Transcript Joseph Santos

Unitarian Universalist
Sankofa Project
Unitarian Universalism
Ministry and Leadership
People of Color
UU Sankofa Mission
 To
advance an Archive collection that
records and showcases the lives and
works of Unitarian Universalist
ministers and laity of Color and
Latino ancestries.
Don Speed Smith Goodloe
Don Goodloe
By the early 1920s Don Speed Smith Goodloe had accomplished many of his life’s professional goals. During his
eleven-year tenure in Bowie, he established a faculty of ten members, student enrollment of 80, an admission
requirement of completion of seventh grade, the model elementary school for student teachers at Horsepen Hill
School– the first school for black children in Bowie–a summer session, a new dormitory for women, and
renovation of living quarters for men. He added one additional year to the course, which led to a second grade
certificate and permitted students to do two years additional work to earn a first grade certificate.
Goodloe made many pleas for additional funding before the legislature in Annapolis–money that might have brought
more rapid development to the school–but the state’s appropriations favored the white normal schools.
Life after Bowie
Little is known about why Goodloe resigned his post in 1921 at the age of 43. He told a friend that he stepped down
because he was simply tired of being principal. It is possible that he was weary of the struggle to find sufficient
funding that would enable him to upgrade the curriculum to the standards used at Maryland’s white normal
schools in Towson and Frostburg. It was also quite likely that he was tired of dealing with racism and segregation
and the inequality of the times and wished to immerse himself in the black community. The Ku Klux Klan was
reviving in the South and across Middle America. There were 64 lynching's in 1918 and an astounding 83 the
following year. There were at least fourteen blacks hanged by mobs in Maryland in the 20 years before Goodloe
arrived and two during his tenure at Bowie.
Perhaps Goodloe simply gave up on Booker T. Washington’s dream of gaining equality with whites through hard work,
patience, and acceptance of the prevailing social order. It is possible that he had come to accept the call of the
more militant W.E.B. Dubois to reject a legal, political, and economic system that thrived on the exploitation of
poor African Americans.
Don Goodloe
After leaving the school, Goodloe moved to Baltimore, where in 1923 he became president of an insurance company,
the Standard Benefit Society. He grew prosperous enough to purchase rental housing in the city. Later, he
moved to Washington, and it is reported that he owned extensive property in the District. Meanwhile, Fannie and
the children continued to live in the house in Bowie. Wallis and Donald both graduated from Howard University,
became teachers in Baltimore, and later in Washington. Donald B. Goodloe taught at Washington’s Dunbar High
School; one of his former students, William C. Byers, is currently a member of the Goodloe Memorial Unitarian
Universalist Congregation.
Although there is no record of Goodloe’s religious affiliation after Meadville, his religious leanings did have an effect on
his children. One of his sons, Donald B. Goodloe, was an active member at All-Souls Church, Unitarian in
Washington.
Don Speed Smith Goodloe died in Washington, D.C. in 1959 at the age of 81. His legacy lives on in Bowie.
Goodloe’s enormous contributions to the building of Bowie State University will not be forgotten, and members of
Goodloe Memorial Unitarian Universalist Congregation will remember him as one of the early Bowie pioneers.
Goodloe’s life as an educator remains forever consistent with the Unitarian Universalist principles that espouse a belief
in the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity and compassion in human relations; a free and
responsible search for truth and meaning; the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within
our congregations and in society at large; the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; and
respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
-- Dick and Barbara Morris, January 2005
The Reverend Lewis McGee
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Class of 1948 Meadville
Lombard
Ordained in AME Church,
1917
U.S. Army Chaplain
1918,1943-45 (captain)
First African-American to
serve as senior minister of
a white Unitarian Church.
The Rev. Dr. Amal Kumar Siddhanta
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Class of 1925,
Meadville Lombard
Ordained 1926;
Professor, Dyal Singh
College, Lahore, India.
Satyananada Roy
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Class of 1918,
Meadville Lombard.
Lay worker, Brahmo
Somaj, India.
Dr. Nubuo Nishiwaki
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Class of 1919,
Meadville Lombard.
Professor, Okura
Higher Commercial
School Tokyo.
Totsuan Nomura
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Class of 1924,
Meadville Lombard
Rev. Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley
Rev. Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley
Marjorie Rebekah Bowens was born on August 6, 1949, the fourth of 10 children born to the former Bernice Loretta
Wheatley and Daniel Lee Bowens. She spent most of her childhood in Philadelphia, the place of her birth; but
was acculturated in the ways of the south and the Caribbean through the heritage of her parents.
She graduated from Dobbins Vocational-Technical School in 967, having majored in Business Education. For the next
few years, she worked as a legal and medical secretary. In 1969, she married Alfred Edmonds and from this
union, Tonya was born. The couple divorced in 1973.
A bit of a late bloomer, Marjorie began her college career at Temple University at the age of 25, double majoring in
Radio, Television & Film and Pan-African Studies. She continued graduate studies at the American University
where she earned a Master of Arts degree in International Development and Visual Media.
Marjorie's career in public television began with a production internship with a weekly program, "Black Perspective on
the News," and continued with a nightly news and issue analysis program, "Evening Exchange." In addition to
being nominated for an Emmy Award for a program she produced with writer Maya Angelou, Marjorie received
the World Hunger Media Award for her hour-long documentary, "After the Rains," which explored drought and
environmental decay across the Sahara desert.
After seven years in the media, and after joining All Souls Church in Washington, D.C., Marjorie felt a calling to work
full time in a way that expressed her religious values. She moved to Boston to work as Director of Public Affairs
for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. A year later she accepted a position as program officer for the
Veatch Program at what is now the Unitarian Universalist Society in Shelter Rock in Manhasset, Long
Island. During her three-year tenure there, she was responsible for recommending approximately one million
dollars per year to fund organizations working for progressive social change.
Rev. Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley
Her work at the Service Committee and at the Veatch Program, accompanied by independent study on the theology
and ministry of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Howard Thurman, ultimately led Marjorie to understand
her own calling to ministry. In the fall of 1991, she entered Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC and
in 1994, she was awarded a Master of Divinity degree (cum laude), and was ordained in Washington, DC, in
December 1994 at her home congregation, All Souls Church Unitarian.
Marjorie became Affiliate, then Associate, Minister at the Community Church of New York City in 1994 and also served
as District Extension Minister for the Metro New York District and Field Consultant for the UUA Department of
Faith in Action. These assignments continued until she accepted a position as Co-Interim Minister of the First
Unitarian Universalist Church in Austin Texas in 1999, which she served along with her husband, the Reverend
Clyde Grubbs.
In 2000, Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley joined the UUA staff as Adult Programs Director in the Religious Education
department. In 2003, she accepted the call to the UU Church of Tampa, Florida, which she served through
2006. She had accepted a call to serve as Associate Minister of First Unitarian Church of San Diego, California,
but withdrew because of illness.
Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley's imprint on Unitarian Universalism is significant and has helped shape contemporary
Unitarian Universalist Association programs and practices in major ways. Please see the fuller and more detailed
story of Marjorie's life and contributions on the forthcoming story to be posted on the UUA website.
Following a short struggle with gallbladder cancer, Marjorie died quietly at her sister's home in Vineland, NJ, on Dec.
10, 2006, with her daughter, husband and close friends by her side. She is survived by her daughter,
Tonya/Talibah Edmonds; her husband, the Rev. Clyde Grubbs; her mother, Bernice; nine siblings, a host of
nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and colleagues.
The Reverend Dr. William Sinkford
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I found Unitarian Universalist at the age of 14 in Cincinnati, Ohio when My mother dragged me to
First Unitarian church. The year was 1961. We had attended the Episcopal church in Detroit
and the Black Baptist Church in rural North Carolina. I decided that neither fit my humanist (and
arrogant) soul. I’d given up on organized religion.
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But I found at First Church a religious home where I could bring all of my questions and my
arrogance, my need to rebel and my need to be accepted without having to check any part of
myself at the door. I was welcomed by Pauline Warfield Lewis, perhaps the first African
American religious educator in our faith. And because that congregations, like so many, had
been active in the Civil Rights struggle, there was enough dark faces that I knew it was all right to
be black in that sanctuary.
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The youth group became my home. Ultimately, I served as President of Liberal Reogious Youth.
I imagined become a UU minister. But when Unitarian Universalist withdrew its commitments to
racial justice in the early 1970’s, I, too, withdrew, feeling betrayed by my church. It was not until
1985, at the death of my mother, when my home church reached out to me, that k was able to
return.
President Wm. Sinkford
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Becoming and being President of the Association has been both deeply gratifying
and deeply frustrating. That story is not yet fully told. But the experience has
reinforced the adage that one of the most valuable skills of leadership the ability to
tolerate repetition. My election and service are not a testimony to how far our faith
has come. Rather, my presence bears witness to how far Unitarian Universalist has
to go.
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No other faith could be my religious home. That makes it essential for me to help
shape this fiath into a community which is hospitable to me, and my children.
Betty Bobo Seiden
Betty Bobo Seiden
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Betty Bobo Seiden was born during the Great Depression (December 22, 1929) the
fifth child of Fred Douglas Bobo and Cecelia Phillips in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her
father was just finishing Dental School at Marquette University and telegraphed his
mother in St. Paul, Minnesota to come help with the new infant. Delighted to find a
daughter she had always wanted, Grandma Lillie took the baby back to St. Paul
where she remained for the next 14 years. Lillie Harrison Bridges had recently
converted to the Pentecostal Church. By the time Betty completed the 10th grade
her rejection of her Grandmother's faith resulted in her return to her family in
Milwaukee.
