Church of the Holy Apostles in Brooklyn announced Oct. 8 that Christian Ethicist and Activist Colleen Wessel-McCoy will be theologian-in-residence for the 2019-20 program year. The theologian-in-residence program is being developed in response to our need as Christians to continue to learn how to live in a broken world – and how faith, worship and action can and do have an intersection.

“Our world today in many ways resembles the world that Jesus lived in 2,000 years ago,” says the Rev. Kimberlee Auletta and the Rev. Sarah Kooperkamp, co-priests in charge. “There is a lot of uncertainty, growing poverty and food insecurity, unrest and divisions. We often forget that Jesus shows us how we can begin to make sense of how we are to live as Christians during this time and what we can do. As church goers we have a lot to learn from Colleen’s decades long work as a theologian and Christian activist – and get us outside the walls of the church.”

Wessel- McCoy will preach and teach at Holy Apostles four times throughout the program year and will be updating the parish and community with Notes from the Road, inviting people to participate in various actions throughout the year. Her first date at Holy Apostles will be Sunday, October 27.

“I’ve long been interested in the intersection of church life and activism; our world today needs more Christians who are doing the Gospel work in the world,” says Wessel-McCoy. “This is a great opportunity to work with the people of Holy Apostles this year as we continue our work towards creating God’s beloved community.”

Wessel-McCoy is co-coordinator of the Poverty & Leadership Development at the Kairos Center, National Political Education for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and Lecturer in Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary. She holds a Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics from Union.

Holy Apostles is an open and affirming Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Long Island. Holy Apostles exists as God’s house for all people, by fulfilling the spiritual yearnings of our souls, teaching us how to live as Christians in a broken world by serving the needs of the greater community.