Motivating Mondays: Faith, Leadership & Breaking Barriers with Mother Cecily Broderick

What does it truly mean to answer your calling—especially when the path isn’t made for you? 

In this powerful episode, Dr. Sujay sits down with Mother Cecily Broderick to explore a remarkable journey of faith, resilience, and leadership in spaces where barriers once stood firm. From navigating challenges as a woman in ministry to redefining what church and community look like today, this conversation dives deep into purpose, identity, and the courage to lead with authenticity. You’ll discover how faith can evolve in a changing world, why community matters more than ever, and what it takes to build a life of impact while staying grounded in who you are. If you’ve ever questioned your calling, struggled with limitations placed on you, or felt the pull to do something greater—this episode will inspire you to step boldly into your purpose and lead with both heart and conviction. 

Learn more, explore Soul Care resources, and connect with Dr. Sujay at DrSujayGlobal.com

Submit questions and topics at AskDrSujay.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Do you ever wonder how faith fits into leadership or how to lead with both power and purpose? If you're looking for wisdom that bridges culture, confidence, and calling, then this podcast is for you. Here's Global Diplomat, Business Strategist, and Women's Empowerment icon, your host, Ambassador Susan Johnson Cook.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Hello and welcome to Ask Dr. Suj. You know, soul care is so important to me. It is what I look for, long for, make sure that others have when I'm able to provide it. And one of the places I get my soul care is Sag Harbor, New York, the village of Sag Harbor. And one of the wonderful women in Sag Harbor is Mother Cecily Broderick, who's a woman of soul care. She is the rector at the Christ Episcopal Church in the village of Sag Harbor. And today you'll hear from her as we talk together as women of the cloth, women clergy, black women clergy, Mother Cecily Broderick. I hope that you'll enjoy this podcast. And if you have other questions, please let us know. But welcome to Ask Dr. Sujay with Mother Cecily Broderick. Welcome to Live with Suja, and we're all the way live and in living color. So delighted to have you. Thank you for inviting us into your home, to your workplace. We're just glad to be with you. You know, we've been focusing on black women leaders and celebrating black culture in the East End. And it is my excitement and delight to introduce to some and present to others, Mother Cecily Broderick Vera. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

It's great to be with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

You know, I mean, you're new in the studio today, but our ministries actually began around the same time. I think you were at Mother Phillips. Is it St. Phillips?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Phillips, St. Holland.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

And so talk to me about your journey towards priesthood.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Wow, wow, wow, wow. So I grew up in the church. And back in the day, my father asked for us to give of our time because the money that he gave us was his money. Okay. Yes. So the more I got involved in the church, the more I loved it. When I was around 13, I saw for the first time an ordained woman. Same in. And I said, Wow, I could do this. Yes. Never mind, they weren't ordaining women at large in the Episcopal Church at that point. But that's the seed got planted, and I just kept at it.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Do you remember who it was?

SPEAKER_01 2:37

I do not.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

So I saw the first woman I saw was Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, the late Dr. Katie. Oh, sure. The woman is so she was a college student at Barbara Scotia College in Concord, North Carolina. And I spent summers, you know, how we had to go down south. And she walked in, and I had no idea I was going to be called to ministry, but I said, She's it. And she became my big sister until she passed. So 50 years I had her in my life. But yeah. And you know the Baptist Church wasn't even thinking about the ordination. Yeah. Yeah. So have you faced barriers? I mean, you've been head of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. Well, not quite head, but very next.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Well, so um, yeah, there's been opposition, of course. Yeah. Right. So when I entered ministry, when I looked to enter ministry, I was still in high school. And the first obstacle was I was too young. Okay. I'm like, well, back in the day, they took men straight out of high school, gave them a bachelor's of divinity, popped them in to be in charge of a church. But now that women were coming in, we had to go get a real life.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

