CHICAGO -- The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago is launching a pilot project aimed at mentoring new clergy.
The five-year project is funded by a $1.6 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc., according to the Episcopal News Service. The grant is the largest Lilly has awarded in its Transition-into-Ministry program, initiated in 1999.
Recently ordained clergy will spend their first two years of ordained ministry in a "mentoring congregation," stable congregations led by exemplary pastors, according to the report. They then will be placed in "mustard seed congregations," missions or parishes of fewer than 150 active members with a strong sense of mission and the potential for growth.
The program will better prepare clergy for everyday realities, said Bishop William Persell, Chicago's diocesan bishop.
Five congregations will be chosen this year as mentoring congregations, with an additional five chosen in 2004. For the initial five-year pilot phase, 25 new clergy will be mentored by 10 successful pastors. They will spend their first two years as curates, newly ordained assistant priests, in the mentoring congregations before being assigned to one of the 15 mustard seed congregations for at least three years.
