Alumni/ae News

Summer 2006

Marriages

William Metzger, DMin '79 and the Rev. Diana Heath were married July 2 in Dallas and will be living in Philadelphia, where Dr. Metzger will be serving a second year as interim minister at First Unitarian Church. The Rev. Heath has just completed an interim year at First Unitarian Church in Detroit and will be moving to Philadelphia this summer. She will be interim minister at the UU Fellowship of Lower Bucks County in Langhorne, PA for the coming year. Both bride and groom are Accredited Interim Ministers.

Kent Matthies, MDiv '98 married Kristin Shipler on May 27, 2006 at the Unitarian Society of Germantown in Philadephia, Pennsylvania.

Laura Horton-Ludwig MDiv '05 to John Ludwig, May 28.

Births

Thomas Alan Snyder was born May 5, 2006 to Karen and Josh Snyder, DMin '00.

Margaret Ellen Love was born Saturday, June 10, to Natalie Isvarin-Love, MDiv '01 and Tony Love.

Fellowshipped

Ginger Luke, MDiv '01, Minister of Religious Education and Congregational Life at River Road Unitarian Church has received final fellowship from the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and will be walking across the stage during the Service of the Living Tradition in St. Louis.  Ginger and her husband, Don Chery, are delighting this year with two new grandsons --Nicholas (15 months old) and Alexander (3 months old).  Ginger is the "good offices" person on the LREDA Board, a member of the UUA Large Congregations Staff Team, a member of the Professional Leadership Coordinating Council and a new member of the UUSC Ministerial Advisory Group.

Jeanne Lloyd MDiv '02  received final fellowship as a Unitarian Universalist minister in April 2006. Jeanne continues in her role as Director of Community Services at The Arc of the Farmington Valley, Inc. (FAVARH), Canton, CT.  She provides pastoral care and facilitates an assets-based community development process of community inclusion that creates personal relationships between people and thereby builds stronger communities. She also serves the following organizations: endorsed community minister for Unitarian Universalist Society: East (Manchester, CT); President of the Unitarian Universalist Society for Community Ministries; Vice President of the American Association on Mental Retardation's (AAMR) Religion & Spirituality Division; certified by AAMR as a pastoral care giver for people with developmental disabilities.

Ordained

Linda Eppert, MDiv '03 was ordained by her home congregation, St. John's UU in Cincinnati, Ohio, in October 2005. "I am delighted to be working as the Youth and Young Adult Minister at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I have been working for the past year. My third grandson, Riley, was born Feb. 14, 2005, joining brothers, Casey 4 (who was born while I was at Meadville Lombard), and Brady 2. The teens, young adults and grandsons, keep me very busy!"

Melissa Ziemer, MDiv '05 was ordained and installed by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent, Ohio, on Sunday, May 7.

Roger Mohr, MDiv '06 was ordained at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clinton, Iowa, on Sunday, May 21, 2006.

William Neely, MDiv '06 was ordained at congregation of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, Virginia, on June 11, 2006.

On May 27th, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, Illinois ordained Craig Schwalenberg, MDiv '06  to the Unitarian Universalist ministry.

Retirements, Placements, and other Career Moves

Edward Frost, DMin '74 recently retired after 16 years as the Senior Minister of the UU Congregation of Atlanta, will be the Summer Minister at First Unitarian Church in Portland, Oregon June 6 through August 13.

William Schulz, DMin '75 DD '87 has retired from his job as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA after twelve years. During 2006-07 he will be a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School at Harvard, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, and will teach both at the New School and a winter intensive course at Meadville Lombard.  He and his wife, Beth Graham, who works at the UUA, will be moving (back) to Boston in September.

Patrick O'Neill, DMin  '79 reports that he will be the Interim Minister at the Unitarian Fellowship in West Chester, PA beginning in August. Patrick is also currently a UUMA representative on the Ministerial Fellowship Committee.

John Morehouse, MDiv '90 was called to the Pacific Unitarian Church in Palos Verdes, California, in August of 2005 after having served for 11 years as minister of the UU Congregation of Frederick, Maryland. John is still blissfully married to Frances and life is full with their five daughters and now three grandchildren.

Mark Worth, MDiv '91 has been called to be the full time minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Castine, Maine, beginning July 1. This is only a small shift, as Mark served Castine one-quarter time since 1991 while serving Ellsworth, Maine three-quarters time during the same period. He is leaving the Ellsworth position June 30, calling this move "a promotion to a smaller church."

After two years of extension and eight years of interim ministry, Louise Ulrich, MDiv '96 is taking a sabbatical (read: self-funded year off) to work on home repairs, time with family, writing, composing, painting, and volunteering in church and community. Check in this time next year to see what I'm doing next! 

Lillie M Henley, MDiv '98 has been called to the Universalist National Memorial Church in Washington, DC. What makes this Call especially gratifying for Lillie is that it is a Universalist Christian church and the congregation worships in a historical Christian liturgy.

