Nashotah House is excited to announce its first annual international conference, the James Lloyd Breck Conference on Monastism and the Church. This year’s conference theme, “The Monastic Call of Every Christian,” will explore the idea that the foundation of all forms of religious life, consecrated or lay, is the sacrament of baptism. Held at Nashotah House, June 13-14, 2019, the conference will provide an intimate forum to investigate this reality and its implications for the life and ministry of all Christians.

The annual Breck Conference on Monasticism and the Church and appointment of Dr. Peters is made possible by a generous endowment granted to Nashotah House in 2017, extending the legacy of The St. Benedict Servants of Christ into perpetuity for the advancement of the Religious Life, especially within Anglicanism. “My hope is to continue Nashotah House’s longstanding commitment to take seriously personal holiness and service in the Church. Monasticism has a lot to teach the twenty-first century and through the newly endowed Breck Conference we will be able to investigate monastic history for the express purpose of recovering its riches for today’s church. To do this at Nashotah House reinforces the school’s commitment to the Christian tradition and to the ‘real preparation’ of ecclesial ministers,” shared Peters.

Dr. Greg Peters received his Doctorate in Monastic Studies from the Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, his PhD in theology from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto and has Masters Degrees from St. John’s School of Theology, Collegeville, MN and Dallas Theological Seminary. He has published several articles and books specializing in monasticism including his most recent books: The Monkhood of All Believers: The Monastic Foundation of Christian Spirituality and The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality.

“By adding Fr. Greg Peters to our team to launch our annual conference, Nashotah House honors the Servants of Christ, reaffirming our seminary’s long-standing monastic ideals. As arguably the leading Anglican scholar of Christian monasticism in North America, Fr. Peters will guide a new generation of Christians into the treasures of monastic spirituality for our time,” stated Dr. Anderson, Nashotah House’s President and Provost.

The conference features the following speakers:

The Rev. Dr. Julia Gatta received her M.A. from Cornell University, her M.Div. from Episcopal Divinity School and is currently the Bishop Frank A. Juhan Professor of Pastoral Theology, the University of the South, Sewanee. She holds a PhD in Medieval Studies from Cornell University. She is the author of The Pastoral Art of the English Mystics, The Nearness of God: Parish Ministry as Spiritual Practice, and Go in Peace: The Art of Hearing Confessions, written in collaboration with Martin Smith. Her most recent publication is Life in Christ: Practicing Christian Spirituality.

Fr. Dr. Gregory Gresko earned both his Doctorate and Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical John Paul II at the Pontifical Lateran University (Vatican City), writing his dissertation on the consecration of the family. He is an American Benedictine monk who serves as professor in the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant’Anselmo (Rome).

Dr. David Fagerberg received his PhD from Yale University and is currently a professor teaching theology and liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame. His recent publications include On Liturgical Asceticism (CUA Press, 2018) and Consecrating the World: On Mundane Liturgical Theology (Angelico, 2016).

Nashotah House is located at 2777 Mission Road, Nashotah, Wisconsin.

For more information, schedule and registration visit: www.nashotah.edu/breckconference

Founded in 1842 as an heir of the Oxford Movement and inspired by Jackson Kemper, the First Missionary Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Nashotah House exists to form persons for ministry in the breadth of the Catholic Tradition for the Episcopal Church, Churches in the Anglican Tradition, the wider Anglican Communion, and our Ecumenical Partners, thus continuing to serve our historic role as “The Mission”, empowering the Church for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Order of St. Benedict Servants of Christ was founded in 1968 by the Very Reverend Dom Cornelis deRijk, OSB, a priest and Benedictine monk, with Reverend Canon Lewis Long in Phoenix, Arizona. The Order was a Benedictine community guided by the balance of prayer, study, and work. The late Father deRijk, who served as head of the order, received his Master of Divinity from Nashotah House in 1976.