett and Jan Smith Wood

Preaching competition winner announced

[ENS, Source: All Saints Episcopal Church] All Saints Episcopal Church
in New York City recently announced the Rev. William S. Bennett as the
winner of their nationwide preaching competition.

Bennett, a monk of the Order of the Holy Cross, a Benedictine monastic
community for men in the Episcopal Church, beat out 22 contestants from
across the country who submitted All Saints Day sermons for consideration
by a panel of clergy and lay judges.

Bennett is a graduate of Davidson College, Stanford University, and the
General Theological Seminary. He has been a priest for 22 years and has
served parishes in Brooklyn, Manhattan and North Carolina.

He will preach his winning sermon on November 6 at All Saints' 11 a.m.
service.

For further information on the preaching competition email
http://www.info@allsaintsnyc.org

New dean of students at Church Divinity School of the Pacific

[ENS, Source: Church Divinity School of the Pacific]  The Rev. Canon Jan
Smith Wood has joined the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP)
staff as the dean of students. Wood, who graduated from CDSP nearly 20
years ago, said, "It's a deep blessing and grace to be back."

In the 1990s, she served for a term on CDSP's Board of Trustees and
Alumni/ae Council.  She said she delights in seeing concepts that were
incubated many years ago now fully-grown and thriving as part of the
seminary's life..  Concepts such as CALL and on-line learning were
"emerging ideas," she says. "It's exciting to see how they've become
reality, and part of the fabric of life here."

For the past 15 years, Wood served as Canon Educator for the Diocese of
El Camino Real, where her work in program development, congregational
support, pastoral care, and faith formation will serve her well in her
new role.  She received her B.A. degree in Spanish from the University
of California, Santa Barbara; her M.Div. from CDSP in 1986; and she also
attended Universidad de las Americas, in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico.

In her new position, Wood enjoys "exploring how we are knit together as
a community, and seeing where we might need to provide more support, even
a safety net."  She cites her top priority simply as "helping people find
the resources they need, enabling them to do what they're called to do."

"I've learned we have to depend on the grace of God, and the grace and
gifts of others," Wood says.  "What unfolds is greater and richer than
anything we could imagine."

When asked what inspires her, she says, "Right now? Oh, right now
it's the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers -- wise older women from
all over the world who are focused on the next generation, how we
can live in peace, and stop the destruction."  Their web sites:
www.forthenext7generations.com and www.grandmotherscouncil.com.

Church Divinity School of the Pacific's mission is to provide the highest
quality Christian theological education in an environment of scholarship,
reflection and worship, rooted in the Anglican tradition.

CDSP is currently focused on a major Capital Campaign, Preserving
Tradition - Building the Future.  To date, more than $14 million has
been raised toward the campaign goal of $20 million.

CDSP is a founding member of the Graduate Theological Union, an ecumenical
and interfaith consortium based in Berkeley, Calif.  For more information,
visit the web site: www.cdsp.edu

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