So that was the first obstacle. Then the next thing was that really up until a very few years ago, I never served inside a predominantly white institution.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yes, yes. So my early, early childhood, we were in a black episcopal church. Then we moved to Scarsdale. And there was, you know, we were the only chips in that cookie. Exactly. And that's was my my sponsoring church was St. James the Less Scarsdale. Oh my goodness. So my formative years were really in the Anglican, the White Episcopal Church.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

But my first 25 years in the Episcopal Church, I had to learn what it was to be a black Episcopalian. Amazing. Amazing. I would go and guest preach. They'd say, Oh, you're so wonderful. Then I would interview like, not so much. Right, exactly. Not at this time. I had one church ask me at the end of the interview, do you think more people like you will come if we hire you? Oh my goodness. And I said, Well, in my experience, people come and stay because of who's in the pew, not because of who's in the pew pulp. Yeah. We did not hire a male. Okay, okay. But you're the shallow remain nameless. Exactly. They hire someone who lasted about a year. And I thought, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Wow, wow. So how was it going back to St. Phillips in a Harlem community? Yeah, you know, St.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Philips, I was there twice in my career. Wow. I was there within the first couple of years of my ordination as an associate, as a curate. And then later, when they had some difficulty with a male pastor who didn't do the right thing by them, I was called to be the cleanup woman. I live, always. I was there for four years. And it was wonderful to come back seasoned and mature. Yes. And back home. And back home.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

So, you know, you were the first one I ever called mother. I didn't know how to address a woman in the Episcopal Church. So, Mother Broadwick, it was so wonderful to know you and to just kind of say, Yeah, we know each other. And you were downtown in the past. Mariness Temple Baptist Church. Same kind of thing, ages. I was 26, and all my congregation were senior citizens, and they said, you know, we've got kids your age. And I was like, Yep, I'm your pastor.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Yeah, yeah. You know? When I went to St. Philip's, I was like, what shall we call you? I said, well, you know, the term is mother. And they said, no, I don't think so. So they were like, You were my child. So the nick they came up with a nickname. I was Mama B. Okay. Came up with the nickname. Okay. Okay. Like calling her mother. Right. This kind of works. She could be my grandchild. I'm not calling this woman mother.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Wow, it's amazing. But the resistance, because I was at a church, a cleanup woman, exactly. The church was about to close, and they thought it was going to be the benediction. And so let's give her the church and then it had no idea. No idea. You know, so it's exciting to be here today. So let's look at some pictures you've brought because now you're back home in a real sense. You're back in Sag Harbor, in the home where your parents lived, and also at a church, Christ Church, Christ Episcopal Church in Sag Harbor. Oh my goodness. So let's look at some pictures that we have. We have here. Um this childhood pictures. Tell us who we're seeing.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

So I'm the girl in the picture, so that's me. Behind me is my oldest brother, Gregory, who is Dean of Students at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, over the School of Urology. I love it. And then just in front of me is my brother Vernon, who is a federal court judge appointed by President Obama.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

Uh-oh. My friend. Yes. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

And then the baby there is my brother Cecil. We're both named after my father. Yes, I've met him. He is in Florida. He's been selling cars and doing a variety of things. He's a real civic-minded person, always giving back to the community. Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Well, I have a nephew for him. My youngest son is now in Miami. So we're going to put those two together. All right. So we have some other pictures. Let's see the array of pictures that you have. Now, this is you, and tell us who we're seeing.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Oh, yeah. Well, this is a baby shell remaining nameless, little anonymous baby born at the last church that I was serving. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

And you're a mommy now, too. Let's see that next picture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah. So here's me with my partner, Dr. Julie Bates, and our two children, Dana and Cecil. Who I've met and I love. Dana looks overly happy, and Cecil looks overly sad. But you know how it is with children. I do, I do.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

And particularly PK is a call of my. Now tell us what this is.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yeah, so this is me at St. Luke's and Forest Hills. We would go out each year on Ash Wednesday and administer ashes, ashes to go. Yes. Oh, what a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

The marking, the beginning of Lent. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

