One of our five mission priorities this season of diocesan life is the call to Equip our people for faithful, adaptive, and life-giving ministry. This work includes equipping clergy themselves – not only with practical skills and theological resources, but with the support, formation, and care necessary for sustainable ministry over the long haul.
One of our values as a Bishop’s Office, is that the most important thing we do is care for each other. When we talk about this care, we mean both interpersonal care and systemic care – care that is built in to the systems and resources we share as The Diocese of New York.
Over the past several years, clergy across our diocese have navigated extraordinary complexity: changing congregational patterns, political polarization, increasing pastoral demands, digital transformation, and the ongoing work of rebuilding trust and community in a fractured world. At the same time, we continue to witness remarkable creativity, courage, and faithfulness in ministry.
In response to these realities, we added a line item to the 2026 budget intended to provide specifically for the ongoing formation of our clergy. We’re calling it the Clergy Development Fund, and it will provide means for multiple kinds of continuing formation for the clergy of our diocese.
This fund represents a diocesan commitment to lifelong formation, clergy care, and sustainable leadership. Continuing education is not remedial work; it is vocational stewardship. Healthy, supported, continually-forming clergy strengthen congregations, deepen pastoral leadership, and help position the Church for faithful engagement with the future.
The fund will support several interconnected areas of clergy development, including:
- Individual learning and continuing education grants
- Spiritual formation and study
- Peer learning communities and practitioner cohorts
- Diocese-wide formation days with outside speakers and facilitators
- Pilot initiatives addressing emerging pastoral needs
We are designing this process to be accessible, flexible, and grounded in trust rather than unnecessary bureaucracy. The Canon Team will administer the fund collaboratively, with a focus on equitable access across regions, ministry contexts, and communities within the diocese.
In the coming weeks, we will share with our clergy:
- Application processes and timelines
- Funding guidelines
- Upcoming formation opportunities
- Details about learning communities and diocesan formation gatherings
As we shape these offerings, I would especially welcome hearing from clergy about topics, challenges, and areas of learning that feel particularly fruitful or urgently needed for shared formation and peer learning. One of our hopes is that this initiative will help strengthen not only individual ministry, but also the collective wisdom, resilience, and pastoral imagination of our clergy community.
We are grateful for the many incredible leaders, clergy and lay, in our diocese who continue to serve faithfully, creatively, and courageously in this season of the Church’s life. It is a privilege to support your ministry.