There were now 8 children in the Bobo family, all active members of St. Benedict
Catholic Church where her mother was organist. Her parents' church fared no better
than her grandmother's church at convincing Betty that the Holy Bible was the Word
of God. That God was weighed and found wanting.
Betty Bobo Seiden
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It was 1955 in New York City that Betty discovered the Unitarian Universalist Church
on Lexington Avenue. An advertisement on the bulletin board at Columbia
University for a Sunday School teacher attracted her attention. After receiving a
Bachelor of Science in English Education and a Master's in English from the
University of Wisconsin in Madison Betty had taught one year at A and T College in
Greensboro, N.C., another year at A and M University in Tallahassee, Florida and in
public schools in Chicago, Betty was taking a few classes at Columbia. The idea of
teaching religion was an intriguing one. When she studied the religious education
program at All Souls Church she felt that she had found a faith that was
meaningful. However, it was not until she had married Richard Seiden and had
begun a family in Berkeley, California that she sought a congregation in which to
educate her children. At the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley Betty assumed
several responsibilities beginning with teaching in the Church School, joining the
religious education committee, the denominational affairs committee, the social
concerns committee, the pulpit selection committee, and becoming a delegate to
PCD meetings and the General Assembly.
Ms. Betty Bobo Seiden
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At the Cleveland General Assembly in 1968 Betty was elected Secretary of the
newly formed Unitarian Universalists’ for Black and White Action, BAWA. For the
next several years she edited the Newsletter, wrote Project Papers, and was
especially inspired by composing two television public affairs announcements for
BAWA. One pointed out how the history of the USA was the history of all the people
who came from other lands and contributed to American culture, the other defined
who is an "American". Meanwhile, the Seiden family had moved to Oakland, and for
several years Betty sang in the choir of both the First Church of Berkeley and the
First Church of Oakland. In Oakland she also became secretary and then President
of the Board of Trustees.
At the denominational level, Betty's involvement included attendance at the
International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) meeting in Japan, service on
the Meadville Lombard Board of Trustees, the Independent Study Committee as it
made the transition to the Modified Residency Program at Meadville Lombard, the
UU Funding Panel and the Ministerial Fellowship Committee.
Betty's professional life was as busy as her religious life. In 1984 she was awarded
the Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute's Distinguished Educator Award for her
outstanding teaching in a program for pregnant high school students in Oakland,
California. She retired in January 1990, but continues to be active as a docent at the
Oakland Museum of California.
Rev. Alicia Roxanne Forde
Rev. Alicia Forde
I lift my eyes up to the hills –
from where will my help come?
my help comes from Love abundant
my help comes from the hills
my help – my help it comes from
ancient mothers – whose hearts beat
in mine
It comes from the trees that sway & the breeze that
sways them…my help comes from
all that was and is and will ever be…
I lift my eyes…hushed by the soothing touch of waves
caressing wounded shores
wounded souls
I lift my eyes…to the horizon bathed by
the hum of mothers & mother’s mothers
cradling – gently rocking
I lift my voice – call of sea hum trees sister moon mother earth
my soul weeping – a symphony of life overflowing
I give myself
I too hum through every pore…
with every breath…
I give myself…
an extension of
all that is was and will ever be.
- Alicia Forde
Rev. Alicia Forde
At thirteen I sat on the beach watching the sun set. Do you know that moment…the moment when the sun first meets
the horizon? The kiss lightly “hello” – then the embrace begins? That moment when sun and sea seem to melt
seamlessly into one effortless creation…new every evening and at the same time birthing dusk – if you are
observant, careful – you will see the moon and maybe, just maybe a brave star. Depending on your angle, it will
seem as though the coconut trees are offering a blessing – and the waves are humming a prayer. At thirteen –
just for one evening, one private moment, I had the right angle and there was an instant in all of this that I could
not tell where I began/ended – it was not the sun, but I who melted seamlessly…and it was I who nodded my
lean body offering a blessing…my tears were waves praying for World. In that one moment, god was
everywhere in all things and beyond all; transcendent and immanent – in that one moment, I heard the sea
calling…. Calling. And without knowing why, I gave myself.
…At the cornerstone of that calling and my own theological outlook is “respect for the interdependent web of all
existence of which we are a part” as well as a deep appreciation for the “direct experience of that transcending
mystery and wonder…which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and
uphold life.” Coming to this ecclesial body has been a blessing…in many ways, it had to be this one “free church
movement” and no other. While the U.U. movement remains a work in progress, what is significant at this time
for me is that we remain so – willing to engage and live into what it means to be wholly alive, struggling with
race/class/gender/sexism/religious pluralism/political conflict and so on – all of which shapes us as we seek to
shape and influence them. As challenging as it often is, what draws me and keeps me here is the opportunity to
wrestle in community – as well as opportunities to live out my authentic theological praxis. As bell hooks posits:
Any classroom that employs a holistic model of learning will also be a place where teachers grow, and are
empowered by the process. The empowerment cannot happen if we refuse to be vulnerable while
encouraging students to take risks.
The same can be said of our Unitarian Universalist community. The calling, my calling is not to be a pastoral presence
or spiritual guide in the absence of a communal context, but to do and be in a community committed to a holistic
way of being, of teaching/learning…a community that cares deeply enough to risk vulnerability as a way of being
empowered and empowering. A community wise enough to pay attention to the World’s ever-present, polyphonic
hum.
Rev. Addae L. Watson
Rev. Addae Watson
I am Addae L. Watson. I was born an only child to Willie E. Watson and Marion A. Skinner. Raised in
Vicksburg, Mississippi, I grew up in an extended family of parents, grandparents, and great
grandparents. Baptist by denomination, my family’s Christian centered values seemed similar to
those reflected in most African American’s lives of the day, however, in retrospect; I recognize that
their approach to community action was very liberal. My great grandparents had an open door
policy that was extended to anyone in need, regardless of race, creed, or color. My great
grandmother embodied the practice of the “Good Samaritan” that she read about in her daily
scriptures, as she clothed the naked, and feed the hungry. It was through her modeling that I
learned how to give unselfishly. I truly believe that giving and receiving are linked together in the
flow of the universe.
I entered St. Mary’s Catholic School in Vicksburg, Mississippi, when I was five years old, and it was at
this tender age, that I discovered a connection to the Holy. In those days, it was common practice
to keep the doors of Catholic churches unlocked around the clock. I loved slipping inside
whenever I could, and while kneeling in the cavernous sanctuary, surrounded by silence, I felt a
mystical presence that spoke to my young spirit. It was through those experiences that led to my
converting to Catholicism as a teenager. My conversion began a relationship with the church that
lasted through a marriage, the rearing of five children, and a divorce. After the disintegration of my
twenty-eight year marriage, I experienced what I considered a crisis of faith. I severed my ties to
the church, and withdrew from any form of organized religion for two years. As I went from church
to church seeking solace to filling the spiritual void that I felt, I continued to come up empty. After
an introduction to publications on metaphysics, I became intently engrossed in the subject, and I
began to read every book that I could find on the subject. So rather than continue to church shop,
Sunday mornings became a time to curl up with a good book for the edification of my soul.
Rev. Addae Watson
During my two year hiatus, I left the mainland, and moved to Maui, Hawaii, where nature became my
church without walls. This was a major turning point in they way I began to view my connection to
every living thing on the planet. I began to feel less like a child that needed to be protected by the
divine, and more like an en extension of a divine universal presence that I believe is accessible to
each of us. After moving to San Francisco in 1996, I began to seek again, only this time the
seeking was in the form of a request to God for direction to a higher purpose for my life. The
response to that request came in the form of an experience that I can only describe as mystical. I
believe that any call to serve is a response to some void that is felt by those who ultimately serve.
So that whatever forms my ministry takes, I am ultimately filling answering a call to my higher self
in connection to the Holy.
Knowing that I was headed toward ministry, once again I began to search for a spiritual/church home.
I found it in the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco. I became a member in the spring of
1999, and entered seminary at Starr King School for the Ministry in the fall of 2000. I was finally
home, and excited at the possibility of finding a community of nonjudgmental, free thinkers. I
consider myself a liberal Christian, inasmuch that my theology is rooted in the teachings of Jesus
of Nazareth as a master teacher. However, I draw on the wisdom found in the major world
religions, believing that each small truth that we all gather together with, adds to the larger Truth
that we can all learn from
Rev. Jennifer Youngsun Ryu
Rev. Jennifer Ryu
When I was 6 years old, I emigrated from South Korea and grew up in a small town in Ohio. My
parents were, and still are, members of the Korean Presbyterian church. I never felt
comfortable in that religious tradition and stopped going to church as soon as I left the house.
As a young adult, living and working in Baltimore, I would walk to work, often taking a path next to the
Parish House of the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore. Hanging on the exterior brick wall a
poster called the Wayside Pulpit displayed a different quote every month. They were sometimes
funny, sometimes irreverent, but always thought-provoking. I wanted to know who these people
were, with their eclectic spirituality. But the solid wooden doors looked formidable, and it took
some time before I walked through them.
Once inside, I found a loving and welcoming community. The congregation was elderly and their
numbers were small, but there was great hope in the air. They were in search for a new minister,
and the congregation soon voted to call a husband-wife co-ministry team. I was invited to join a
visioning task force to help the new ministers plan their first year. I soon took on the leadership
of the Social Action committee. We cooked meals for the soup kitchen next door, we repaired
homes in low-income neighborhoods, and we started tutoring neighborhood children. I was also
their newsletter editor for several years.