But how innovative, how wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

And this, oh, this is a beautiful book. Yeah, I that's a family that gave that book in memory of a loved one at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Jamaica.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Okay, and the final one we have is Oh, now Christ Church Sag Harbor. Which is so gorgeous. Your robes are so beautiful. I just want to stand in your robes.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

I know, I know the robes are quite something.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

So let's talk about Christ's Episcopal Church Sag Harbor. When I come in the summers, even though I'm a minister, it kind of doesn't feel like a church place. But how are you finding the spiritual development of so it's, you know, it's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

A lot of the churches have closed. Yes. In the in the Hamptons. The ones that are left have deep endowments. Christ just church does not have a deep endowment. Okay. So my placement here is really about supporting the people who've held this place together for years and now are down to maybe five handfuls.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

And planting. Yes. You know, and seeing what it is God needs from that congregation, what that God needs from that space. So we actually host the largest number of recovery groups of any church in Sag Harbor. Okay. Yeah. We are a home away from home for classes through the Bay Street Theater, English as a second language. So we also're very small in terms of worshiping. And the worshiping community is an interesting mixture of people where there's maybe two handfuls of folks who are local. Yes. Who this is their church. And then the rest of the folks all have other churches they belong to, and Christchurch is the church that they go to when they are in town.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Well, I'm going to come as well. But it's interesting that in Saint Harper that's going to preach honey. It's interesting to say I would love to. Whenever you invite me, I'd love to. You know that. You're ready. Okay, sounds good. But it's interesting. There are three black women. The first Baptist Church of Bridgehampton. Absolutely. The Unitarian Church, and now you. So amazing. And one geographic area. In one geographic area. And you're all very community-oriented. All of your facilities is not just a building, it's community.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

The founding fathers must be rolling over in their graves. Yeah, they really are. Because Christ Church founded 1845. Ooh. Oh. And there were still enslaved people in this region. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

That's really different.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

And at most, what was I? The wife of a boniker or the person indentured to take care of their house.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

If I was lucky, well, maybe I could be inside the house.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

And not in the field.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Amazing, amazing. You know, the First Baptist Church of Bridge Hampton had to kind of write, not only write a letter, but just kind of influence because they had never had a woman in the Baptist tradition. And you know, just still you would think at 20, 22, 23, that we were a little farther along. So what do you see in terms of hope? If you were, if there's a woman who's saying, I'm feeling I'm called, I'm feeling God wants to do something.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

And this is the best work anyone could ask to do. And but you need to pick your denominations carefully. Yes. We were chatting before about, you know, what we're entitled to at retirement. It's so important to feel the call, but be pragmatic, to look at it from a business sense. What denomination can I represent? Because all denominations have their mess. They do.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

And it's the business of church business you have to really write.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

You have to be able to tolerate the structure, the leadership, and to serve, to do what God has called you to do. Exactly. I have no regrets. Exactly. Is the denomination a mess? Absolutely. Are mainline denominations losing members faster than they're gaining? Absolutely. But I'm not doing this for this. Right. I'm doing this for my relationship with God and what I feel called to do in the world.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah, so USA Today has this thing. They said that there are the nuns N-O-N-E-S, those who have no faith tradition, the duns D-O-N-E-S, those who are through with it, and I say the B-U-N-S, it's the buns. People have sat on their buns for two years. So will church ever be the same now that there's been this pandemic and people have been able to be in their pajamas, no one needs to see them. Will church ever be the same?

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Uh no, and that's a good thing. I'm not sure God needs it to keep repeating the same thing. So I think if we are good stewards of our resources, we will be running church on a variety of tracks. Yeah. Yeah. There is the people who want and need to come in to have that connectivity, to have the in up close personal experience.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

There are the people who may come in occasionally but need to connect by phone. Right, right. Need to connect by phone on a Sabbath, need to connect by phone or tablet or computer on a weekday to get that recharge. Right? We're not leaving televangelism to the mega churches. Right, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

