St George’s College in Jerusalem and the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University are pleased to announce a new partnership supported by a generous grant from the H. Boone and Violet M. Porter Foundation.

This partnership between St George’s College Jerusalem and the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University offers new opportunities for leadership and service.

The grant will support a recent graduate of Berkeley Divinity School to serve an extended period (typically 9 months) in residence at St George’s College, Jerusalem. The Foundation, a long-time supporter of both St. George’s College and the Berkeley Divinity School, has offered to fund this fellowship on an annual basis for ten (10) years.

“The H. Boone and Violet M. Porter Charitable Foundation is committed to promoting global peace-builders and leadership for the Episcopal Church.  We are delighted to fund the Porter Fellowship at St. George’s College in Jerusalem and the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.  This will offer extraordinary Berkeley graduates valuable opportunities to learn from the witness of the College in the Holy Land, to participate in local peace-building and to strengthen their ministries with needed knowledge, experience, and relationships,” said Foundation President and Berkeley Board member, The Rev. Canon Nicholas T. Porter.

The Very Rev’d Andrew McGowan, Dean of Berkeley Divinity School has described the opportunities provided by this new partnership.

“This initiative from the Porter Foundation, together with the partnership of St George’s College, promises a new and remarkable opportunity for Berkeley at Yale graduates,” said Dr McGowan. “The historical and contemporary realities of Jerusalem invite learning about where the Church comes from, and also about where it needs to go. The Fellowship deepens our capacity to form and support leaders, even after formal seminary education, whose experience reflects not only the reality of the Episcopal Church but the challenges facing global Anglicanism. We are very grateful to both these partners for this important step.”

St George’s College Jerusalem is a center for study and reflection in the Holy Land. As a community of education, hospitality, pilgrimage, and reconciliation located in Jerusalem, it is a unique institution within the diverse Anglican Communion.

From left to right: The Rev. Canon Nicholas T. Porter, President of the H. Boone and Violet M. Porter Charitable Foundation, The Most Rev. Suhail Dawani, Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, and The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Gregory Jenks, Dean of St. George’s College, Jerusalem; pictured while meeting in Jerusalem earlier this month to discuss the establishment of the Porter Fellowship.

The Dean of St George’s College, Canon Gregory Jenks, has welcomed this new partnership: “The Porter Fellowship will help forge a strategic partnership between one of the premier universities of the world and St George’s College in Jerusalem. This partnership will benefit the partners and the Fellowship recipients in various ways. Berkeley Divinity School will gain a unique opportunity to advance its global leadership program. SGC will benefit from the contributions of bright, theologically trained staff for ten years and systemic connections into The Episcopal Church. The Fellowship recipients will benefit through opportunities to live, work and grow in Jerusalem—the cradle of the Christian faith and a bellwether of our multicultural world.”

Further information abut the Porter Fellowship and the application process is available online.