Leadership

Joyce Ann Mercer – June 20, 2024

Professor of Pastoral Care and Academic Dean | Yale Divinity School

Joyce’s work focuses on practices of care in diverse contexts and situations, including post-conflict areas of southeast Asia, children in the consumer culture of the US, addictions in family systems, and the religious lives of adolescent girls. The practical theological thread running throughout her work is the fostering of liberatory hope where personal and social forms of suffering limit human flourishing. Some of her works include Welcoming Children: A Practical Theology of Childhood (Chalice Press), a feminist practical theological exploration of theological meanings of childhood in the context of U.S. consumer culture; Girl Talk God Talk: Why Faith Matters to Teenage Girls and Their Parents (Jossey Bass), addressing the experiences of adolescent girls constructing gender and faith identities amid the complexities of adolescence; and, Lives to Offer: Accompanying Youth on their Vocational Quests (Pilgrim, co-authored with Dori Baker).

Joyce joined the Yale Divinity School faculty in January 2016, following ten years at Virginia Theological Seminary as the Arthur Lee Kinsolving Chair in Pastoral and Practical Theology. She also has served on faculties at the Graduate Theological Union, and Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines. Her career includes positions in chaplaincy and clinical social work in Atlanta, St. Paul, and Minneapolis. She maintains her professional standing in the field of social work as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Professor Mercer, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, remains active in parish ministry, most recently as a parish associate for pastoral care with older adults.

Workshop Topics

“Calm Parenting in Anxious Times” - June 20th

These are tough times for parents. We want to raise caring, compassionate, and resilient children -- but how to do that in a world that keeps throwing anxiety and stress at us and our children at every turn? We'll talk together about why some aspects of parenting seem super tough right now and what we can do to stay grounded in calm, hope-filled modes of parenting in these troubled, anxious times.

Led by Joyce Ann Mercer

"A Blessed Treasure Hunt: Finding Hope in Ourselves and Our Children in a Fear and Shame-Driven World" - July 17th

Who knew being created in God's image prepared us for parenting? Come get tools for unlocking our God-given parts for the sacred job of parenting.

Led by David Bradley

Is It Just Me, or is Parenting Harder Now?

7:00 pm

Leadership

Workshop Topics