Nashotah House alumni, Tom Heard, ‘17, and the Rev. James Brzezinski, ‘12, walked the Camino de Santiago this past summer.

“Much of the camino is about community and pilgrimage,” says Heard. “Everyone is essentially hiking at the same speed, so you find yourself striking up a conversation, but you’re also alone much of the hike, which allows for time in prayer and reflection. When you’re on pilgrimage, you find yourself getting to know a lot of people and after a while, you form something of a family of pilgrims.”

The Nashotah House Theological Seminary Board of Directors has renewed the contract of Dean Dr. Garwood Anderson for a five-year term. 

“The Board of Directors is pleased to reaffirm our support for Dr. Anderson’s leadership. His commitment to the mission of Nashotah House and clear vision for its future give us full confidence in the direction he is taking the seminary,” said the Rev. Canon Ed Monk, Chair of the Board of Directors. “Despite the challenges known to many higher education institutions in recent years, Nashotah House has experienced remarkable growth, a credit to Dr. Anderson’s leadership. We are delighted he has agreed to remain as our Dean for another five years.” 

By Jacob Rogers, middler student at Nashotah House

So, I pay very little attention to the world outside of my little bubble, but occasionally, I come out of my little hobbit hole, stand up, and look around, and I begin to wonder what on earth is happening. Our world is a little scary right now, isn’t it? We have Russia invading Ukraine. They’re bombing cities, killing men, women, and children. And there’s not much anyone can do about it. I mean, all of our United Nations allies are doing their best to support Ukraine indirectly, but there is an overwhelming fear of involvement; there is intense fear that if anyone helps Ukraine a little too much, they will also be sucked right into war with one of the world’s superpowers, and the bombs will start dropping on their cities tomorrow. Everyone in the world is on pins and needles. World wars have been started over less.

This past winter, Nashotah House senior Micah Hogan talked with Malcolm Guite about Dr. Guite’s influences in poetry, particularly from his mother; interests in Medieval and Renaissance literature, having read some of C.S. Lewis’s books on literary criticism— “the memory of Lewis was still warm at Cambridge,” Dr. Guite says. Furthermore, Dr. Guite reflected on his faith journey; the Psalms being the “journal of the soul”; Arthurian legends; and the relationship between his priestly and poetic vocations. Below, Micah and Dr. Guite share their conversation.

By The Rev. Clint Wilson, (‘12)

When I was a teenager, I developed a relationship with a group of guys, and we would regularly go on outdoor excursions: from winter backpacking to weekend canoe trips to living off the land for a weekend. We loved daring and risky adventures in the woods. It is a miracle that I am still alive, or that my mom never found out (sorry Mom, if you’re reading this).  

One weekend on a canoeing trip with this group of guys, my friend Gabe and I decided to take a canoe down a river rapid that was clearly only safe for experienced kayakers. This particular rapid was very dangerous because it occurred just before a turn in the river. Thus, the force of the cascading water shot you out toward a rock wall that sunk diagonally down into the water, and to get caught there meant you would be held under by the full force of a large river.

By the Rev. Frank Baltz, (‘69)

From my home in Marietta, Georgia, part of the metro Atlanta area which stretches more than 70 miles in diameter and comprises over five million people, there is no way I can know everything I might want or need to know about this vast area. At best I can know my immediate area well and be knowledgeable of some of the main roads, businesses, and institutions in the other areas. If metro Atlanta were likened to a pie, I know my slice and a few things about the rest of the pie. Similarly, congregational leaders–even rectors–cannot know 100% of their parishioners’ views and feelings on all the topics that concern them. At best they each have a slice of the pie, gained by limited observations and conversations.

By Ignacio Gama, senior student at Nashotah House

The Lord is quite explicit when he says that we see him in the persons of those in the most extreme of circumstances. The gifts of healing and faith are ultimately his to give, but the Christian calling at its most basic includes extending a loving arm and reaching out to the loveless and unwanted.  “Although you feel tepid, approach with confidence, for the greater your infirmity the more you stand in need of a physician,” declared St. Bonaventure. 

By the Rev. Andrew C. Mead, OBE, DD

My wife, Nancy, has a t-shirt with a saying attributed to St. Augustine, Solvitur ambulando, i.e., “It is solved by walking.” Yes, it is solved by walking. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians, writes that we are to walk by the Spirit, and pilgrimages have many things to teach us about how to walk that way.

By Micah Hogan, senior at Nashotah House

If you’ve ever heard anything about the Sahara Desert, you might be surprised to hear that it was once under water. A study by the National Science Foundation actually found fossils of giant sea snakes and catfish deep in the Sahara, the largest and hottest desert on earth. Even when we are faced with all the evidence, it's hard to wrap our minds around a transition so  dramatic and far reaching. But this is what happens not only in the world around us, but deep within us, as Psalm 63 reminds us.

The Rev. Dr. Louis Weil (1935-2022) died on March 9, 2022, in Oakland, California. Dr. Weil earned a master’s degree in musicology from Harvard University and attended seminary at General Theological Seminary, after which he spent 10 years serving small churches in the Diocese of Puerto Rico. Weil earned a doctorate in sacred theology from the Catholic University of Paris and returned to the U.S. in 1971 to teach liturgics at Nashotah House in Wisconsin, where he remained until 1988.