We began a new year of the Youth Internship Program (YIP) with a day retreat at the beautiful parish of St. Aidan’s and want to thank the parish for generously allowing us to gather in their wonderful space.
This year we have 10 interns participating in the Youth Internship Program: Alex, Claire, Deborah, Étienne, Fares, Jane and Theodora, with Aimé, Ujuamara (Alex) and Naomi returning for a second time.
The Rev. Geoff Chapman and the Rev. Arran Thorpe continue to be part of our Faith Formation Team, and Breanna Pizzuto from Talk Tools is the main leadership facilitator.
Bishop Shane joined us for the morning. The Rev. Jonathan Askwith spent the day with us as a member of the YIP Advisory Committee. The Rev. Rosemary Parker dropped by to welcome us to St Aidan’s, and Breanna Pizzuto joined us in the later part of the afternoon.
We were also joined by Maritsa and Lauren, two of our alumni. Lauren was our photographer for the day.
Although the weather was rainy, and we had to make a few adjustments to our plans for the day, everyone had fun and enjoyed the opportunity to build our relationships and create our YIP community.
In the next edition of Crosstalk, I will introduce each of the interns. We are hopeful that when we meet for our first leadership session on unconscious bias all of our interns will be able to join us.
Advent and Christmas in a time of war: the Four Last Things