A Year in the Life of the Berkeley Center

This past year has marked a new chapter for Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, as the newly renewed Berkeley Center came fully into use. Once known primarily as the setting for Morning Prayer, the Center is now open throughout the day, serving as a hub for study, fellowship, and hospitality. Its warm spaces and renewed purpose have made it a place where daily life finds fresh expression, and where distinguished guests from around the world are welcomed into the heart of Berkeley.

Students have embraced the Center as their own, discovering not only a quiet corner for study but also a living room for conversation and shared meals. Current senior Whitney Kimball Coe ’26 reflected: “The renewed Berkeley Center has truly become the heart of our daily life. It’s where we can move seamlessly from prayer or study to shared meals and conversations that deepen friendships and faith. The space makes our community feel both grounded and alive.”

The Center has also become a gathering place for leading voices in the wider Church. Over the past year, visiting Episcopal bishops have included Brian Cole (East Tennessee), Nicholas Knisely (Rhode Island), Julia Whitworth (Massachusetts), and Carol Gallagher (Massachusetts), who have prayed and spoken with the Berkeley community, enriching our life together with their pastoral and prophetic witness. Bishop Gallagher, the first Native American woman to serve as bishop in the Episcopal Church, served as Chaplain for the Leader’s Way residential intensive, offering wisdom from her lifetime of ministry across the United States and sharing a perspective deeply rooted in Indigenous spirituality.

The Center has also welcomed friends from across the Anglican Communion. The Very Rev. Robert Willis, Dean Emeritus of Canterbury Cathedral, and his longtime colleague Fletcher Banner were among its first guests. Willis, beloved worldwide for his ministry during the pandemic, offered some of his final sermons to the Berkeley community—gifts that will long be treasured.

Voices from the Global South have likewise enriched the Center’s life. The Rev. Canon Michael Weeder, retired Dean of St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, preached a stirring sermon at Matriculation, drawing on his poem Unconquered. Together with Dr. Bonita Bennett, director of the District Six Museum, Canon Weeder later joined students in a fireside conversation that opened imaginations to the intersections of history, justice, and faith. Fr. Fadi Diab, Rector of St. Andrew’s in Ramallah, led another fireside gathering, sharing the realities of Anglican life in the occupied West Bank.

Looking back, the first year of the Berkeley Center’s renewal has been one of discovery and delight. More than just a renovated building, it has become a space where the community gathers, where wisdom is exchanged across cultures, and where the mission of Berkeley Divinity School is deepened through prayer, study, and fellowship. With its doors now open from morning to night, the Center stands as a sign of hospitality and hope at the heart of our common life.