And mega now doesn't really mean what it used to because anyone who understands technology and can get on that.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Thank you very much. Exactly. Thank you very much. And has licenses to reuse music, right? Oh, that's a big point. And many people don't understand that. You can't just take somebody else's work and put it with yours.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Oh no. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Not their sermon. Right. Not their translation of the Bible. Right. And not the music. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Exactly. I've seen a lot of plays.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

They're dead and gone. So, and then there's another community for the church. They're the people who are not going to be confessional, but need good news. They need the good news of food. Yes. They need the good news of advocacy for just speaking. Yes. Right? They need the good news of being able to make a contribution. I mean, it you recycle and think, well, what's, you know, still, I'm recycling all this stuff and there's global warming. Or I'm shopping when I go grocery shopping and I g get one for me and one for them. But there's still all this talk about hunger. They actually, there are people who need to be hands-on in caregiving. Exactly. Exactly. So that they understand and can feel by their own hands and their own interactions that the kingdom of God has come on earth as it is in heaven. Exactly. So if we are paying attention, I think if we were always paying attention, there would have been that triad. Yes. But today, if you're not doing it, sell the building. Exactly. And put the capital to use at something else. Exactly. Because today, we don't need the church to just be there to baptize, marry, bury. We don't patch, match, and dispatch. We don't, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

So you raise a good question about caregiving, though, because I'm leading a group of black women pastors who are caregivers. And one of the things that's really important to me is self-care. Because five of the women who started in ministry with me in the Baptist world are all gone. And a lot of it was because they couldn't put boundaries, they didn't put boundaries, or they felt that they couldn't stop. And I stopped. So Sagar is my stopping place. So my first question to you is what do you do for self-care?

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Oh, well, I am blessed or not with still having children at home. Okay. And so that creates a hard line where I'm sorry. No, it's time to do homework. It's time to prepare dinner. We're going riding bicycles. My son in the evening, I have to watch him shoot hoops. Yes, that's it. Yes, that's it. I love it. Also really fortunate in that I've moved into my parents' house and I look out the window from my desk and it's God's creation. Oh, it's so beautiful. You know, if I look to the right or left is Nabas. Yes. But out front, especially this time of year when the boats go away. Yes. It's just the water, it's the ducks, it's the, you know, the whatever. It's the fish jumping in the water's nature. And that's restorative. So I can walk on the beach when I get some time. I am in the But just look at it.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Just look at it, right? Be lazy and look. I sat at New H at Haven's Beach yesterday, and just it was like one of those picture perfect days. No one knew I was there, but God. And we just had this, let me look at the water, and just it was wonderful. So I'm glad that you have that. And I'm glad that you talked about the parental lines. You know, kid people used to say, so where are your kids doing homework like yours are?

SPEAKER_01 16:58

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

You know, I'm not slipping them to the midweek meetings.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

No, no, no, no. And my my kids are a bit spoiled because from shortly after my daughter was born, at around age two and a half, I shifted out of church ministry and was a hospital administrator. Okay. For 14 years. Oh, that was fortunate. We went to church as a family. Yes. Yes. None of this. What is your son doing? I remember when I went back into church work, I took him with me and he was up and down, up and down during service. And people said, What's going on? And I said, Well, ask him. He says, Well, I was going to the bathroom. I said, Church is boring. I don't want to say, I'm going to the bathroom. And by the next week, they said, We'll talk to him and remind him to go to the bathroom before church. That was the last Sunday I brought him. I know that's right. We don't need the spiritual lives of our family tainted. Exactly. And we don't need several parents. They have their parents. I know, and I'm bad enough as it is. I know that.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

But see, now both of my children were born when I was senior pastor. So but I had one person, either the dad or had one person in the church, only one who could touch them, kind of take care of them, because they didn't need all of these voices telling them.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

So can I ask you a question? Yes. Uh-huh. Do they still go to church?

