Category: Sabbatical 2025

Hello from the road! Things have been both remarkably busy and remarkably slow – which is exactly what I hoped for in this sabbatical trip. We left town on Thursday, albeit much later than we planned, actually leaving Walla Walla around 3:00 pm. We couldn’t help notice the air getting hazier as we moved northward; western wildfires would come to define the travel days of our trip.

Inevitably, when parish clergy and leadership inform congregations about the clergy sabbaticals, the question of “why?” arises – after all, for most secular work, the equivalent of 3 months’ paid leave for every 5 years of service is non-existent. A New York Times article from 2010, “Evidence Grows of Problem of Clergy Burnout” chronicles some of the unseen consequences of the pastoral ministry of clergy among them higher rates of obesity, hypertension, asthma and depression than the American population and a growing rate of clergy who leave active ministry in only their first four years of service. The reality of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend among the clergy – a 2022 Opinion piece by Tish Harrison Warren chronicled some of the realities of the pandemic on clergy. Fascinatingly, the secular world is catching up – a recent Harvard Business Review article made “The Case for Sabbaticals — and How to Take a Successful One.” So what does this look like in my context as Rector of St. Paul’s, and an Episcopal Priest? Why a sabbatical, and why now?