Rev. Jennifer Ryu
Over years, I learned about the Unitarian Universalist faith, social justice, and my own spirituality. I
started questioning every part of my life and even considered entering the ministry. One
significant event during those years was meeting the Rev. Cheng Imm Tan, the first UU of Asian
decent I had ever met, and a minister too! Though we were strangers, we plunged into an
intensely personal conversation about our shared experiences of being a racial minority in this
religious movement.
A few months after that meeting, I sent away for brochures from Starr King School and Meadville
Lombard. I immediately filed them away, rejecting the idea that I could ever be wise enough to
be a minister. Instead, I completed an MBA program in Human Resources Management. I
worked in that field until the year 2000, when I finally found the courage to leave the well-worn
path of corporate life to experience life on the edges of that path. I spent the next year in Seoul,
studying Korean Zen, re-connecting with family, and re-learning my native tongue. While there,
I decided to apply to Starr King, and I entered seminary in 2002. I met my husband there, and
we now serve the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists as co-ministers.
Rev. Jacqueline Rae (Jackie)
Clement
Rev. Jackie Clement
I was born in Newark, New Jersey, the youngest of two daughters born to Harry L. Clement and
Daisy Caban Clement. At my birth, my parents decided to move from the city to the New Jersey
suburbs where I was raised and attended school until I went away to college.
In my early years my maternal grandmother, Margarita Maria Soto Rodriguez Caban, lived with us.
Born in Aricebo, Puerto Rico, my grandmother was, and remains, one of my greatest heroes. A
devout Roman Catholic, she was also a strong influence on my early theology teaching me that
one did not have to be in a church building to pray and that our actions spoke more strongly of
our character than did our espoused beliefs. Both very Unitarian Universalist concepts in my
view!
My paternal grandmother, Blanche Bouchet Clement Shorr, was a frequent visitor and also a strong
influence in my life. From Enzac, France, she had, like my maternal grandmother, brought a
young family to build a new life in a land where she did not speak the language. From my
grandmothers I received a sense of possibility, a sense of the strength of women and an
appreciation of the cultures from which I come. Food figured prominently in their lessons of
home!
Rev. Jackie Clement
Although our family attended the Presbyterian Church until I was ten or eleven years old, my father
had a strong interest in all religions, a trait I think I picked up from him. I remember him attending
services with Catholic, Baha’i and Jewish congregations and speaking to me about different
beliefs. This, in my teen years, turned into my own religious questing, but it was not until I moved
to Massachusetts and married my husband, John Ford, that I found the Unitarian Universalist
movement.
Both trained as engineers, my husband and I worked in what we found to be a somewhat isolating
high tech industry. While we had good friends at work, few were fully part of our lives, and at
home our neighborhood had little social interaction. We found ourselves wanting a stronger
community bond, and began attending the First Church Unitarian in Littleton, MA, in 1990. We
quickly became engaged in the life of the church my husband joining the choir while I baked
several thousand brownies for the Neighborhood Supper. Then committee work, committee work!
And we were home.
Over time and through involvement in the church my commitment to the Unitarian Universalist
movement grew, as did my need for a work environment that both embraced and expressed my
values and spiritual life. I attended Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, MA
graduating in 2004. I was ordained by my home congregation of First Church Unitarian in
Littleton in October of that same year. I was also the very luckiest of ministers to serve my first
congregation in Rockland, Maine as interim minister. The following year I served as Interim
Minister in Saco, ME, and then on to Saugus, MA. As I slowly float my way down the east coast
of the US I continue to deepen in love and appreciation from this amazing opportunity to minister
in the Unitarian Universalist tradition, where my full being and my heritage are embraced.
Rev. John Thomas Crestwell, Jr.
•
Rev. John Crestwell
Rev. John Thomas Crestwell, Jr. is a native Washingtonian. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in
Mass Media Arts from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, and earned his Master's Degree
from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.
Rev. John serves as the Senior Minister at Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church in Camp
Springs, Maryland, where he is active in a diversity growth plan that has assisted Davies into
becoming one of the most diverse churches in the UUA.
On June 24th, 2005, at the UUA's annual General Assembly, John received his certificate of
Preliminary Parish Fellowship at the Service of the Living Tradition in Fort Worth, Texas. He was
ordained and installed in September, 2005 of that year as the first African American minister of
Davies, in a ceremony that included a visit from the UUA's first African American President, Bill
Sinkford.
John has authored two publications: "Charge of the Chalice", due out in 2007, which tells the story
of how Davies church went from 8% diversity to nearly 40% diversity, in three years; and he also
wrote "Conversations: The Hidden Truth That Keeps The World From Being At Peace,"
published in 2001, which highlighted his ever-evolving theological beliefs after graduating from a
Methodist seminary to become a UU minister.
John is active in the UUA, serving as co-chair of the Baltimore-Washington Diversity Committee,
and he serves on two boards: The Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), and Unitarian
Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland (UULMM).
He continues to be an adjunct professor at Potomac College, in Washington, DC, teaching
Comparative Religion, Public Speaking, and Principles of Marketing & Advertising.
Sunrit Mullick
Sunrit Mullick
Back in the early eighties, I got interested in the Brahmo Samaj, the faith of my ancestors. I wanted to
become a minister of the Brahmo Samaj. I obtained a Master’s degree in Comparative Religion in
1984 from Visva-Bharati University, India. Then I met Spencer Lavan in Kolkata who arranged a
grant for me to come to Meadville/Lombard Theological School where several ministers of the
Brahmo Samaj had trained between 1900 and 1932. The tradition broke off at that time and I restarted it. I obtained a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in 1988. My doctoral dissertation “Protap
Chandra Majumdar in America: Missionary of a New Dispensation” documents, for the first time,
Brahmo Samaj leader Protap Chandra Majumdar’s three visits to the USA in the late
19th century, the first being ten years before Swami Vivekananda’s historic visit to the USA.
In 1988, just after I graduated, I was invited to Boston for a meeting with Bill Schulz, the then UUA
President and Spencer Lavan, both of whom I knew very well. Melvin Hoover, whom I met for the
first time and who handled international congregations at that time, was assigned to be my
supervisor. The UUA agreed to fund a ministry in India through a program called Project India. I
returned to India and started a ministry with the Brahmo Samaj and Unitarian groups. For the first
time, the Brahmos and Unitarians saw professional ministry in practice. The youth enjoyed my
reformist ways and styles of preaching. But the leadership of the Brahmo Samaj, which over the
years had ossified into an orthodox community, didn’t. They killed the program. And the UUA
supported them against their own employee. I learned later from a Unitarian friend in India that
the Brahmo Samaj representative in the IARF, Punyabrata Roychoudhury, had successfully
influenced John Beuhrens, the then President, whom I had never met, telling him that I was overqualified for India and that I should be recalled by the UUA.
Sunrit Mullick
Every summer I would return to Boston to report on my work, and attend GA. The reporting was one way, though. I
never got any feedback from the UUA, though they had assigned Mel Hoover to be my supervisor. In the summer
of 1994, I walked in to the office of John Beuhrens, to do my customary reporting. I was meeting him for the first
time. He told me curtly that the Project was over and handed me over to Ken MacLain to discuss my separation
formalities with the UUA. Ken took me to his home, not far from Beacon Street, but seemed more interested in
his gin and tonic and afternoon nap than my future. I was married then with a young son of three years.
No one at the UUA was interested in the sudden separation; no one called for any explanation. Except Max Gaebler,
Minister Emeritus of the First Unitarian of Madison, Wisconsin. I was his intern during my student days. But his
was a voice in the wilderness.
In the winter of 1995 I came to Harvard Divinity School as a Merrill Fellow. My family accompanied me. I read a lot on
Islam and wrote several articles that were published in the Statesman of Kolkata. In August we returned home,
and Project India was over.
I struggled for five years doing this and that, including weddings, funerals and christenings. In 1999 I joined the United
States Educational Foundation in India as the Regional Officer of its Eastern Regional Office at Kolkata. My office
is a Fulbright Commission, administering the Indo-US Fulbright Fellowship Program. It is also a US Department
of State affiliated Educational Advising Center, advising students on the procedures for pursuing higher education
in the United States. I love my job.
I have lectured widely on the subject of Comparative Religion in India, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. I
have published around ten scholarly articles, around forty human interest articles and seven short stories.
I have been learning the sitar under a guru for over ten years now. My wife Jyoti and I have a son who is fifteen and a
daughter who is nine.
Abhi Prakash Janamanchi, minister of a UU church in Florida, came under my influence during my ministry years in
India. I returned to India to practice ministry, as was my intention when I went to Meadville, but Abhi stayed on in
the US. Who was the wiser?
Mary L. Knight
Mary Knight
I am a Latina minister whose specialty is Community Ministry. I am a chaplain and have served as a hospice
bereavement counselor. I also lead workshops, retreats, and Sunday worship.
My path to Unitarian Universalist ministry began when I was born the seventh child and only daughter to a
large working class, Catholic family. It was my maternal grandmother who contributed our Latina
heritage. Clotilde Viela emigrated as a young woman from Mazatlan. She sought economic opportunity
as she, too, was the youngest in a large family. Her father had died when she was a young child, and
her mother died after Clotilde nursed her through her final illness. Clotilde worked in the cotton fields in
New Mexico until the field supervisor insisted she “belonged” in the house because of her beauty and
light complexion. She and the supervisor were married and had two daughters. The younger of the two
was Sara, my mother.
When I arrived, the Knight family lived in a small town in Eastern Oregon. My parents had very little means.