SPEAKER_02 18:18

They're starting again now, one's 30. Okay. And there was a season one. I remember the first day I announced. I went down to work in the Obama administration, and I said, We're not doing watch night service. They said, We don't have to go. And it was sort of this relief. And they were about 10th and 8th grade then, and they were just so relieved. And then I was ambassador for 12 years, so they didn't have during for that decade, so they didn't have to go. And so now they have are fine. They can choose. Yeah, they can choose.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

It's very hard when you can't choose. Right. I not only find this to be true with PK kids, because I've sometimes served with other clergy who had kids. But it's true of those of us who don't trust the public school system, send our children to religious schools where they like have chapel every day. When they get done with high school, they're like, I've had enough church for a lifetime.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

And that's exactly what I did. I sent them to an Episcopal school, St. Hilton's and St. Hughes. Oh, sure. Which I loved, and they loved it too. But they needed a break after that.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

So after high school. School and you? It was a good idea. Yeah, and I and I I don't know that we in the church, there are some outliers, have learned how to do children young adults effectively. No, we haven't yet. We we're geared up for who's there and who's been there. Women. Right. And they got angry when we were ordained. Yes. But the church was full of women. Exactly. Women and older folks.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah. Now I found a church in Maryland where I was had to move to Washington to serve, and it's called First Baptist Church of Glen Arden, they do every generation well.

unknown 19:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

And now they have gone international. So things like you said, baptism and whatever, they're like, get your cracker, get your wafer. And they've learned how to have campuses around the globe. But they do children and youth and young adults well, and married couples and singles. So they've learned how to do it. He's been there like 40 years, and he's got six kids of his own. Okay. So they have helped him, them, because his wife is part of ministry too, to kind of understand how to be relevant and stay relevant. So it's all the way live. I mean, last Sunday was Youth Sunday, and I was like, okay. Yeah, I mean it was a production, but it was good. So I think though here um in New York, we have not found the answer.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

No, and the formulas that we had in mainline denominations all involved having a designated staff person. Exactly. Who got who's got the kids?

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So that we're on the same page in terms of that. So self-care, you look at the water, you have time with your children and your family. You love to read. Outdoor gardener, outdoor gardener. Okay. What's your genre of books that you prefer?

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Uh you know, I prefer fiction by women of color. Same here. Same here. You know, that is where my heart is. Okay. And then if I need to step out from there, I'm I'm reading stuff that has to do with my life. So I'm reading a book by AC Moore, her memoir of uh being an adopted. Okay. It's giving me insight because both of my children are adopted. Okay. So then I'll sort of step out in that way. Yes, yes. And then, you know, I our culture.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

So we didn't get it. I don't know about you. I didn't get it at school. Oh no. So I'm having to self-educate as an adult.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Exactly. And I'm a boomer. So but one of the things I was able to do, because you know the Floridian governor talked about how we were benefiting from slavery. So I do a retreat every year called Sailor by the Sea for self care. And I just made a decision we're not going to Sailor by the Sea in Florida because there'll be some other seas well. I'm like, how can you spend your dollars where you're insulted? So making those decisions. But I want to go back to your advocacy statement. Does everyone need to be an advocate? Because I have this thing about staying your lane. Like I'm not a marcher.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

There is an L Sharp. People have different callings. Yeah, exactly. What do you feel yours is?

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Mine is to facilitate people's discovering what their vocation is. Nice. That is my lane. Okay. So I don't, you know, I have colleagues who would go march and get arrested. I'm like, no, no. My parents did not raise me to get a to have a prison set. Exactly. No, no, no. But they would have to bail me out. Exactly. No, we're not doing that. Exactly. But I'm not going to stop anybody else. And if it is someone's call, I will help them to get on their page. Yeah. A church really is kind of a crucible where people come, hear God, hopefully, not good. Yes. We're doing our job. Right. And hear God asking them to be whom God created them to be, whom God needs them to be in the world. Because the only hands, hearts, and mouths and eyes God got in the world are ours. Yes. So people are going to have different callings. And a church should have space to be a launching pad for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

That's a great title. Launching pad for everyone. I love it. But that's exactly it. So that you can take your leap forward where you need to go. But we help you get on that path.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Well, some of my colleagues are, you know, this, that, or the other thing. I'm not really.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

I know. No, no, no, because then how do I tend the rest of what the church needs? Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 23:31

Exactly. No, I understand that totally. So, books, self-care. What would you want to do if you weren't doing this right now?

