The Commons: Our Blog

Timely, sometimes tough, questions and insights from NAES and Episcopal school leaders on leadership, governance, Episcopal identity, community life, and other issues.

Choosing Religion

I have been teaching Religion and Philosophy at independent Episcopal schools in New England for almost a quarter-century, and much has changed over that time! Specifically, our students’ level of interest in studying these topics, going on to major in them at University, and even adopting new spiritual or religious worldviews for themselves has been steadily increasing. It is not what I expected, and I am fascinated and delighted by it. An increasing number of our students are signing up for elective Religion and Philosophy courses beyond the graduation requirement, even when it displaces other courses on their transcripts. With no faculty involvement, they have started thriving Philosophy Clubs and Religious Affinity Groups of every kind. Large numbers of them attend weekly meditation sessions during their free time. Our Confirmation classes are huge these days (even though only about 10% of our students come from Episcopal families), and lately, I have baptized a steady stream of students from non-religious backgrounds. What’s up?

Certainly, their pandemic experience added urgency to our students’ search for meaning. Questions were forced on all of us during that time that are not easily answered in platitudes or by the typical metrics of school success. We all learned how little we know; we all learned how little we–and those we rely on–are in control; we all learned that the ideas and institutions that we had thought were capable and reliable are actually anything but. It was a stress test that, in many respects, our society failed. The result for our students has been a significant increase in mental health challenges and an invigorated search for a more meaningful and nurturing worldview. And so they are newly considering the religious and philosophical traditions that have been providing meaning to humans for millennia.

However, this shift actually preceded the pandemic; at least it did in my context. I teach in what one of my colleagues has called “the Godless Northeast,” which is a reference to how rapidly and thoroughly New England has secularized in the last half-century. We are closer to Europe than we are to the rest of America in church attendance and expressed religiosity. As a result, most of the teenagers I am currently teaching have been raised in non-religious families. While twenty-five years ago my students were eager to rebel against their parents’ religiosity, my students today seem to be just as comfortable rebelling against their parents’ secularism. They are much, much less knowledgeable about religion, and much, much more curious about it and open to it. If and when they do decide to embrace religion, either as an area of study or as a personal north star, they come to it through their own interest and effort, and not as an inheritance. It makes a difference!

As a teacher of Religion and Philosophy, and as a religious person myself, I am happy to see that religion is of greater interest to my students these days than it has ever been during my career. What I do not know is whether any of this will result in increased church attendance. Raised without religion, my students have been able to consider it critically and, when they embrace it, embrace it intentionally and with agency. By the same token, they are able to consider the Church as an institution critically, and I am afraid they have not shown the same eagerness to embrace it, at least in its current form. I would love it if my students could leave here and find a home in a vibrant college chaplaincy, then enter the world and find a vibrant church home, but so far they seem to be looking for ways to have fellowship and be communally religious that are outside the paradigm that has always worked for me. And I’m afraid that what they are looking for is, at this point, not very well developed or available to them. I suspect they will have to be more entrepreneurial about creating “church” than I ever had to be. 

I have faith in them, though; and I have faith in the Spirit that is guiding them. May God bless them on their journey to a greater knowledge and love of God, and to a meaningful and nurturing fellowship with their many (and increasing!) brothers and sisters in belief. It is possible that they will lead us all to a more robust “church” future. That has always been the job of the young.

The Rev. Barbara Talcott is Head Chaplain and Religion Department Chair at St. Mark’s School (Southborough, MA).

They Understand

If you had to buy all of your groceries at CVS, what would you be able to eat? What wouldn’t you be able to eat? These are questions that we pose to our second graders to get them to think, not only about food insecurity but also about food access. Washington, DC has inequitable access to fresh food/full service grocery stores in certain areas of the city. Second graders can understand Food Justice.  Read More »

The Beauty of Holiness

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:2 We know how essential worship services are in our schools when our grown students come back to their roots and ask to be married or have their... Read More »

Where the Learning Happens

At St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, one strategic initiative for us is to enhance curriculum and teaching methods while upholding excellence in academic programs, teaching, and faculty expertise. This commitment is vital in providing outstanding education for our students and aligns with our Episcopal identity, emphasizing the honor and respect for the dignity of every individual, which speaks to both hearts and minds. Achieving this goal is possible through ongoing professional development. An illustrative example of such professional development was when, earlier this school year, our Visual Arts Director took three preschool teachers and three high school teachers on a curated professional development opportunity to see the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence. It is not just a college but also a museum, and it opened our eyes to innovative educational spaces. Read More »

Lively Life in School Ministry

When people ask me about school ministry, they usually bring a set of assumptions.  They say things like “Oh, it must be so fun to just do Chapel with kids every day,” or “It must be so nice to be on a school schedule and not have to work as much as you do in a parish,” or “It must so great to have an easy schedule where you just do Chapel for a few minutes each day and teach a class or two.”  Like the work that everyone does, school ministry involves a lot more than most people see at any one glance. Read More »

Run the Race with Well-Being

The world of athletics is rapidly changing. The establishment and growth of “pay to play” club sports opportunities at a young age promotes performance-based development and success. Many club sports programs are transactional in nature, focusing on winning results, college recruiting, and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals. It seems that professional sports have bled into college sports and high school sports are now replicating the level of professionalism of Division I college athletics. Now, more than ever, it is critical to maintain focus on education-based athletics and developing student-athletes holistically. Read More »

Unreasonable Hospitality

For many of our schools, we are growing if not by numbers by innovation, technology, and new research. As educators, most of this is aimed at helping us better understand each student and reach them where they are, so we can grow them to where they need to be for the next step in their academic chapter. Read More »

Thank God It’s Today!

Each year, TMI Episcopal chooses a theme to represent how we are committed to serving our students and their families. They are not simply words on a banner, but a creed, a motto, by which we will easily live into on the “lighter days” and a belief that we will serve as a buoy on those days that are more challenging. This year’s theme is “Thank God It’s Today.” As the familiar saying goes, “Yesterday is in the past, tomorrow is in the future, but TODAY is a gift.” And that is how I have decided to lean into this school year—knowing that after almost three decades of working with children, I am still blessed with the opportunity to start anew and to receive the gift of a new day and a new year. Read More »

A Library Fit for Our K.I.N.G.S.

The library at the Bishop Walker School is at the heart of our campus. It is a light-filled space with floor-to-ceiling windows that span almost the entire width of the building. Looking... Read More »

Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

“Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I... Read More »