Date: October 1, 2026
Many of you will have had the pleasure of meeting the Rev. Dr. Andrew McGowan during his time on campus this fall. He and his wife, Dr. Felicity Harley-McGowan, have been here as Dean’s scholars after Andrew recently concluded twelve years as Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. Before he leaves, Dr. Andrew has graciously agreed to offer a lecture at the invitation of the Center for Anglican Communion Studies, entitled “The Tabernacle and the Streets: Anglicans, Reserving the Eucharist and Feeding the Poor.”
His talk will explore questions of both liturgy and theology. The Anglo-Catholic tradition has placed particular emphasis on the enduring presence of Christ in the reserved sacrament, especially in the context of prayer and devotion. Yet the Eucharist also calls us forth and commands us to get up from our kneelers in front of the tabernacle and go be among the hungry in the world.
Dr. Andrew will invite us to contemplate Bishop Frank Weston’s famous dictum “You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the Tabernacle, if you do not pity Jesus in the slum.” How might our practices of worship, specifically reserving the Eucharistic sacrament, shape our understanding of Christian vocation and our responsibility to our neighbors?
This promises to be a rich and thought-provoking conversation and is not to be missed!
Please join us on October 1 at 12:45 p.m. in Scott Lounge.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and President of The General Theological Seminary