They married at age 18 in 1940 before my father joined the Navy during World War II. All their lives,
they worked hard and resourcefully to support their family. It was understood that each child would also
“pull their weight” to contribute to the running of the home. The town’s Catholic Church and parochial
school formed the heart of our community. There was very little cultural diversity there. But in the mid1960s we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. I was immersed in diversity at the impressionable age
of 10; my peers as well as my teachers were of many colors and ethnicities.
A child of the sixties, I grew up surrounded by the struggles of minorities. Thus, when I discovered Unitarian
Universalists in Hawaii during my twenties, I knew I had found a faith that honored diversity. It could
grow as a community where people of any identity might be an integral part of the whole. As a woman
and as a Latina, I hold dear this faith that honors and supports a truly inclusive community.
Rev. Dr. John Gilmore
Rev. John Gilmore
Dr. John W. Gilmore entered the ministry with the promise that he would receive funds to do a church
startup in a disempowered, African-American community. He waited for this to happen
throughout his ministry and it never did. He began his ministry as 3/4 time Associate minister at
First Church of Chicago and 1/4 Diversity Outreach Consultant for the Central Midwest district for
one year. He was called as Senior minister at UU Church of Manchester for five years, 1/2 time
Interim minister at UU Church of Gardner, MA for one year, and 1/2 time Social-Justice minister
at First Parish Framingham for one year. He was the Co-Director and then the Director of
UUJEC. Dr. Gilmore was a volunteer for the UUA Journey Toward Wholeness program in
various forms from 1993 to 2005 and is presently a JUUST UU consultant. He served on local
and UUA boards during his ministry.
Dr. Gilmore decided to become a community minister in 2001, when he discovered that the
association would not permit outreach to disempowered African-American communities. He
worked with the disempowered part time, and received no UUA financial support. His Speaking
the truth in leadership circles, led to a slow, but consistent withdraw of support from UUA officials
leaving him, like many African American ministers, in limbo. Dr. Gilmore is presently writing, and
working with individuals in Costa Rica, providing teaching and alternative health practices to
reduce stress and improve health, and doing his ministry through The Circle, on the internet.
Rev. Rebekah Ann Montgomery
Rev. Rebekah Montgomery
I have been a Unitarian Universalist all my life. I am a person of color, from a rich diversity of family
traditions - including African-American, Greek and Jewish. As an interracial couple in the late
1960's, my parents were drawn to the open and welcoming message of our UU movement. I was
raised in a congregation that loved me and my family and gave me a safe place to blossom as a
young woman. The seeds of my present calling directly relate to my UU youth group experience
as a junior and senior high school student. I felt drawn to positions of leadership and deepened
my love for my faith group.
As a college student, I studied religious traditions from all over the world, emphasing non-Western
traditions, as well as Women's Studies. It was by accident I landed at seminary - my college
advisor steered me away from a master's degree program in Religious Studies and I had the
sense to listen. At seminary, in all the beauty and urban cacophany that is New York City, I
bounced back and forth between the answering the call to ministry. Over the three years, my
calling swelled and grew in my consciousness.
A few years later, I completed my ordination requirements and found my final true calling as an Army
chaplain. This too was quite a surprise to me...actually, a shock. In the depths of professional
uncertainty and feeling a profound need to serve our country after September 11th, I turned
towards the military and by accident, I found that I not only thrive, but love my ministry. After less
than a year in, I was called to serve in Afghanistan - and along with my husband, a fellow officer we served 18 months in this war torn country, wobbling on new found legs of stability.
Rev. Rebekah Montgomery
As an Army chaplain, I feel that being a UU is invaluable to serving the maximum number of soldiers
and service members. My daily duty is to provide a calming pastoral presence, counseling and
religious support to my troops - or as I call it...I get to love all over them. No matter who they are
when they walk through the door, it is my responsibility to care for them and help them. No
judgment. No prerequisite of being a person of faith. Just love and acceptance.
I have walked with men and women through intense pain and loneliness - and countless suicidal
crisis. I have held my troops racked with guilt for surviving when a buddy didn't. I have honored
fallen heroes who have paid the ultimate price for freedom. I have laughed, danced and
celebrated what makes the human spirit so great - our love and sacrifice for one another and our
collective hope for a better and more peaceful world.
My picture is from a wedding I attended last summer in Kabul, Afghanistan. The groom is the
nephew of an American woman who married an Afghan decades ago and has lived in Kabul ever
since. Six American female soldiers were invited to attend the wedding - this is a picture from the
women's side of the event.
Barbara P. Avent
Barbara Avent
I applied to Iliff School of Theology January 2004, and was accepted in the Summer Quarter. I left Religious Science
February that same year. I knew that I had to go church shopping, that's not an easy task. On my spiritual path I
have been Baptist, Methodists, Buddhists, and Religious Science. I had several meetings with Rev. Joan Van
Becelare, Iliff Vice-president of Student Affairs, and told her about my spiritual journey. Joan suggested that I
visit UU churches or fellowships because of its intellectual flavor. UU people who covenant together are
Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Earth Religions, or humanists, atheists and agnostics. On UUA’s web site, I read
about UU’s active stance for social justice from the time of the abolitionists, woman's rights, civil rights, gay
rights, and now civil marriage and civil liberties.
I signed the book at First Universalist September 2004, and became a member of the congregation. As a member I
feel that becoming a UU continues to allow me to explore and experience more spiritual guidance. I do know
that community ministry and social justice will shape a lot of my ministry.
In the mean time I continue to work with the MDD Social Justice people under the leadership of Rev. Deborah
Holden. I have served on the worship committee at First Universalist, and am a Beyond Categorical Thinking
trainer. I am in the candidate status on track to become an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. Barbara is
working in the Mountain Desert District doing a community ministry internship. As a seminarian student at Iliff
School of Theology, I am obtaining a Masters of Divinity degree with an emphasis in Peace and Justice. I have
two married adult daughters. My oldest daughters family is composed of Billy, Tracey, Mustafa and Marquis
Tilmon. My other daughters family consists of Neo and Nicole Avent-Henry and son, Gerald Avent and baby
Natalia Patrice born in December 2006.
When I have free time I like to paint contemporary watercolors, and abstract acrylic paintings, as well as, collect
various dolphin artifacts.
Rev. Donald E. Robinson
Rev. Don Robinson
Often, life with all its detours and tribulations leads us to where we are supposed to be
I was born in West Virginia in 1938. My father was a coal miner, and my mother was a housewife. My father struck
out on his own at age 10 and became a coal miner at age 16. My mother struck out on her own at age 16. I was
the 12th of fourteen children. My family was a member of a coal mining company town. The company town
provided your housing and other life sustaining needs. My father would later be laid off and providing for his
family became a day-to-day struggle. At times, he bent under the enormous pressure.
Life was hard in the hills of West Virginia for every one and for every family. Poverty was high and even today, the
economy of the state is considered one of the most fragile of any U.S. state. To survive, White and Black worked
together, played together, borrowed from each other, and lived next door to each other. Poverty, the threat of
death, and death were the great equalizers. However, church and school were strictly segregated.
Growing up in the mountains of West Virginia, revivals were my biggest exposure to institutional religion. But for the
most part, I learned religion in my home and in the coal mining community where I was reared. I learned that
religion was how we related to one another and how we treated one another, including the people outside our
home. When I was twelve years old, my family moved to Rand, West Virginia near Charleston. Most of the
children in Rand attended Sunday school. I also decided to attend. I went a few times, but I did not or could not
connect the teachings to my life. After becoming an adult, I made an effort to connect to the Fundamentalist
Churches, but the messages were not relative to my life condition. I stopped attending any church at all.
In 1970 while attending graduate school, another student asked me if I would come to her church (All Souls Unitarian
Universalist) and help her organize and facilitate a youth group for grades 9 through 12. I did. During the
summer months, we visited the children’s homes to talk and meet with the parents (and the youth). This project
went very well and at the same time, a connection came alive inside me.
At the time, David Eaton was the minister. He was the church’s first Black-American minister. One Sunday, I heard
David speak. He talked about the here and now and not just the hereafter. I was won over. I found a religion
that wanted to deal with the problems of the world TODAY. In I and Thy, Martin Buber says, you have to engage
people and if you don’t, you cannot connect with God. I learned that Unitarian Universalists are encouraged to
keep open minds, to do something about the ills of society, and to affirm and promote, among other things,
justice, equity, and the worth of every person.
Rev. Don Robinson
I was an elementary school teacher in the Washington, D.C. Public Schools. I saw children and families in trouble and
children without sufficient food and guidance. I knew I had to do something. My growing Unitarian Universalist
(UU) involvement and the connections with my life in West Virginia interconnected. If there was an intersection, it
was my need to make the world a better place for children and families, and my growing UU involvement had
directions and encouragements on how to make the world a better place. At the Unitarian Universalist church,
people would identify a problem and automatically get together to organize to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT
PROBLEM.
I took a detour and decided to become a counselor working with troubled children and their families. The more I
worked directly in the communities, I decided even more was needed. I also decided to formally study to become
a UU minister. I went to divinity school and at the same time, I started to identify a community to help in any way
I could. I started with one run-down room. I graduated from Howard University Divinity School, became
ordained, and more committed and connected to the UU principles. Little by little and with the assistance of
many people and many UU churches, Beacon House came to life.
Beacon House is today a viable organization serving children and their families in order to provide children a way to
make it in life through educational attainment. Many supportive activities are in place to make this happen.
Beacon House provides food, homework assistance, a warm and safe environment, college information and
assistance, and a place where all races and ages interact – just like we did in West Virginia.
