Bridget Power, MDiv ‘19

“Meeting somebody, hearing their actual voice, and listening to them tell their stories is powerful. That’s why I love making documentaries.”

Lifelong Religious Education

I grew up Roman Catholic. As a child, my family and I lived in a house on the edge of the campus of the Jesuit day and boarding school where my dad worked. I got to know some of the Jesuits well. I attended an all-girls school run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ). In high school, we moved to Toronto where I attended an all-girls Anglican school. So as a child, I had these examples – Jesuits, progressive Roman Catholic nuns, Anglican ministers (including women!), my parents, my large extended family and friends – of what it meant to be a person of faith.

I went to Georgetown for college where I took amazing classes like “Smart, Catholic, and Female” with Dr. Jeanne Lord and “The Church in the 21st Century” with Kevin O'Brien, SJ. I loved being in an environment where interfaith conversations and questions about spirituality, faith, and religion were encouraged and celebrated. Beyond the classroom, I sang in one of the mass choirs on Sunday nights and I often went to nightly mass. After years of being educated by Jesuits and Jesuit-educated lay people, I feel connected with Ignatian spirituality, which has encouraged me to find God in all things.

After college, I joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I spent a year in Portland, Oregon working with women experiencing homelessness and a year in Bethel, Alaska working at a domestic violence shelter. These were two formative years for me. Afterward, I moved home to Toronto and got a job at a tech startup.

Storytelling as Ministry

While I was still working at the tech startup, I received a grant from the Forum for Theological Exploration. Thanks to funding from this grant, I was able to fly back to Alaska for a week and shoot a short documentary film about lay, Yup'ik Catholic women who were leading Catholic faith communities in Southwestern Alaska. I had made some short documentaries in college, but as I was making this film I realized that I wanted to spend more of my time doing this type of work. With encouragement from my family, I decided to apply to divinity school. I thought that this could be a place where I could continue to explore my interests in storytelling, filmmaking, religion, spirituality, and social and ecological justice.

Filmmaking and storytelling are forms of ministry. I feel like one of my vocations is to help people share their own stories. Meeting somebody, hearing their actual voice, and listening to them tell their stories is powerful. That’s why I love making documentaries. Film and media are tools for empowerment, and with cellphones and the internet, anybody can be a storyteller.

This year, I’ve been working two days a week at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as a hospital chaplain. It’s been a wonderful experience, but it’s also been challenging. Dana-Farber is an ambulatory setting, so people come in for a couple of hours or the day for treatment. People are juggling a lot. They’ve got to beat the traffic. They’ve got to get home to make dinner. Maybe they flew in to Boston for their treatment today? They’ve got a lot of things on their minds. As a chaplain, I am learning how to ask questions and how to invite people into conversation in ways that allow them to feel safe and comfortable in sharing what it is they want to or need to say. They are doing their own type of truth-telling.

Innovative Ministry

HDS has been a good place to explore the connections between spirituality and storytelling because there is an appreciation for different types of ministry. There’s a lot of support and energy for that here.

For example, I took Professor Stephanie Paulsell’s class, “Seeking God: Christian Spirituality in the West,” this spring. She invited us over to her home to watch and discuss the film “Of Gods and Men.” She also encouraged me to write my first sermon, which was a new experience for me. For Professor Matthew Potts’ “Introduction to Ministry Studies” class this fall, I made a mini 360 degree virtual reality film and a mini traditional documentary film about a peace activist group. Laura Tuach in the Office of Ministry Studies has also been supportive of my desire to think about filmmaking and storytelling as forms of ministry. I’m working on a new film this summer. The staff, administrators, and faculty at HDS are helping me continue to explore my vocation and engage in theological reflection.

Holy Envy at HDS

I feel connected to my Catholic faith, and I feel very comfortable specifically in a Jesuit environment, but I’m glad that I decided to come to a multireligious divinity school. There are perspectives here that I wouldn’t have encountered elsewhere, and the richness of the learning experience is unparalleled. In one of my classes this fall, we read a book about a particular Buddhist spiritual practice in Japan. Two of my classmates were Buddhist monks from different parts of Asia. Another classmate had visited one of the sacred sites that we were talking about, and yet another had written his senior undergraduate thesis on a related topic. Being in a classroom with practitioners and scholars who are in dialogue with each other is amazing.

I recently attended the Stendahl Symposium. Both Karlene Griffiths Sekou, MDiv '17, and Professor Laura Nasrallah referenced former HDS Dean and Professor Krister Stendahl’s idea of “Holy Envy.” I hadn’t encountered this concept before, but it resonated with me. HDS is a place where I’m able to witness, learn, and appreciate how others make meaning and worship in ways different from my own. I’m grateful to be part of the Harvard Divinity School community and for the assistance that I’ve received from so many different people to find my way to this place.

Photos: Laura Krueger