Beth Marshall, MDiv '02 reports that she has resigned her position at First Universalist Church in Southold, NY to take a part-time position at The UU Church of Blanchard Valley in Findlay, Ohio. She adds the following: "My daughter Sarah is finishing her sophomore year of high school, for the folk who remember her on campus. My husband, Tony Wilgus, is a professor of Social Work at the University of Findlay, so it will be wonderful to finally share one home, not two."

Anthony David, MDiv '03 is moving into his fourth year as pastor of Pathways Church in Southlake, Texas. As Pathways itself enters into its third year, there are two events of note. One was the result of their latest stewardship campaign, which had a per-pledge unit average of $2910. The other is a move out of a school cafetorium and into a new 24/7 space.

Jeanne Pupke, MDiv '04 has been called to be the Senior Minister in Richmond, Virginia. Jeanne has been serving as Consulting Minister to Bend, Oregon, and Growth Minister to the Pacific Northwest District. Also, Jeanne was part of the presenter team for UU University and leadership training conference, which preceded General Assembly this year.

Stefanie Etzbach-Dale, MDiv '05 sends the following note: "This past year I have been serving the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Kern County in Bakersfield, California, as consulting minister. Not yet knowing where I will serve next and hoping that it will be in the Los Angeles area, George and I finally bought a house together here in Santa Monica. The boxes that were in storage since starting at Meadville Lombard are finally all unpacked!"

Laura Horton-Ludwig, MDiv '05 has been called as minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Stockton, California.

Chip Roush, MDiv '05 has been called as the Senior Minister by the UU Congregation of Grand Traverse, in Traverse City, Michigan, beginning September 1, 2006.  He will complete his current ministry as Interim Minister of Religious Education at Countryside Church UU in Palatine, Illinois, on July 31.

Awards, Publications and Blogs

Charles Howe, BD '66 reports that he continues as an active member of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty and to visit, for a decade now, an inmate on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh. "I recently edited and co-authored The Essential Clarence Skinner (Skinner House, 2005) and continue to write articles for the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography, most recently on Bronson and Abigail Alcott, Quillen Shinn, and Horace Greeley."

Brent A. Smith, DMin '83 is currently working in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with the first Unitarian Universalist Church there in 60 years, All Souls Community Church.  In the mid-1800's through the mid-1900's there were two Unitarian Churches and one large Universalist Church, but by 1940 all three had closed.  In the fall of 2001, twenty Unitarian Universalists who had moved from various parts of the country to Grand Rapids gathered together to re-introduce our church to the area, and Brent began working with them in 2002. Now the church has 153 adult members and 95 in the Church School, and is looking at a number of opportunities for purchasing land and/or a building. Visit the church's web site to hear a podcast of Brent's sermons and visit his blog on the nature of the Free Church as a covenanted community, "A Spiritual Walk Together" (click on "Search this Blog" for all the current submissions).

Natalie Gulbrandsen, DD '91, received the Louis C. Cornish "Living the Mission" Award presented by the UU Partner Church Council at General Assembly in St. Louis this summer.  The program notes: "Natalie is being recognized for her role in re-establishing the "sister church" program after the fall of Communism  in 1990 and for her continuing support of the UUPCC. By GA 1990, over 100 churches had responded. Her initial efforts helped provide the foundation of the partner church movement of today.

Sarah Voss, DMin '93 has had articles on math and religion come out in the 2005 issue of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies  and the March, 2006, issue of Theology and Science.  "I also published a creative nonfiction piece in The Healing Muse: A Journal of Literary and Visual Arts (SUNY's Center for Bioethics and Humanities, Fall, 2005), and have poems coming out in the next issues of Thema and The Neovictorian/Cochlea. "The $10 I received from Thema represents the first monetary reward I've ever earned for writing a poem," says Sarah. "Miracles happen!"  Sarah will be teaching a January, 2007 Intensive at Meadville Lombard on Moral Math: A Window into Religion, Science and Love.  It's geared to meet either an RE or an Ethics requirement.

Bobbie Groth, MDiv '94, Community Minister in Milwaukee:  I won the 2006 Central Midwest District Sermon Award for a sermon titled "Just How Much?" about UU's making a decision to become active in more than words about the present political situation. The sermon received a standing ovation at the Central Midwest District annual conference in Madison, Wisconsin, in April.

Anthony David, MDiv '03 and his ice dancing partner recently competed in the 2006 Adult National Figure Skating Championships. They won the gold medal and are the current Adult National Champions in Ice Dancing (silver-level).

Marilyn Sewell, DD '04 announces the publication of two new titles, both of which are available at the UUA Bookstore or the bookstore of the First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR.  They are: Threatened with Resurrection, a book of sermons, and Unitarian Universalist Culture: the Present and the Promise, a monograph which suggests that UU culture has a shadow side that keeps us from growing and from being a strong voice in the public discourse, and suggests new ways of being for us. Marilyn is also now writing a blog called "Reflections"-- really short theological essays on issues of the day that can be found on her web site. Google has found the site and called the essays "highly recommended."  On an unrelated note, Marilyn adds "On June 18, we [had] our groundbreaking for our new 7.6 million dollar religious education and community building, which should be completed by the time G.A. meets in Portland next year.