I started this search for a religion with the statement about every road and detour eventually leading us to where we
are supposed to be. Every life experience I have ever had has led me to the Unitarian Universalist church and to
dedicate myself to helping children, their families, and to helping communities. In the hills of West Virginia, we
had to help each other in order to survive. In our urban and suburban communities of today, we must help each
other in order to survive. In the World community, we must help and understand each other in order to survive.
I took detours and life, at times, has been difficult ─ but I am where I was meant to be. It all started in the hills of West
Virginia with a coal miner father with a third grade education and a housewife mother.
Rev. Dianne E. Arakawa
Rev. Dianne Arakawa
I somehow always knew that I was being called to ordained ministry. Though I currently hold standing in the United
Church of Christ and am serving one of its congregations in Massachusetts, I was fellowshipped by the Unitarian
Universalist Association in 1978. During my sojourn with the UUA, for which I am grateful, I participated in a variety
of religious communities, explored the strengths and weaknesses of liberal theology and pluralistic worship,
engaged in a number of significant educational and social action programs and projects, and made several dear
friends.
My journey began in Honolulu, Hawaii, where I was born and raised as a sansei in an interfaith Japanese American
family. Like my eldest brother I attended the Punahou School, the oldest private school in the West, which had
been founded by Congregational missionaries from Boston in 1842 for the education of their own children. There I
became involved in the Chapel program with the Rev. David Steele, conducted my first worship service as a
sophomore, enrolled in a Comparative Religions course, and coordinated the senior Baccalaureate worship service
as Co-chair of Graduation. I also assisted the Chair of the Art Department with the Art History program, and
received the President’s Award at graduation.
I enrolled in Wheaton College in Massachusetts, then a women’s college. I majored in Religion and Art History,
concentrating in Medieval Art, and also worked for the College Chaplain. My mentors were the Rev. Drs. J. Arthur
Martin, Charles C. Forman and Harold F. Worthley. During my junior summer I studied German at the University of
Salzburg on a Georgetown University program and traveled throughout the British Isles and western Europe. For
the summer following graduation I enrolled in a Theological German course at Harvard Divinity School and worked
at the Museum of Fine Arts, where I was offered a position. In the fall, however, I decided to accept a position at the
Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston, where I worked for a year. I became an active parishioner at King’s Chapel,
which was served by the Rev. Carl Scovel, and where I met my fiancé and his parents.
From 1975-78 I attended Harvard Divinity School, and studied with Profs. George MacRae and C. Conrad Wright.
For three years I served as a ministerial intern at the First & Second Church of Boston with the Rev. Rhys Williams
and in my senior year student-taught Religion through Social Studies at Belmont High School. When I graduated I
was awarded the Master of Divinity, Certificate in the Program in Religion and Education, offered jointly by HDS
and the Harvard School of Education, Certificate to teach Social Studies from the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, and the American Bible Society Prize for excellence in the reading of Scripture. The following
summer I served as a Chaplain in the Clinical Pastoral Education program at the Massachusetts General Hospital
in Boston with the Rev. Alan Reed.
Rev. Dianne Arakawa
In the fall I married Stephen Washburn, who was a member of King’s Chapel and a US history teacher in New York
City, was ordained and served as an Assistant Minister at the Community Church of New York, UUA, a multiracial ethnic and activist congregation, with the Revs. Donald and Vilma Szantho Harrington. I was active with the
Social Action Committee, Planned Parenthood, RCAR and WILPF in NYC. Upon the couple’s retirement and
Steve’s graduation from the Master of Divinity program at Union Theological Seminary, Steve and I accepted a
call to serve as Co-ministers at the Congregational Universalist Church, a federated UUA/UCC congregation in
Woodstock, Illinois. During those many years I served as president of the local Clergy Association, represented
the UUA to the National Council Churches in NY, lectured on feminist theology, was active on the Board of the
International Association of Religious Freedom/U.S., which hosted the World Congress in 1987 and met in
Hamburg, Germany, in 1990, contributed to the UUA Racial Justice Curriculum and UU Christian Fellowship.
While in the Chicago-area I also entered a pre-doctoral program in the History of Religions at the University of Chicago
Divinity School. Profs. Lawrence Sullivan and David Tracy were inspiring. I was awarded a Master of Arts in 1996
and continued to study Japanese and Sanskrit at Harvard. In 1991 I was elected by the UUA General Assembly
to serve for six years on the UUA Commission of Appraisal, which produced the study on Ministry as well as
Congregational Polity, and from 1997-2002 served on the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, chairing the Process
Committee that dealt with ministerial reentry and misconduct cases.
Since 1998 I have served as an intentional Interim Minister/Pastor at UUA and UCC churches in the Boston area,
where Steve and our son, Jonathan, make our home. Some of these churches have included the United Parish of
Westford, UUA/ UCC, Payson Park Church, UCC, of Belmont, the Congregational Christian Church, UCC, of
Somerset, and the East Congregational Church, UCC, of Milton, MA. Currently I am also active on the
Transitional Ministry Committee of the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC, the Timothy Project of the
MACUCC, and various other programs to support my family. I anticipate continuing to serve in ministry in the
UCC and to find creative ways to use the particular gifts that God has given to me.
The Reverend Dr. Bill Jones




Theologian
Retired Professor at Florida State University
Elder
Author
Dr. Denise Hall
Dr. Denise Hall
In 1994, while assisting with the organization of an interfaith service for the annual Gay Pride Parade in Oklahoma
City, I was unable to locate the Queer Pagans group. Unfortunately, I had to plan the service without their input.
On the day of the parade, while approaching the parade route, someone from my church, New Horizons
Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), mentioned they had found the Queer Pagans. They were in the spot
ahead of us in the parade. This is where I met my future partner, Virginia Savage.
Soon after we met, we started teaching adult religious education classes together; leading the Women’s Spirituality
Group and planning and participating worship services at the First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City, where
Virginia was a member.
Within MCC, there was overt oppression based on race, gender, sexual orientation (bisexuality), religious plurality, and
a lack of respect for other faith journeys. Sadly, I decided to leave MCC in order to honor all of who I am. I
resisted becoming a member of the UUA for some time because I felt it would be disloyal to my religious past.
On April Fool’s Day of 2001, however, I officially joined the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greeley, along with
my partner.
In the Fall of 2003, after much careful thought and reflection with Virginia, I applied and entered seminary at Iliff School
of Theology (Denver, Colorado). I am so thankful to be studying for the ministry. My emphasis is on peace and
justice and I have specifically named my ministry: “Inclusivity, Hospitality, and Grace.”
As I co-create my ministry, it will be manifested through my skills, knowledge, and abilities acquired through veterinary
medicine, work with large animals, and community ministry through my organization: Mother Earth Reverence
Farms (MERF). MERF is called to assist in the co-creation of sustainable community agriculture, research and
development, and community outreach, following in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. George Washington
Carver, and Dr. Wangari Maathai among many others.
MERF hopes to partner with many entities with similar callings, both domestic and international. The community
outreach component will focus on healing individuals and communities via experiences in agriculture and the arts.
MERF has the courage and capabilities to work with a variety of marginalized groups. We seek the political savvy to
reach those who can help us make MERF’s calling a reality.
Wendy Pantoja
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Recent Meadville Lombard Theological
School Graduate
Rev. Mitra Tarlan Jafarzadeh
Rev. Mitra Jafarzadeh
My mother had left the mountains of Kentucky, married an Iranian and traveled between her home
country and Dad’s. I was born in Lexington, but we soon returned to Iran. There we stayed until
someone had fired a gun from the street through our second floor apartment’s kitchen window. It
was the eve of the revolution. We arrived in America having left everything behind. Sleeping on
a stack of blankets and keeping our milk cold in an ice-chest, we began again.
Most children were cruel. Even after the 444 days of the hostage crisis ended, hostility persisted. We
were living in Oklahoma then and many folk were looking for the end of time and the coming of
their savior. They zealously advocated bombing my other home. They probably still do.
Somewhere in all the mess of international strife personally felt, I found a best friend, Kristin, and her
UU family. They lived their values as a family of liberal religionists and in doing so, they provided
me an oasis. From Oklahoma we moved to North Carolina where I met another UU family whose
youngest son, Greg, became my husband and father to our two children, Roya Irene and
Anthony Rostam.
Since my mother was raised in a predominantly Baptist environment and my father’s growing up was
in a mostly Moslem context, Unitarian Universalism is a good fit for me. But my affiliation with
this tradition is more than an accident of mixed parentage. Growing up I thought UUs were as
common as Methodists. I resonated not with abstract principles of Unitarian Universalism, but
with the lives those principles help inform. Among the UUs I knew as a youth, disagreement on
matters political never devolved into personal attack. It was as though differences held together
in one common place were expected and valued.
I do not know if I am more Persian or more Appalachian but I know that this faith’s demand that we
honor each other as we struggle and search for truth has sustained me.
Rev. Janet Johnson
Rev. Janet Johnson
I was born on June 4, 1942. I am the only child of two transplants from the South to New York City’s
Harlem neighborhood. Mine was a comparatively traditional family. My father was the
supervisor of a clerical department in a bank in Manhattan and my mother was a housewife until I
was twelve, when she went to work as an office manager. My rather large extended family lived
within an eight-block radius of each other. Family gatherings were frequent until older relatives
died and the younger ones reached adulthood. Jobs and school took us away from our
community of origin to almost every region of the United States
My parents were the most influential people in my life. They were educated people and valued
education. They instilled in me an appreciation of the arts, especially music, poetry and
literature. They had friends whose ethnic backgrounds and religious affiliations were vastly
different from their own. Because of the diversity of my parents’ social network, I grew up
believing that it was possible for various racial and ethnic groups to live together in harmony.
