A Reflection on being a Hybrid-Distance Student at Nashotah House

By Katia Crabb

I recently came across a school memory book from my childhood, where it asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I filled in: a teacher. This entry was long forgotten when I entered college. I pursued anthropology and archaeology in New York City, and while working part-time at the Museum of Natural History, I had the opportunity to teach children about dinosaurs and ancient man. I assisted other teachers in their lectures, great archaeologists like the Leakys and the renowned naturalist and bird lover, Roger Tory Peterson. At that time, women were not invited to any serious endeavors in the field, so I changed direction, took a more practical approach to my education, and learned a trade. The museum offered an aviation ground school course where I learned about the wind and technical terms and discovered a love of flying. After many years of training, I became an airline pilot and began safely transporting souls from place to place. Later in my career, having been laid off, I was asked to take on a training position and teach other pilots. During this time, I became pregnant with twins, so I left that career behind for the role of mother and teacher, educating my boys in a classical education curriculum. Now my children are finishing high school, and I can look back to see the slow work of God. He has used all these experiences to grow my faith and my desire to teach and serve Him so I can “stir up love and good works.”

Nashotah House is, as Benedict would say, “a school for the Lord’s service,” set apart for His glory, equipping all of us to be servants of the Lord. The Lord is our Teacher, and Nashotah House participates in His equipping by the interweaving of prayer, work, and study, which strengthens our spirit, body, and mind, so we may go into the chapel and out into the field where the “ . . . harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” I hear these words directed toward me, knowing this is Jesus’ invitation to join Him in His work in the world. Time spent with professors and fellow students and reading and writing have helped deepen this calling and my understanding of the beauty of prayer, discipleship, and life with God. Unlike my earlier college days, I am now blessed to learn and pray, not with experts in bones and birds, but with fellow disciples of Christ, who seek to know how dry bones live and the ways of God – who is likened to a dove.

My focus of study is the ascetical life based on sound doctrine, which is preparing me to serve the church in what I love to do: speaking of the Lord by leading quiet-day retreats, providing prayer guidance, and assisting the clergy and others in the education and care of souls. Not everyone is called to “go and sell all you have” and move to Wisconsin. So those who cannot live in the community full-time can share in the life and learn to serve the Lord as hybrid-distance students. As a student in the world, I look forward to the sense of belonging and the nourishing weeks spent on campus: praying, eating, and learning face-to-face with others. Students arrive from all over the world and enter into the hospitality of the House’s people, not as visitors but as sons and daughters. And that familial connection remains when we return home to our studies. The Hybrid-Distance program allows us to continue serving our families and local parishes while deepening our formation in the Anglican tradition. The “workshop where we toil faithfully at all these tasks” is where we live, work, pray, and worship with the stability and support of the Nashotah House community. When I return home and dig into Scripture, the ancient wisdom of the church, and the surprising work of God in all my studies and day-to-day activities, Nashotah House is a part of who I am because it is part of the Lord’s house.

At Nashotah House, I have been seeking God and desiring to know Him better, and He has been faithful. I have learned to lay aside all worries, love Christ above all else, and follow Him in obedience. A wise professor at the House has reassured me that “those the Lord calls, He equips.” Nashotah House invites us to learn the ways of Christ so we may be equipped to glorify God in all things.

Katia Crabb lives in Allen, Texas, with her husband of 23 years, Andy, and their twin sons, Jack and Sam. They are members of the Church of the Holy Communion Cathedral in Dallas, Texas. Katia’s undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Science in Aviation, and she is currently in her second year at Nashotah House pursuing a Masters in Theological Studies. She enjoys beekeeping, quiet walks in the fields and woods of her farm with her faithful dog, Gracie, retreating with Benedictine communities, and especially reading old books with a cup of tea in hand.

The preceding article was originally printed in Nashotah House’s Spring 2021 Missioner magazine, volume 35, number 1, pages 8-9.