A post-election message from Dean Bader-Saye

Dear friends of Southwest,

Last night we watched as election returns came in, and we awoke this morning to hear that Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States. This news brings joy for some and pain for others. I ask each of you to continue to model the kindness and empathy that is so core to our collective being here at Southwest. Please allow yourselves and members of this community and others the space and latitude to process the election in their own ways. I ask you not to assume how others voted or might feel about this outcome; rather, I ask that you attend to yourselves and one another with grace and love.

It would be naive not to acknowledge that the temperature of the political discourse in our country is as high as it has been in most of our lifetimes. Whether your candidate won or lost, we are all tasked with doing what must come next: living with one another in peace, maintaining our core values, and pursuing our shared mission so that we can be agents of healing in the world.

Over the next four years it will be vitally important for Seminary of the Southwest to affirm and enact the hospitality that is core to our common life and mission. We are and will continue to be a place where immigrants are vital members of our community and are spoken of with respect. We are and will continue to be a place where LGBTQ+ persons are affirmed and welcomed. We are and will continue to be a place where differences of race, class, age, and ability are treated as opportunities to love and learn from our neighbor. We are and will continue to be a place where people of different ideologies and political perspectives can listen to one another and have their opinions valued.

In the spirit of the Baptismal Covenant of the Episcopal Church, Seminary of the Southwest will always be a place that resists evil, loves our neighbor, strives for justice and peace, and respects the dignity of every human being. I encourage us all to live into the invitation of this moment to be conduits of beauty, goodness, and love despite the animosity, anxiety, and turmoil that may surround us. I am so proud to be a member of this community, and I welcome the chance to walk with each of you in the days ahead.

Peace,
Scott