I graduated from Hunter College in New York City in 1966 and in 1968, I moved to Chicago to attend
graduate school at the University of Chicago. This was when I met Salina Reed (mother of Mark
Morrison Reed). She was a social work supervisor at the University of Chicago Hospitals and
Clinics. We became very close friends. She invited me to her church one Sunday. I had never
even heard of Unitarian Universalism until that time, and as they say the rest is history. That
church, First Unitarian Society of Chicago, offered me an environment where I felt theologically
free to sort out the meaning of life and the nature of the Divine for myself while being part of a
community.
Rev. Janet Johnson
After graduation from graduate school I was offered a social work position and remained in Chicago
until I moved to California in 1997. I officially joined First Unitarian Church on December 26,
1976.
I have been married twice and had one daughter from each marriage. The oldest was born in 1965
and the second was born in 1972.
My call to the ministry came at a time in my life when I wanted to make a deeper commitment to our
movement and preach the “good news” of Unitarian Universalism not only in congregations, to
others in the larger community as well. I entered Starr King School for the Ministry in 1998 and
graduated in 2002. I became a community minister in association with Mount Diablo UU Church
from 2002 until 2006. My community ministry consisted of working with cancer patients at Kaiser
Hospital in Richmond, CA and providing spiritual direction to individuals and groups. I also
served as treasurer of CENTER from 2005 – 2007.
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith
Rev. Carlton Smith
From infancy through adolescence, Carlton Elliott Smith had Asbury United Methodist Church, an African American
congregation established after the Civil War, as his church home. On his father’s side, he had close ties to black
Pentecostalism. After high school, he attended Howard University on a National Achievement Scholarship. He
graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, and, after five months in France, returned to the D.C. area to
take an entry-level position at The Discovery Channel.
He began attending Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church. As he became increasingly devout, he sensed his calling into
the ministry. He enrolled at Howard’s School of Divinity, and soon left Discovery to study full-time.
At seminary, he became friends with Rev. Alma Crawford, who was already a Unitarian Universalist minister. He found
himself more aligned with UU principles than with Pentecostalism, and left Greater Mt. Calvary. He graduated
summa cum laude and went to study at the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland for
five months.
He returned to the States and was soon awarded a one-year journalism fellowship at Religious News Service in
Manhattan. At the end of that year, he pursued UU ministry as his vocation. He interned for a year with two New
Jersey congregations, followed by two years as Extension Minister at the Hollis Unitarian Church (Queens).
The next two years, he was Extension Minister at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, California., During a three-year
break from ministry, he relocated to the Boston area. He was hired as the Interim Assistant Minister at Arlington
in the fall of 2002. Early in the second interim year, the Ministerial Fellowship Committee temporarily suspended
the ‘three-year rule’ that prohibits interims for applying for the settled positions they hold. The suspension only
applied to ministers of color and other marginalized groups in interim assistant, associate or minister of religious
education positions. This opened the door for Carlton to apply for the settled Assistant Minister position, to which
his was unanimously voted by at a congregational meeting in the March 2004. He was installed the following fall
on his 40th birthday. After a challenging ministerial transition, he and Rev. Patricia Brennan were appointed to
serve as Acting Co-Ministers through June 2007.
Rev. Marshall Grigsby
Rev. Marshall Grigsby
Educational adviser Marshall Grigsby was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 18, 1946. After
earning his B.A. in political science from Morehouse College in 1968, Grigsby relocated to Chicago,
where he pursued a master's of theology and doctorate in ministry from the University of Chicago,
completing his program in 1972.
Grigsby began his career after earning his master's in 1970, working as the executive director of the Black
Legislative Clearing House, which provided educational and research services to the nation's black
legislators. After completing his Ph.D., Grigsby moved to Ohio, where he became the associate director
of the Association of Theological Schools of the United States and Canada. In that capacity, he worked
with the schools to address the concerns of the minority students of the programs. In 1975, Grigsby was
named assistant dean and an associate professor at the Divinity School at Howard University, where he
remained for the next ten years. Continuing on in the academic world, Grigsby was named president of
Benedict College in 1985, and in 1993 he was appointed to the positions of executive vice president,
provost and CEO of Hampton University. After serving only a year at Hampton, Grigsby was summoned
to Capitol Hill, where he served as the senior higher education specialist for Democratic members of
Congress and as special adviser to Congressman William Clay. Grigsby left in 2001 to form his own
company, Grigsby and Associates, an educational policy development consulting firm.
In addition to his consulting work, Grigsby serves on the Board of Trustees of USA Funds, which provides
guaranteed loans of more than $10 billion a year to students across the country. He is also a managing
consultant with the Council for Opportunity in Education and is the senior scholar with the Claiborne Pell
Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education. Grigsby was one of five college presidents in 1991 to
receive the Knight Foundation Presidential Leadership Award. Grigsby and his wife, Harriet, live in
Maryland.
Walter LeFlore
Walter LeFlore
I, like many, came to Unitarian Universalism late in life, at the age of 50. After moving to a new home, in a new
community, my partner and now wife, introduced me to UUism as we sought to establish roots in a new
environment. After a somewhat tentative start, I began to feel a real sense of belonging at the First Parish of
Stow and Acton, MA. As a Black man, however, my sense of belonging was not matched by my sense of
comfort, that took much longer to achieve, and frankly required effort.
The UU philosophy, reflected in the seven principles, aligned very nicely with my own worldview. In fact, they matched
remarkably well with values I tried to live by and infuse into my professional work. It was not easy however, to
find a sense of religiosity, nor to fully relax in the lily-white church environment I otherwise enjoyed. My sense of
connection with what the church represented and perhaps more importantly, its potential, held me fast and pulled
me into greater involvement.
My spiritual life has long been of central importance in my life. My spirit life is a source of strength in times of strife, as
it grounds me, feeds and emboldens me. For many years, as an organizational consultant, I tried to infuse my
sense of universal connectedness, belief in the dignity of every human being and strong commitment to justice,
into my corporate work with individuals, teams and organizational processes. Corporate America, I found, did not
see spirit development as a core competency.
While working with a subgroup at church to design and implement a small group ministry program, it occurred to me
that in my own way, I had been “ministering” to people and organizations for most of my life, both personally and
professionally. I quickly came to understand that UU ministry was a perfect way for me to combine my
professional skills and interests with my deeply held beliefs and sense of spirituality.
Currently, I serve my home church as a member of the board of trustees, as a facilitator of small group ministry and as
a co-facilitator of a group focused on exploring issues of white privilege and racism. I serve the larger UU world
as a member of the board of the Small Group Ministry Network. I am currently half way through my training as a
minister at Andover Newton Theological School.
Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed
Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed
The Reed family came to Unitarian Universalism because my father, while watching my brother and myself
starring out the window at our neighbors going to church, said “I don’t like this void. We’ve got to be
something.” A colleague invited us to accompany him to the First Unitarian Society of Chicago, which
was actively trying to become integrated, and subsequently in 1953 the three Reed children became the
first African American children christened there since the congregation’s founding in 1836.
Our family life revolved around the church; my parents became leaders while I attended Sunday School and
later joined what would become the Chicago Children’s Choir. By the time I was a H.S. senior I was
already working as the assistant janitor and the Sunday office manager when I was elected president of
the congregation’s LRY. Immersed so deeply in church-work, the idea of entering the ministry naturally
arose.
In 1974 I enrolled in Meadville/Lombard Theological School; in 1977 I married, fellow seminarian, Donna
Morrison; in 1979 we were called to the First Universalist Church of Rochester N.Y.; and in 1989 we
became co-ministers of the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto where we served until we retired in
2005.
While at M/L, driven by curiosity and fueled by the need to know, I began to track down my African American
ministerial predecessors; it took years, but one by one I found nearly all of them. One product of that
quest was my thesis “Black Pioneers in a White Denomination.” It was published in 1980, followed by an
adult religious education program entitled How Open the Door? Afro-Americans’ Experience in Unitarian
Universalism (1989) and a meditation manual, Been in the Storm so Long (1991), which I edited with
Jacqui James.
During 26 years of ministry I also served both the UUA and CUC (Canadian Unitarian Council) in many
capacities, among these were the UUA Committee on Urban Concerns and Ministry, Commission on
Appraisal, and Ministerial Fellowship Committee; I also served as Co-convener of African American UU
Ministries and President of the CUC.
Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman
Qiyamah Rahman
My spiritual journey has been a long and circuitous one. My spirituality was nurtured early in life through my Baptist
upbringing, influenced by my mother’s Southern roots. My mother was a Preachers Kid (PK), and so my ten
siblings and I had a very religious upbringing facilitated by Greater St. Stephens Missionary Baptist Church.
Shortly after I went began college I went through my “God is Dead” period. I became a Marxist-Leninist and
traveled to Cuba for three months in 1972. My sense of social justice as a change agent was being nurtured but I
was still spiritually restless. So I continued my journey.
Soon afterwards I became a practicing Muslim for ten years. First in the Nation of Islam, then the American Muslim
Mission, then the Sunni community and finally, Sufism. Christianity gave me my religious foundation including
Jesus, and sacraments such as prayer, worship, and giving. Islam gave me the discipline of praying five times a
day, piety and sisterhood. Separation of sexes, that is, purdah, provided a strong compulsion toward the embrace
of sisterhood since it was almost the sole social outlet. Sufism and Islam in general deepened my spirituality
through spiritual practices unique to Islam. And when the prohibitions as a woman and mother became too
restrictive and no longer allowed me to express fully who I was, then I moved on.
