Interns
Through its relationship with Chicago seminaries and the University of Chicago Divinity School, Brent House has enjoyed the various gifts that interns can bring. Interns support community life with their presence and interact with students in a way that carries a peer understanding of academic pursuits and the rhythms of spirituality within scholastic life. Interns are a means for Brent House to both provide and receive mentorship and teaching, and to allow the community to participate in the formation of spiritual leaders in the Episcopal Church. The presence of these relationships also allows interns to model and answer questions about vocation, which frequently come up among young adults as they explore the developmental tasks of undergraduate and graduate degrees. Finally, interns serve as support staff, working with the chaplain to reflect on the health and morale of the community, as well as discerning ways to use the intern’s unique gifts for the growth of the community.
For the 2008-2009 school year, Brent House has welcomed the presence of ministry intern Ben Varnum. Ben is in discernment about ordination to the priesthood at St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church in Chicago, and he is working towards a Master’s of Divinity at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Ben has been very intentional about taking a support role towards student-led programming, and will be lending his homiletical voice at a number of our liturgies this year, as well as teaching during our inquirer’s programming, “How to Speak Episcopalian.” He also seems to have found a vocation leading by example in washing our occasionally-substantial dishes after Sunday and Wednesday evening meals!
