Trinity Church Provides Generous Scholarships for Virtual Curacy at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale

By Staff | Wednesday, June 25, 2025

“When so many questions for a new priest seem both urgent and still coming into focus, who can accompany the priest to clarify the questions? A mentor. Lots of questions are natural in the initial years of ministry. Solid answers with wise guidance by a mentor are essential in these intensely formative years.” -The Rev’d Dr. Carol Pinkham Oak  

Berkeley Divinity School at Yale is thrilled to announce a partnership with Trinity Church to provide generous funding for the Virtual Curacy Program launching this summer. Funding from Trinity Church will allow 7 curates to participate in this hybrid program at minimal cost. Applications are currently open.  

“Trinity Church has generously removed nearly all financial barriers for curates to participate in this new two-year program. With their bishop’s approval, we encourage new priests from across the country to apply to our inaugural cohort,” according to Dr. Brandon Nappi, Executive Director of Leadership Programs. The deadline to apply is July 15.  

About Virtual Curacy   
The innovative curriculum is tailored for those who find themselves as priests in charge immediately after ordination due to the dearth of traditional curacies. Berkeley seeks to partner with dioceses across The Episcopal Church to ensure that new clergy receive the necessary support and training they need in a period of ministry one alum called “fourth trimester” after seminary.   

“We have been thinking and praying about the changing needs of newly-appointed clergy and especially those who go straight to being “in charge,” and have spent a year asking all sorts of people in the Episcopal Church interested in formation–bishops, canons, alums, priests, curates, and educators—about newly ordained priests’ most pressing needs. We are proud of the resulting Virtual Curacy and are encouraged that dioceses have perceived our inaugural program as meeting their expressed needs.”

—

The Very Rev’d Dr. Andrew McGowan, Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale

In addition to weekly one-on-one mentoring, the Virtual Curacy curriculum includes:  

Spiritual Formation for Church Leaders (Opening Retreat):  
Curates gather in August at an Episcopal Camps and Conferences location (2025: Cathedral Ridge in Colorado). The facilitator leads the group through modules such as “exploring the identity and spirituality of a parish priest” and “creating prayer rhythms to avoid burnout.”  

Exegeting the Book of Common Prayer to Lead Worship:  
In their first fall, Virtual Curates focus on leading worship, guided by the Book of Common Prayer. 

Pastoral Leadership:  
Spring brings first and second-year curates together. Curates gain hands-on experience in pastoral ministry, including selecting music for worship, weekly sermon preparation, trauma-informed preaching, and pastoral leadership. 

Visionary Leadership:  
In their second-year fall, curates develop adaptive leadership, learning conflict resolution and leading through change.   

Church Management:  
In the spring, curates learn together, developing skills in managing church resources, collaborating with laity, managing finances, and fundraising.  

Closing Retreat:  
In June of the second year, curates gather at Yale to worship, celebrate, and receive their Yale certificates.  

Young church leaders chatting on a wall in the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle at Yale

“Newly ordained clergy in the Episcopal Church in Colorado serve in a wide ranges of ministry contexts and settings,” reflected The Rev’d Greg Foraker, Canon of Formation & Pastoral Care, Diocese of Colorado.  “When Bishop Kym Lucas learned about the Virtual Curacy program being offered through Berkeley at Yale, she was enthusiastic to encourage the Rev. Rob Rose to apply. Rob serves as Vicar for two congregations in southwest Colorado: Ouray and Telluride. These Episcopal communities are small and growing, and are located in a remote region of the state, several hours away from larger population centers where more resources are readily available. Bishop Kym immediately saw the value of the mentoring and support Rob could receive through the innovate approach of a Virtual Curacy was pleased to learn of his acceptance in the program.”   

Each month, the curate will have 4 hours of mentoring and 2 hours of synchronous meeting time. Curates meet online with their assigned mentor weekly for the two years of the program. They also gather online once per month for two hours of learning in a cohort setting. At each gathering, the Virtual Curacy Facilitator shows clips from the Virtual Curacy content library of leaders sharing their expertise on the topic of the month. Then, the Facilitator leads a discussion in which curates are encouraged to work through instances in their own ministry related to that topic.   

Newly ordained and soon-to-be ordained priests from any Episcopal diocese are eligible to apply to the program with diocesan approval. Decisions will be communicated within a month of applying. Tuition is $18,000 for the two-year program, which includes the opening and closing retreats. A sliding scale of tuition is available to dioceses based on their ability to pay tuition costs. Generous scholarship funding has been made possible by Trinity Church.  

“When so many questions for a new priest seem both urgent and still coming into focus, who can accompany the priest to clarify the questions? A mentor. Lots of questions are natural in the initial years of ministry,” said The Rev’d Dr. Carol Pinkham Oak . “Solid answers with wise guidance by a mentor are essential in these intensely formative years. Life-long formation for years of ministry takes place most intensely immediately after seminary and in the initial years of ministry practice.  This formation experience can positive or negative. The church can offer new clergy positive experiences to form priestly identity for lifelong leadership in the church.”         

Apply

Applications are open. Prospective Virtual Curates must have diocesan approval to apply.

Application Portal

About Berkeley Divinity School at Yale:  

Berkeley Divinity School is the Episcopal seminary at Yale. The mission of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale is to form and transform lay and ordained leaders for the present and future Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. A Christian community of worship, learning, and service, it shares in the ecumenical and scholarly vocations of Yale Divinity School.  

For more information, contact Brandon Nappi, DMin.