In this episode, Fr. Lorenzo chats with the experiment managers for the “Being With Clergy” experiment which sought to combat the large number of young clergy who are leaving ministry a few years after ordination. The Revs Rachel Field and Mo Lederman tell us about what they learn and how you can benefit from this work.
Rachel Field is an Episcopal Priest living on a small hillside along with mosses, strawberries, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, beavers, and ravens. She spends much of her time wandering the neighborhood with her horses, Tom Bombadil and Radagast the Brown. She is the co-owner of Heartberry Hollow Farm & Forest in Randolph Vermont and the Earth Liturgist for The Retreat House at Hillsboro. Her ministry focuses around imagining and facilitating places of connection between people and the sacred earth.
Rev. Mo Peitler-Lederman is a native Nutmegger and serves through the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. She is a graduate of Providence College, BA Theology and a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. Ordained in 2004, Mo served as the Associate Rector and Chaplain of the Day School at St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church in New Haven, CT for nine years. She became the Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Guilford, CT until June of 2021. She has served the diocese as a member of the Commission on Ministry, Chair of the South Central Leadership Team, Chair of the Women’s Ministry Network, a Camp Washington Chaplain and Retreat Leader, and Chair for the Committee for the Formation of All the Baptized. Currently she is a diocesan consultant, working with newly ordained clergy. She leads retreats for parish groups and vestries, is a liturgist for the Episcopal Preaching Foundation, and recently finished working with the Ekklesia Ballet Company on their work, “Body and Land.” She is pursuing a Certificate in Communications and Digital Media through the Center for New Media at Middlesex College. When not serving parishes or taking classes Mo enjoys spending time with family, baking, singing in a community choir, and blending and drinking tea. Her website is molederman.com