As the world found new rhythms to life during the global pandemic, seminarian students made their own adjustments as they discerned God’s call and worked nimbly around course work, travel and pastoral outreach.

Attending class and moving toward graduation was made difficult when school was delayed, and changed frantically from in-person to online and back again. Social distancing meant seminarians were also cut-off from attending daily chapel where they focused on their prayer life and lived in community with their peers.  An additional challenge came when some had to pivot to complete Clinical Pastoral Education requirements which is meant to give them hands-on experience providing pastoral care in settings such as hospitals, hospices and elderly care facilities.

Gavin McAdam was attending Wycliffe College in Canada when the Coronavirus started spreading globally. Canadian officials began a quick reaction of shutdowns and distancing. “It happened very suddenly, more so than in the States,” McAdam said. “We got an email canceling class. Then for the next two weeks everything was changing every single hour at the school, and people were panic buying food and supplies,” he recalled. “Canada was closing borders and we didn’t know if we could get home or if that was even a safe option.”

Julian Borda was going to school at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, England when the pandemic hit. He was scheduled for a postulancy interview in Dallas and with borders closing was left trying to determine whether to stay in England or come to Texas. He had to cancel much anticipated plans to minister in the Dominican Republic and eventually returned to his parents’ home in Texas.

For Audrey Sutton, a student at Nashotah House in Wisconsin, life as an academic was chaotic in the early days of closures. “When the shut-down came, we closed up and went back to our little domiciles - waiting, waiting - then the school came back online, and we all attended courses from our homes,” she said. “Our campus required social distancing, face coverings, and quarantine. Graduates did not have a commencement, and were rescheduled for the fall. Back home, loved ones died and I could not travel to the funerals. It was very hard.”

With the restrictions of Covid for hospitals and churches, seminarians had to remain flexible as they looked for ways to get experience as future clergy. For instance, McAdam worked as a student intern at two churches in Saskatchewan, Canada where he helped the parishes move services online and pastored people through phone calls instead of in person. Later, he was able to work in the church in-person as restrictions dissolved. “The placement was remarkable,” he said.  “In terms of pastoral work, I did all the work that pastor’s do.”

In Wisconsin, Sutton served at an elderly care facility where patients were quarantined from loved ones. She learned how to use personal protective equipment in dangerous environments and how to minister through online platforms and phone calls. “This was life-changing for me,” Sutton said. “I gained confidence to provide pastoral care in the strangest, most challenging and risky situations.”

For Borda, when the pandemic ended his plans to serve in the Dominican Republic, he provided pastoral care with phone calls made from his room at his parent’s home in Houston to a small hospital in the suburbs of Chicago where more than 500 patients died from the virus. “There were some rough calls,” he said. “A 52-year-old man burst into tears, he was scared of dying. He hadn’t externalized it and one minute into the call he started crying. Older people in their 80s were coughing profusely with Covid. I learned that they needed to know that ‘I’m here, I love you and I’m here for you.’”

Despite the challenges, all three students are moving forward in their efforts to graduate seminary and to answer their call to service. McAdam is finishing is studies at Wycliffe and Sutton is finishing classes at Nashotah House. Meanwhile Borda, who serves at San Francisco de Asis in Dallas, has completed his coursework in England but must still return for his graduation ceremony. Slowly, life is returning to normal and the seminarians are left with new appreciation for the former pace of life. “Receiving communion daily and being educated in-person, is such a gift,” Sutton said.