Matt Tittle, MDiv '04 minister of Bay Area UU Church in Houston, Texas, has published his first book, Taking Back Faith: Heretical Thoughts for a New Century (iUniverse, 2006). The proceeds Matt receives from the sale of this book will benefit his congregation's capital campaign.

Mark Ward, MDiv '04 shares this news: "On March 19 I announced in a sermon on marriage equality that in protest of the unjust laws of North Carolina that prohibit civil marriages for same sex couples I would no longer be signing marriage licenses here. The announcement received strong approval from my congregation, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, North Carolina: they gave me a standing ovation. The next week a news story on my announcement was on the front page of the Asheville Citizen-Times. The Rev. Joe Hoffman of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, has also announced he will no longer sign marriage licenses, and the minister of a nondenominational church in town, the Rev. Howard Hangar of Jubilee Community Church, recently announced he would give up his Methodist ordination because the church refuses to bless same sex marriages. On Saturday, June 3, the three of us received an award from the Asheville chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Evan Mahaney Civil Liberties Award, in honor of our public positions in support of same sex marriage. Joe Hoffman and I are active in an interfaith, lay and clergy group in town organized in support of same sex marriage called People of Faith for Just Relationships."

Rudra Dundzila, DMin '06 has published three articles this academic year: "Lithuanian Literature" in the International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Contemporary Cultures. Ed. David A. Gerstner; "Romuva: Lithuanian Paganism in Lithuania and America" in Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives. Ed. Michael F. Strmiska; and  "Baltic Indigenous Religion" in Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. Ed. Jeffrey Kaplan and Bron Taylor.

Other News of Note

Randy Becker, DMin '72 was the instigator of a new cluster Coming-of-Age Program for the smaller congregations in the Greater Chicago area. The first program attracted 11 participants from six congregations who met over four months, traveled to Boston, and were recognized in a service on June 9th at Third Unitarian Church in Chicago. Plans are now underway for future cluster OWL programming and a newly developed area council multi-cultural awareness and inclusion program for middle-schoolers.

In addition to his ongoing parish work as minister to the UU Church of Studio City, California, Jay Atkinson, DMin '79 has been busy this year with teaching and writing in UU history, especially the history of our 16th-century Unitarian forebears, the Polish Brethren. At last fall's Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (Atlanta, 23-26 October 2005) he presented a paper, "Religious Pluralism as a Response to Human Finitude: Christoff Ostorodt and the Polish Brethren."  This past spring he has been co-teaching an on-line survey course in UU history for Starr King School, and next fall he will take two months of sabbatical leave to teach an on-site course there on "Unitarian Beginnings in the Radical Reformation." This summer he is in Salzburg for the Sixth International Whitehead Conference (on process thought), 3-6 July 2006, presenting a paper, "The Church as a Self-Critical Learning Community: Some Sixteenth-Century Precursors of Wieman's Creative Interchange in the Ecclesiology of the Polish Brethren."  Later in July he will travel to Kraków for a two-week intensive Polish language course.  At this fall's annual meeting of Collegium, he will present a short paper, "Peacemaking in pre-Reformation Polish Humanism: a Precursor to UU Ideas of Right Relationship?"

Barbara Wells ten Hove, MDiv '85 is excited to be teaching "Creating Quality Worship in Congregations" at Meadville in January 2007. This course is a part of her Doctor of Ministry program. She also continues as president of her UUMA chapter for a second year.

Kim Riegel, MDiv '92 sends the following: "We are both still happily serving churches in Michigan--me in Southfield and Alex in Farmington. Our daughter (born when I was in seminary) will be graduating from high school next year and our son had just finished first grade. We both have enjoyed extending our education over the last few years; becoming certified teachers of the Enneagram and Owl; as well as work in Action Science and mediation."

Valerie Mapstone Ackerman, MDiv '98 notes: "My community ministry has expanded. I serve as lead chaplain at the Family Safety Center, a wrap-around services emergency intake program for survivors of domestic violence. I am also the director of Peace House, a center for the study of nonviolence and the application of peacemaking in Tulsa OK. I still coordinate the Green Country Rural Freethinkers Association, provide pulpit supply across 4 states and will be teaching an online Church of the Larger Fellowship course on UU social justice-making in the fall." And, for those who may have read Valerie's essay in the newly-released Meadville Lombard Reader, she adds "I have adopted a new dog named Petey (for Pete Seeger) who can leap a four-foot fence, smiles with his whole body, and looks just like a fox."

Justin Osterman, DMin '99 is completing his sixth year as the settled minister at the Central Unitarian Church in Paramus, NJ and currently serves as Vice President of the Meadville Lombard Alumni/ae Association.  In August 2005, Justin became the first non-military clergyperson to meet and speak with prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention center. Justin served as the Arabic interpreter for two New Jersey based attorneys who are representing Guantanamo prisoners in the US courts.

Jeff Briere, MDiv '02 notes that Kate Briere directed the first fully-staged production of The Exonerated at the UU Church of Chattanooga last October.  Jeff produced and took a small role. Next year, Kate hopes to direct The Education of God, by David Bumbaugh, as adapted by Jeff.