Bexley Seabury Announces 2026–2027 Scholarship and Fellowship Recipients
Bexley Seabury Seminary has announced the recipients of several scholarships and fellowship awards for the 2026–2027 academic year, recognizing students preparing for innovative leadership and ministry across the Episcopal Church.
This year’s recipients — Sharon “Libby” Clarke, Beth A. Lake, and Angel Williams — bring to seminary formation a remarkable range of professional experience, spiritual depth, and commitment to serving communities both within and beyond traditional church structures.
Together, their stories reflect the breadth of vocation emerging within today’s Episcopal Church: creative leadership, public service, contemplative practice, pastoral care, community engagement, and a deep commitment to building communities of belonging.
Sharon “Libby” Clarke — Bexley Seabury Scholar
Sharon “Libby” Clarke, a postulant for ordination in the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, has been named the 2026 Bexley Seabury Scholar as she begins formation for ordained ministry.
Libby comes to seminary after years of work at the intersection of art, faith, and community as a teacher, printmaker, creative director, and organizer helping congregations and institutions discover their voice and communicate with authenticity and integrity.
A member of Christ Church in Short Hills, New Jersey, Libby lives in Maplewood with her wife and daughter. She says her parish community and a Thursday morning prayer group that has met weekly for nearly six years have provided “a small, steady anchor in a long and sometimes winding journey toward ordination.”
At Bexley Seabury, Libby plans to pursue the Master of Divinity degree alongside the Certificate in Church Planting and New Christian Communities, with particular interest in creativity, welcome, and the Church’s public witness.
She says she was drawn to Bexley Seabury’s approach because it understands that “formation happens in relationship with real people and real places,” reflecting the way she has always understood ministry to take shape.
Beth A. Lake — Bexley Seabury Fellowship Recipient
Beth A. Lake, an aspirant for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Diocese of Easton, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Bexley Seabury Fellowship.
An Army veteran, communications professional, and parishioner at St. Paul’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Ocean City, Maryland, Beth brings to ministry a lifelong commitment to service, thoughtful communication, and community-building.
Currently pursuing the Master of Divinity degree with a specialization in Church Planting, Beth is especially interested in creating communities of belonging, engaging questions of justice, and helping people explore their spiritual lives and recognize God already at work within them.
Her vision for ministry has been shaped both by her professional experience in public affairs and communications and by her ministry experiences in coastal communities, where she imagines innovative expressions of church such as dinner church and beach church that invite people into prayer, conversation, and authentic community.
Beth also volunteers in outreach ministry with members of the unhoused community and is training as a retreat facilitator through the Contemplative Wisdom for Today program, deepening her work in spiritual formation, healing, and reconciliation.
She believes the Church is called to become a place where those who have experienced exclusion or spiritual harm — especially LGBTQ+ individuals — can rediscover belonging, wholeness, and spiritual renewal.
Angel Williams — Recipient of the St. Marina Scholarship
Angel Williams has been named the 2026–2027 recipient of the St. Marina Scholarship as she begins a new season of discernment and theological formation.
Raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, Angel says she eventually sought a church community where she could fully belong and serve as “a triple minority — female, multiracial, and openly gay — in God’s Church.” In 2016, she and her wife found a spiritual home in the Episcopal Church, where they continue to worship and serve actively in their parish community in Texas.
A retired law enforcement officer with more than twenty-eight years of service in New York and Texas, Angel later completed Clinical Pastoral Education training and became a chaplain, offering spiritual care and emotional support to patients, families, and hospital staff.
At Bexley Seabury, Angel hopes to deepen her knowledge of scripture, church history, liturgy, the sacraments, and the Episcopal tradition while strengthening the spiritual and academic disciplines needed for ministry.
She says she feels called to help create a Church where all people are welcomed and invited into the life of faith.
“Receiving the St. Marina Scholarship is clearly divine,” Angel shared. “Without it, I would be unable to afford seminary or relocate for in-person learning.”
Supporting the Future Church
Bexley Seabury’s scholarships and fellowship programs are made possible through the generosity of donors committed to forming faithful, creative, and innovative leaders for the Church of the future.
The Seminary’s scholarship recipients this year represent a wide range of ministry callings and life experiences, yet share a common commitment to serving God’s people with compassion, imagination, and hope.
As they begin this next chapter of formation, these students embody Bexley Seabury’s ongoing mission to prepare leaders for a changing Church and a changing world.