Date: May 27, 2026
Our current government has sharply curtailed entry to the U.S. for international students and visitors, a situation which challenges our work at CACS and decreases Seminarians’ exposure to the rich diversity that the Anglican Communion provides. Yesterday, we talked about the many Anglican encounters that the Center facilitated over the past year. Bishops, Deans, Scholars, and Artists have all come to visit but still students are missing the benefit of having more than a few peers from across the Communion, learning with them, side by side.
In September, CACS received notice of a grant from the St. Augustine’s Foundation which we had sought out as a partial remedy to this problem. With these funds we developed an on-line learning experience that brings together students at VTS and active young Anglicans from different regions of the Communion, guided by mentors who are graduates or close friends of VTS. This past semester we have gathered students and mentors from VTS, the Philippines, China, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, to follow a pre-seminary level course informally described as “Anglicanism 101.” Beginning with an Anglican histories from St. Augustine of Canterbury (597) to the Most Reverend and Right Honorable Dame Sarah Mullally, this first cohort has learned about colonial and post-colonial Anglicanism, Anglican ecclesiologies, liturgies and missiologies, along with practical skills such as how to make a podcast.
This project also has practical outcomes and benefits. Each student will also complete two projects, a stand-alone podcast episode and an educational outreach project, both exploring themes demonstrated in the course and practicing and honing teaching and evangelizing skills.
In spring 2027, we will begin a second cohort, this time with a cohort of young Anglicans from south and central America and the Caribbean. In the meantime, check out Anglican learner, Jehrus Bien Bastawang Laconsay’s Anglican Commentary, HERE, where he talks about his time in the cohort.
Natalie Ward, Hartley Hobson Wensing, and Katherine Grieb