My next phase was a “non-denominational” one. Theologically, the church I was affiliated with was non-denominational
within Christianity, but not interfaith or ecumenical. So I continued my spiritual journey. Then I found UUism. I
knew absolutely nothing about UUism. I had seen flyers over a period of time and they were always connected
with social justice issues. As an activist, looking for a new church home I was initially attracted to the strong
social justice orientation. But what has kept me UU is the theological diversity. It allows me to bring all of who I
am theologically, and the best of each faith tradition I have experienced. UUism encourages me to build my own
theology and allows me to reflect on who I am in the world and what kind of world I want to live in. UUism trusts
us to build our own theology and to be pro-active in learning and growing.
My religious upbringing, my blue-collar background and experiences with racism, sexism and classism have informed
my values and who I am. I have developed a great sensitivity for those less fortunate and I believe we as a
community have an obligation to others and to creating a world of justice. So here I am, on the journey toward
ministry. And it feels so right. The space and freedom to create a theology that reflects my values and resonates
with me is stronger than the challenges of race and class. And so here I am!
Reverend Karen Tse
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Karen Tse is the CEO of International Bridges to Justice, a global
legal rights organization she founded in 2000. In addition to being
a UU minister, Karen is an International Human Rights lawyer.
Previously, she served as a public defender in San Francisco and
as a United Nations Judicial Mentor.
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Tse is pioneering Rule of Law Initiatives and building global
Communities of Conscience. She has negotiated and
implemented groundbreaking judicial reforms and trained
hundreds of judges, prosecutors, police and lawyers across Asia
and is now starting in Africa and Latin America. She also launched
a government-sanctioned legal-rights campaign in all 31 mainland
Chinese provinces.
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Karen is a graduate of UCLA Law School and Harvard Divinity
School. She is a social entrepreneur, mother and wife, and was
recently named one of America’s Best Leaders by US News &
World report.
Rev. Mitra Rahnema
Rev. Mitra Rahnema
Mitra Rahnema is a life long Unitarian Universalist bi-racial Iranian American. Mitra was
born in Los Angeles, California. She moved and spent her childhood and teen years
in Ventura, CA where she was raised in the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Ventura. In 1992, she moved to Portland, Oregon to attend undergraduate school at
Lewis and Clark College. While in undergraduate school she worked as a cook in
various restaurants.
After completing her Bachelors of Arts degree in Religious Studies she remained in
Portland and began to work for Project Alliance from the University of Oregon, Child
and Family Center, a social research project looking at adolescent transitions and
parenting. In 2003 Mitra moved to Oakland, CA to attend Starr King School for the
Ministry, in pursuit of her Masters of Divinity. During the first three years of her
seminary education she worked at the Universality of California, Berkeley to
coordinate a statewide parenting project looking at father involvement.
She is currently completing her fourth year of seminary as the Intern Minister at All Souls
Unitarian Universalist Church of Kansa City, Missouri. Mitra is grateful for the many
opportunities of her life that have come through the gifts of friends, family, and the
power of justice projects that challenge her communities towards hope.
Rev. Cheng Imm Tan
Rev. Cheng Imm Tan
I was born in Penang, Malaysia. The youngest of eight children. I have two brothers and five sisters.
On both sides of my family, my great grandparents were immigrants from China,. Both families
were very traditional and both practiced Buddhism and Confucianism. In third grade I was
greatly influenced by a nun who taught us about God’s unconditional love. At the same time she
also taught us that because Eve was female, she like all females were more susceptible to the
devil’s temptations. Our redemption as females lay in complete self denial and subservience to
the male God.
In 1978 I decided to attend college in the US. Despite protest from my parents who saw the U.S
as a very dangerous place for a young woman, I managed to earn a scholarship to attend Wilson
College in Chambersburg PA for a year and then transferred to Dickinson College in Carlisle PA.
I completed my Bachelor’s degree in three years and graduated from Harvard Divinity School in
1986 with an Mdiv.
Throughout my college years, I had thought of myself as a Buddhist Christian - until I discovered
feminist theology. I felt so betrayed by sexism within the church, I stopped identifying myself as
Christian and began practicing Buddhism seriously. Since then, I have been a regular at
Vipassana Buddhist retreats and have incorporated Buddhist wisdom into my everyday life.
While I was at Harvard, I was introduced to UUism through Reverend Elizabeth Ellis, with whom I
interned as an advocate at Renewal House, the shelter for battered women that the Unitarian
Universalist Urban Ministry operated. In the late 1980s, as the Society of the Larger Ministry
(SLM) was starting, both Rev. Ellis and I got involved. It was my encounter with other lay and
community based ministers that convinced me that I might have a place within UUism. At SLM, I
not only met other ministers of color, I met ministers and lay people with a commitment to social
justice ministries outside the walls of the parish. In 1992/3? I became ordained as a Unitarian
Universalist Community Minister.
Rev. Cheng Imm Tan
My ministry around women’s empowerment started at Renewal House in 1982. I saw that Asian woman were having
a hard time getting support from other families and shelter staff. Language and cultural barriers were driving
Asian woman back to the familiarity of their violent homes because they did not feel supported or understood at
the shelter. In 1987 I gathered Asian community leaders and providers in Boston to discuss domestic violence in
the Asian community. Out of this the Asian Taskforce Against Domestic Violence, a movement to break the
silence of domestic violence in Asian communities was born. In 1993, the Asian Shelter and Advocacy project,
the only Asian battered women’s shelter in New England opened its doors.
As the Senior Associate Minster at the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry till 1998 , I not only served as the Director
of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, I started the first Asian food pantry program called,
“Ricesticks & Tea” which provides dry foods that Asians eat such as rice, noodles, cooking oil, sesame oil, and
food vouches for fresh meats and vegetables. In 1997, I convened a group of refugee and immigrant women to
identify key issues and to formulate a common refugee and immigrant women’s agenda which was clearly
articulated at the Massachusetts Conference on Women that same year. In response to the issues identified by
the group, I developed a woman-focused English as a Second Language Program. The program aimed to
empower refugee and immigrant women to become confident leaders in their community as well as in the
mainstream community.
In 1998, Mayor Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston asked me to direct a new department he had initiated – the Mayor’s
Office of New Bostonians with the charge to ensure that Boston’s diverse immigrant communities are fully
integrated into the social, economic, civic and cultural life of Boston. I am still serving in this capacity and finds
her work both rewarding and challenging.
In 1998 I also started Gund Kwok, Asian Woman’s Lion and Dragon dance Troupe. I created Gund Kwok to give Asian
woman the opportunity to learn and perform the lion dance, an art previously denied to women. Gunk Kwok is an
opportunity to celebrate and show off Asian women’s strength and power as well as to reclaim our heritage and
culture. Today 19 strong Asian woman perform the lion dance all over the city and state and each has an
inspiring story to tell about how they have grown as Asian woman who are supporting each other to live bigger
lives
Rev. Chester McCall
Rev. Chester McCall
I was called into the ministry in 1960 at the age of twelve. I grew up Catholic in the fullest sense of what it means to be Catholic. At the age of
twelve (12) I knew that I wanted to be a minister and publicly proclaimed my ministry in a Pentecostal church in the neighborhood.
Interestingly enough my parents did not allow me to fully develop my ministry, believing that I was to young at age twelve (12) to know
what I wanted to do and advised me not to play with God.
It was in 1967 that I resumed my ministry fully. I joined Antioch Baptist Church in San Jose under the leadership of Rev. C.W. Washington and
began a “street ministry” with Rev. Henry Rountree, Jr., Community Services Director of the San Jose Salvation Army. This teampartnership ministry relationship lasted over 20 years and the ministry still continues today.
In 1972 I graduated from Cal State University of San Jose and applied for admissions at Pacific School of Religion. The admissions
office informed me that I was not accepted. Finding this unacceptable, I informed the school administrator the it was God's will that I
attend PSR and that the basis for my denial was rooted in human understanding and that if they were able to transcend the worldly
criteria that they had established that they would find me acceptable and needed to reconsider there decision. I arrived on the day of
registration, registered and began attending classes. Three weeks after school began I was informed that I had been accepted since
three other students that they had accepted did not accept their admission.
I graduated in 1977 with a focus of New Testament Biblical Criticism, Counseling and Religious Education. In 1977, I graduated from
PSR and was employed by the Sequoia Young Men's Christian Association in Redwood City as the lead counselor at its youth runaway
house. In April 1979 I was Ordained into a specialized Ministry for Families, Youth and Seniors prior to the existence of the Specialized
Ministry Committee.
To my surprise it was announced at my ordination that I was the first African American (Black) to be ordained in the Northern California
Conference of the United Church of Christ and to this day the conference has not yet ordained another African-American. In August 83, I
began working for the San Mateo County Service League as the Correctional Services Director whereby I worked in the seven (7) San
Mateo County jails creating and implementing rehabilitation programs, pre-release program for inmates and their families. In August 84, I
was terminated from my employment with Service League when my advocacy for the inmates in regards to the construction of a new jail,
forced the inclusion of a needed child care center and renovation of the old jail visiting room, was supported by the San Mateo County
Board of Supervisors over the wishes of the County Sheriff, who took my advocacy as a personal affront to his authority.
Rev. Chester McCall
By January 1985, I had run out of unemployment benefits. That same month my landlord sold the condominium I was renting and all of a sudden I was
homeless, unemployed and nowhere to go. From June 83 until June 85 I was employed by the Campbell Congregational Church as the Christian Ed.