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Well, actually, I've started doing some of that. What is that? I went back for training to be a coach. I am coaching clergy. I'm working to become a certified coach. And so that when I'm done with church stuff, I can take that nurturing your vocation and just do that. It's not therapy. Right, right. It's not spiritual direction. It's listening to you, where you are in your life, and asking you, are you making the best use of your talents and resources?

SPEAKER_02 24:09

I'm going to hire you for our women pastors because we need more African-American women coaches, particularly for vocations that are a clergy. So yeah, you will get it.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Because we can get totally burned out. We can get distracted. There's no money in the bank, and we are busy raising money. Right. And we lose our souls exactly. In the process, or the buildings.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Don't get me stuck in the buildings. Well, I burned out my seventh year. I told you, I went in 26, put no boundaries. I was single. So and my office had no window. So it was like going to the coal mines. And people would be waiting for me when I got there. They'd be lined up when I left. And I didn't understand how to put boundaries at that point. So I got this gift of a sabbatical at Harvard Divinity School. And I walked around the Charles River every day. And when I got myself back together, it was like, you are too blessed to be stressed. Yes. He leads us beside still water so we can be restored in order to help others.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

And if the waters that are running by your door aren't still, time to look in another direction or erect the dam where the water is strategically released. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, we are in charge of our own well-being. We really are. You know, God needs us, but God does not need any more sacrifices.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

That has been in our speaking of other traditions, I've seen like a lot of uh Jewish uh beach services actually on the beach. I came to one of your in your home, which was beautiful by the water. Have you thought about doing anything outside? Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Okay. Oh yes. To come? Absolutely. All right. I love it. Okay. All right. Absolutely. I love it. Absolutely. In fact, I've been going to Christchurch on and off since the age of 13. And every minister I've said, you know, why not service on the beach? Service on the beach. Service on the beach. We're right here. My rabbi colleague in, I believe it is East Hampton, a few years back started a service. And he's up to 300 people on a Sabbath. Oh my goodness. On the beach. And I attended one of those. And then when that shuts down, goes back to the normal congregation. Exactly. So reaching people who otherwise wouldn't have. Exactly. And places where they wouldn't normally be able to come. And in God's creation, getting us back in touch with God's creation. You know, that's the best cathedral that there is.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Well, you're the best rector that I know, and I am so happy to be your friend. I'm so happy to have had you today. And I'm so happy to have had you. I'm so sorry we're out of time. I was at your church for the authors. Yes. And we're just looking forward to that. Yeah, more of that, and I'll be there to share with you. But thank you for joining us. This has been Life at 2J. My guest has been Mother Cecily Broderick Guerra. And thank you for joining us. See you soon. Wow, you've been listening to one of my favorite people, Mother Cecily Broderick. She is now the rector of the Christ Episcopal Church in the village of Sag Harbor. And you've met a wonderful woman, my colleague in ministry, a black woman clergy. We came up together in a time when it was not always doors open for women. And so I want you to be preparing for a documentary, Silent No More, the real Black Women in Ministry story that's going to premiere in October. It is the story of the black women in ministry I've mentored for the last five years. So keep your ears open and watch for screenings, but certainly be ready for the red carpet premiere of Silent No More. Thank you, Mother Broderick, for sharing and thank you for listening. If you have other questions, send them to me at Ask Dr. Sujay. Until next time, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

So that's it for today's episode of Ask Dr. Sujay. Head on over to Apple Podcasts, iTunes, or wherever you subscribe to listen to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes will win a chance the grand prize drawing to win a $15,000 private VIP day with Dr. Sujay herself. Be sure to head on over to askdrsujay.com and pick up a free copy of Dr. Sujay's gift and join us on the next episode.