[Episcopal News Service] Without a local formation program like Waiolaihui'ia in the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i, potential priests like Malcolm Kealanu Hee could likely never see ordination.

Hee, 50, juggles two teaching positions with busy family and other responsibilities. But every other month, he spends an intense 72-hour weekend at a local retreat center, learning the academics and practicalities of ordained church leadership.

"Local formation is important for Hawai'i because we need to raise up our own priests," Hee wrote in an e-mail to ENS. "Currently, there is only one priest of Hawaiian descent. All the other priests have been transplants; many return to their homes, eventually leaving Hawai'i. Raising up our own priests will increase the likelihood of them staying here."

Hawaii: a case of local formation

One such alternative is local formation, according to the Rev. Canon Liz Beasley, who is Canon to the Ordinary in Hawai'i. The Diocese launched Waiolaihui'ia in January with three students and another person auditing part of the coursework, she said.

Waiolaihui'ia means "the gathering of waters," according to Hee, who teaches preschoolers with disabilities and also instructs university students preparing for teaching careers. "We chose this because we come from all over the state and together we are intermingling and learning. Water or "wai" is important in our culture as it sustains the taro that we grow. Water is also important in our church as an important part of the baptismal covenant. That's how we came up with our name."

The curriculum comes from the Iona Initiative, which is based on the Iona School for bivocational priests and deacons in the Diocese of Texas. The three-year local training program for priests and deacons is currently in use in eight rural and remote dioceses, including: Wyoming, Oklahoma, Arkansas, West Texas, Northwest Texas, Northeast Texas and Mississippi, in conjunction with the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest.

"People in the program already have significant jobs and families they've raised and they don't have the capability to go to seminary for three years," Beasley said during a telephone interview. "It also doesn't makesense for someone to spend the money to go to seminary and come back and have maybe a part-time job. That doesn't seem financially responsible," she added. 

Although the current students are all native Hawaiian and their "experience and cultures do come into the discussion and the learning" the curriculum is adaptable to any group, she said. Diocesan clergy are trained to serve as teachers and mentors; students live in community during the intensive weekend sessions. Some coursework is available on videotaped and power-point presentations and students complete substantial amounts of homework in-between sessions, she added.

The cost is about $2,000 per year for students with the diocese absorbing other costs for the three-year program. It aims to prepare second-career priests for local ordination but is not a replacement for the traditional path to seminary; the diocese still sends recent college graduates to residential seminaries, she said.

"We're really excited about this," Beasley said. "We want priests who know what it means to live in Hawai'i and are committed to being here. This is a long-range view, we figure if we're raising up people who already call this their home, they're more likely to stay."  (To read this article in its entirety, click HERE.)

The arts may be one of the most effective mediums for building bridges, says the Rev. Paul-Gordon Chandler, the Episcopal priest responsible for the journey of 25 life-size painted fiberglass donkeys from Cairo to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where they will be on display in the south nave aisle until September 23.

Now in its fifth year, the Caravan arts exhibition brings together Western and Egyptian artists, both Christian and Muslim, to promote a message of peace.

Chandler, an Episcopal Church mission partner who has served as a priest in Cairo for the past 10 years, sees the exhibition as an opportunity to deepen understanding across cultures and religions. "We're passionate about interfaith friendships and we've found that the arts, in many ways, is a catalyst for that," Chandler told ENS on August 30, during an interview at the launch of the exhibition, which is titled In Peace and With Compassion.

The donkey was chosen for the exhibition because in both Christian and Muslim faith traditions it represents peace, Chandler explained. "In a sense, these artists are saying that the way forward for us is in peace. The other thing the donkey represents is compassion. It's a beast of burden and the poorest of the poor in Egypt use the donkey."

This year's exhibition comes at a time when Egypt faces ongoing political turmoil and a rise in sectarian violence.

"Contrary often to what we see in the news about what is coming out of Egypt at this time, which is somewhat tragic, these artists are saying no, there is another alternative - the way forward as far as we see it is in peace and with compassion," Chandler said. (To read the article in its entirety and to view the video, click HERE.)