|
NEW CHAPLAIN APPOINTED
The Rev. Andrea Budgey had never set up a Facebook profile, but she saw it had potential to be a great tool for engaging with students on their own terms. “I took a deep breath and plunged in,” she says, choosing a lovely photo of stained glass hanging in Trinity’s chapel for her profile picture.
Appointed as Trinity’s fourth Humphrys Chaplain on Jan. 1 for a five-year term, Budgey replaces the Rev. Dr. Dana Fisher, who finished a two-year term at Trinity last August to become Rector of St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church in downtown Ottawa.
Budgey obtained her MDiv from Trinity in 2006, though prior to that she had also completed both a MMus (she plays the oboe, among other instruments, and is a co-founder of the SINE NOMINE Ensemble for Medieval Music), and an MA at the University of Toronto.
In January of last year, Budgey was ordained priest. She followed that with a stint working as Assistant Curate at Saint Simon-the-Apostle in Toronto until the end of 2008.
Excited about her return to Trinity in a brand new capacity, Budgey says she plans to stay true to the role of the Humphrys Chaplaincy, which is geared toward undergrads, and she hopes the students will guide her according to their needs.
As Chaplain, Budgey serves several different communities, including Anglicans at both the Trinity and St. George campuses, but also any student, regardless of religious background. “A lot of the people for whom I’m available are not Anglican, not Christian, and acutely skeptical,” she says. “And it does not bother me. It’s still possible to have respectful and constructive conversation and be helpful.”
Since her official start date on Jan. 5, Budgey has already met with the Trinity College Volunteer Society in the hopes of collaborating on projects that will give her an added opportunity to do work with social intention. “It’s exciting to be part of people’s ethical development,” she says, “And how they become involved in the world, their social identity.”
Budgey believes that to keep young people interested, churches must be aware of the environmental, social and political issues that they value. “It’s really important that a church engage in these issues and not dismiss them as political.”
|
