With no further ado :
Dear Loved Ones,
I have been offered the opportunity to be the Communications Intern with the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) in Geneva. At the beginning of my internship I am responsible for raising part of my own salary. I am asking you to partner with me and with the WSCF in the upcoming year.
Working with the WSCF is the next step in both my professional, personal and spiritual growth. I was raised in Baton Rouge where my family attended an Episcopal Church every Sunday. As I grew up my faith became an important part of what I did and who I was. At Occidental College in Los Angeles, I founded and was president of a group called Progressive Christians Uniting at Occidental. PCU at Occidental was the first college campus of a Los Angeles based organization of the same name. That year PCU at Occidental was very successful. We had weekly theological discussions and prayer with a small but consistent group. We also organized about twenty students to go to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. It was also during my senior year in college that I remembered my childhood dream of being a priest. I considered going directly to seminary but decided instead to spend a few years considering discernment. In 2007 I spent a year as an Episcopal Urban Intern in Los Angeles. I lived in Inglewood, CA with five other interns and worked for a year at Hillsides Elementary with foster care youth. That year was transformative for me in many ways; I learned a lot about my faith and my expectations of myself and other people. Last year, in 2008, I went to France to teach English. Although I had studied French in college I had never really perfected it. Living in France was a great way for me work on the language as well as meet new people and learn about a different culture. I had an amazing year living in Cannes, France. After that I moved here to Austin, TX to be close to my family. All this time I was still considering starting the discernment process with the Episcopal Church. While living here I have felt the call even stronger to begin the discernment process, yet also I have a strong desire to move back to Europe. The position as the Communications Intern will allow me to combine my desire to live in Europe as well as work with an ecumenical multi-cultural church organization. Although I have never had direct experience with the WSCF, I can see that the work they do is in line with the work that I want to be doing. I am confident that this year in Geneva will prepare me to begin seminary, if in fact I am called to be a priest.
The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), founded in 1895, is a global federation of student Christian groups. (www.wscfglobal.org) WSCF is ecumenical, welcoming people from all Christian traditions and encouraging dialogue between students of different traditions. Students who join a Student Christian Movement (SCM) are encouraged to study their Christian faith and their world with the same depth and passion they bring to their studies. SCMs are renowned for their openness to searchers as well as believers and for a strong commitment to social justice.
WSCF has a clear mission statement :
"The WSCF is a global community of Student Christian Movements committed to dialogue, ecumenism, social justice and peace. Our mission is to empower students in critical thinking and constructive transformation of our world by being a space for prayer and celebration, theological reflection, study and analysis of social and cultural processes and solidarity and action across boundaries of culture, gender and ethnicity. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the WSCF is called to be a prophetic witness in church and society. This vision is nurtured by a radical hope for God's reign in history"
I am excited to be a part of this vision and to be able to begin to embody this hope that I believe can and will change the world. This unrepeatable experience will be a chance for me to begin living in God's radical hope in a new way.
I am therefore asking you to support me in my work with WSCF. I am appreciative of anything and everything you can do for me. Currently I am in need of monetary support as well as other support in the form of prayers, a laptop and a plane ticket or even a sweater or two as Geneva will be much colder than Austin, TX. I am asking for donations. Please consider making a one time donation as well as supporting me every month during my intern year (February 2009 – January 2010). If you wish to sponsor me, please consider $50.00 or $25.00 a month. Tax-deductible contributions may be made payable to the U.S. Trustees of the WSCF and sent to the them. Their address is:
US Trustees of the WSCF
c/o Rev. Jorge Domingues
475 Riverside Drive, Room 1340,
New York, NY 10115.
Please make sure you mark the checks for the “Communications Intern”. The Trustees are a 501(c)(3) organization, and contributions are deductible to the full extent of the law.
I am planning to send out “snail mail” letters quarterly about what I am doing in Geneva. However, if you would like more frequent updates please check out my blog: www.maryanningeneva.blogspot.com . If you are interested, you can donate directly to me on my blog through PayPal. These donations are not tax deductible. There is a “Donate” button on my blog.
If you know of anyone that would be interested in learning about what I am doing with the WSCF, please feel free to pass on this letter and/or give me their name and address.
Thank you for all your support. I am truly appreciative.
In God's Grace and Peace,
Maryann Philbrook
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