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Sabbatical Plans For Chaplain Witkovsky -- Summer 2009
Juniata College is pleased to be the recipient of a grant from the Louisville Institute to support a sabbatical experience for Chaplain David Witkovsky. The grant is one of forty awarded through the 2008 Sabbatical Grant for Pastoral Leaders program. This year's grantees were selected from a pool of 400 applicants from the United States and Canada.
The Louisville Institute is funded by the Lilly Endowment and is based at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Below is a summary of the grant proposal which was entitled "Contemplative Connections: Ministry in a Pluralistic Setting":
I have served as Chaplain for the past 9 years at a college that has invested significant resources and energy into becoming a more diverse community. It is a delightful and stimulating environment where I regularly encounter new ideas, cultures, and religions. At the same time I have found my training and conception of ministry stretched to the limit repeatedly as I have sought to minister to an ever increasingly diverse population. For my sabbatical, I seek to slow down from the fast-paced intensity of the academic setting and drink deeply of the contemplative traditions of several world religions. I am planning 4 directed retreats with two purposes in mind 1) to receive the personal renewal that comes from experiencing the richness and depth of four distinct faith traditions and 2) to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of each of these traditions that will strengthen my ability to be a more sensitive spiritual guide to young adults from many backgrounds. I anticipate taking time to savor these experiences, relax, and engage in related reading and conversations with colleagues. Near the end of my sabbatical I will enter into a final directed time of reflection specifically designed to help me integrate my experiences with my own Christian Anabaptist tradition. Additionally, I look forward to connecting at a deeper level with my wife of 30 years through this gift of sabbatical time. As we have reached the point in life of becoming “empty-nesters”, we eagerly anticipate the opportunity to follow through on our dream of taking ballroom dancing lessons. Ballroom dancing requires a level of trust and awareness, both of oneself and one’s partner that, like contemplative practices, moves beyond words and can add grace and flow to the “dance” of our blended life. Together these connections will enrich my life and empower my ministry to serve with renewed energy and integrity.
Where will you find Dave this summer? Here is a sampling:
It begins with an eight day Silent Directed Retreat at St. Edmund's Retreat Center on Enders Island just off the coast of Mystic, CT.
The next phase of the experience is a long anticipated weekend with Kim learning the art of Ballroom Dancing. We will travel to the Hudson Valley to learn to move gracefully around the dance floor (or at least come home with some new steps).
From there he will travel to Georgetown University in Washington D.C. to learn about Muslim-Christian Dialogue at the Annual Institute on Christian-Muslim Relations for Pastors, Pastoral Workers, Imams, and Muslim Community Leaders. 
After a little time for relaxing (and golf) he will head to Kansas City to participate in an amazing interfaith conference entitled: NAINConnect 2009: "Experiencing the Spirit in Education: The Challenge of Religious Pluralism".
The next experience is an Introduction To Jewish Meditation at the Isabella Friedman Center in Connecticut. Here there will be the chance to both explore meditation from a Jewish perspective and to learn more deeply about the importance of Sabbath and its connection to sustainability and respect for our world.
The experience in Jewish Meditation will then be followed by one in Buddhist meditation at the Garrison Institute in Garrison, NY sponsored by the Dzogchen Center. This retreat is led by Lama Surya Das, who presents insights and methods of practice in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Finally, after this full but renewing summer, he will spend time integrating these experiences into his own Christian faith and training through a personal retreat time with Jeffrey Bach, Ph.D., the Director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, an expert in the Ephrata Cloister and its related traditions.
After all that, the fall semester isn't far away. Where will it all lead? What will it all mean? The big questions still await!
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