Director but the church was unable to provide any assistance that would have
gotten me off the streets. But I used this opportunity to fully experience my faith and homelessness, which still contributes to my ability to serve the homeless
today.
In May 1985 a seventeen (17) year old Black youth was shot and killed by a San Jose undercover police officer. I became the pastor to the family,
providing pastoral care services for the entire family, assisting them to cope with the young man's death, adjust to life without him especially his
brothers and sisters and struggled with them as they dealt with death and dying issues. My last act of ministry included coordinating a public hearing
into the death of this young man on behalf of the Truss family and the Human Relations Commission of Santa Clara County.
In October of 1985 David Jamieson came and visited me in San Jose in my homelessness. At the time I was living in the unheated garage of the Truss
Family with the rats, spiders, fleas and roaches. An old couch was my bed and I had my own private bathroom off the garage. Basically living out of
boxes, but off the streets, he found my situation to be totally unacceptable and requested a grant from the ministerial association fund.
ONE OF MANY MIRACLES:
On December 24th, 1985 (On Christmas Eve) I received a check for $1500.00 dollars. I used these funds to secure an apartment the same day. In
addition, a job that I had applied for came through and I began work on Christmas day 1985 as a retail clerk for Stop N' Go markets. Life began once
again and my transformation began as well. By March 1986 I became the Assistant Store Manager and in May 1986 I became the regional Training
Supervisor for all new clerks from Sacramento to Salinas. In August 1986 I became the Executive Director of the East Palo Alto Senior Center in my
hometown of East Palo Alto (a predominately Black Community). I ended my employment with Stop N' Go in March 1988. I moved back to East Palo
Alto across the street from the Senior Center. While employed I secured the funding to build a new senior center, worked closely with the City Council
who donated the land, developed the plans, etc.
In May 1988 while at the Senior Center and out shopping for a new stereo I ran into Rev. Harold Rucker who I had met one time at an annual meeting.
He invited me to come to his church and visit. Shortly there after, he went on sabbatical for six months. In October 1988 his wife who was working for
Satellite Senior Homes quit her job as the Administrator of a low-income housing project in Newark and encouraged me to apply for her position. I did
and rather than giving me her position in Newark they offered me a position in Oakland which I accepted. I began working at Satellite Central in
downtown Oakland on December 1988 as the Administrator, which entailed property management and the coordination of support, services for the
senior residents. My car broke down on the San Mateo Bridge in Jan 89 and I moved to Oakland to live with the person who later became my partner. I
remained a member of Island United in Foster City and was elected to the Board of Directors. Served as the President of the Board participating in the
UCC Bay & Santa Clara Association regional activities.
Rev. Chester McCall
It was in 1989 that I met Rev. Jerry Montgomery. When he left the Oakland UCC church he joined Island United. We became instant friends as a result of our
interest in ministry, chaplaincy, criminal justice and computers. One day he told me that a friend of his who was the CEO of Volunteers of America was
looking for a Black male in his forties to be his Assistant and
serve as Chief of Operations and wanted to know if I would mind if he gave Rev. John Olmsted my name. I agreed and the interview resulted in my being
employed by Sue Olmsted as her administrative assistant. I began work eight months after being employed by Satellite Senior Homes, and two (2)
weeks after my 41st birthday for Volunteers of America. Two (2) weeks after I was employed my Supervisor took a three (3) month sabbatical. My first
task was the creation of the Midway Multiservice Homeless Shelter in Alameda, Ca. that included the purchase of the modular buildings, creation of
budget and program services, hiring of staff, coordinating volunteers, etc. On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1989, while purchasing gifts for the
homeless children in the shelter, the Executive Director was hit by a drunk driver and killed. I was appointed acting director and assisted staff, her
family and the clients in dealing with death and dying issues. I organized a memorial services for the agency and the community to honor her and her
commitment to the community.
In May of 1990, I officially became the Program Director of Midway, which as a result of the innovations of the many homeless services we provided,
led to my becoming the Homeless Program Supervisor for the City Oakland and my meeting of Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs, chairperson of the City of
Oakland Homeless Commission. Shortly after beginning my work with the city, Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs extended an invitation to me to consider a
ministry with the UUA. Shortly there after I attend a meeting with the President of the UUA, the Rev. John Bruehrens with other ministers of color who
were interested in becoming UU ministers. I attended my first General Assembly in Fort Worth as John Buehren's guest. It was during this event that I
meet Barbara Majors, was introduced to the Journey Towards Wholeness Program, meet with the MFC, etc. which led to my acceptance of the
invitation to join with the UUA and bring it’s vision and message to communities and people of color.
AND TO THIS DAY THE MIRACLE CONTINUES!
I lived in Oakland from 1989 until I moved to Tulsa Oklahoma to fulfill the MFC ministry requirement of serving a Unitarian Universalist congregation for
a year in order to be granted ministerial standing. I served the City of Oakland as the Homeless Program Supervisor in the Office of Health and Human
Services, Floretta Chisom, Director. While employed with the City of Oakland, I was also on the ministerial staff of First Unitarian Church Oakland
(FUCO) where I served as the Justice Associates Coordinator and Pacific Central District Diversity/Multicultural Consultant.
The position was funded as a result of a $10,000 grant from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, a matching grant from the Extension
Ministry & Faith In Action Department. Six (6) months after beginning at (FUCO) the ministers went on sabbatical, the congregation began its
renovations as a result of the devastating earthquake. In September 96, I began my ministry officially with the UUA.
Before leaving the Bay Area for Tulsa I had the opportunity to serves as an Adjunct Professor at Starr King Seminary teaching a course in Institutional
Racism and other forms of oppression in the local church. I used the workbook and materials tha I had developed for the United Church of Christ and
the Disciples of Christ. My ministry today still includes being a UU trained, national anti-oppression trainer and consultant for the Unitarian Universalist
Association, the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, assisting local congregations, districts, associations, etc., in becoming and being
an "antiracist and non-oppressive" “spiritually centered” faith communities and religious institutions.
I serveD as the Chaplain of the African American Unitarian Universalist Minister Association (AAUUM) and Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian
Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM). In addition to my in-depth knowledge of homeless issues, my ministry encompasses traditional and
non-traditional ministerial services and includes providing a variety of workshops and seminars in the areas of Spiritual Growth and Development,
Intentional Caring, Institutional Racism and Oppression, Achieving One's Human Potential, Diversity and Multicultural Relations, Youth Violence,
Creating Non-Oppressive communities and institutions, and a variety of other workshops that deal with community and social justice issues.
I have worked in the religious and non-religious non-profit sector for well over 40 years. I have served assisting community based organizations in
becoming 501 (C3) non-profit organizations, providing staff and board training, taught case-management process and procedures, worked with
Reverend Rebecca Sienes
 Meadville Lombard graduate 1999
 Past President of the UU
Congregations of the Philippines
 Known for her radical hospitality
 And Courage to BE
Rev. Dr. Michelle W. Bentley
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Class of 1986, Meadville Lombard
Founder, North River and South
Loop Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship, Chicago, 1986-9
Associate & Interim Sr. Minister,
First Unitarian Society Chicago
1991-1994.
Chaplain, BRASS Foundation
(Substance Abuse
Comprehensive Program) and
LaRabida’ Children’s Hospital for
the Chronically and Terminally Ill
Dean of Students/Faculty
Meadville 1994-1999
Rev. Dr. Michelle Bentley
•Sr. Minister Third Church Chicago 1999-2003
•Professional Development Director, Ministry
UUA 2003-2007
•Expert Pastoral Consultant for Cook County
Public Defenders’ Capital Cases
Sankofa Project Archives
Founder & Director 2006
•Grandmamma to Kasiya Michelle Wells - 2yrs.
Rev. Marta I. Valentin
Maria Cristina Vlassidis
Joseph Santos-Lyons
The Brahmo Samaj
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The Brahmo Samaj (The Society of Worshipers of One God) was founded in 1828
by Raja Rammohun Roy in Calcutta, India. It began as an attempt at religious and
social reconstruction in response to the challenges posed by the Christian
missionary work and the Western ideas which entered India in the wake of British
colonialism. As part of the Bengal renaissance, it aimed to reform Hinduism, purging
it of its idolatry, caste system, and other debasing features, while preserving its
higher elements of truth, spirituality, and essential religion. It stands firmly on theism
— the worship of a single omniscient and omnipotent God. Though distinctly Hindu
in its origins, the Brahmo Samaj adopted concepts from other religions, especially
from Christian reform movements. It believes that all truth is of God and it respects
the prophets of all religions. Raja Rammohun Roy (1772–1833), Devendranath
Tagore (1817–1905), Keshub Chunder Sen (1838–1884), and Sivanath Sastri
(1847-1919) were key figures in shaping the Brahmo Samaj.
Rammohun Roy, born in the eastern state of Bengal, became multilingual,
learning Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, and English. He also acquired an
The Brahmo Samaj, pg 2
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intimate knowledge of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism, developing a zeal for
religious reform derived partly from Hindu and Muslim thought and later from
Unitarian ideas. He rejected worship of religious images as indicative of prejudice
and superstition and contrary to common sense. He also rejected the human rights
violation called sati (suttee) which was perpetrated in the name of religion and
involved the burning of widows on their husbands’ funeral pyres. Roy and his
followers formed the Brahmo Sabha (later, Brahmo Samaj) to reform society through
promoting these ideals. They met regularly for religious services, during which
passages from the Upanishads were read, sermons delivered, and hymns sung.
After Roy’s death the Brahmo Samaj went into decline.
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In 1838, Devendranath Tagore, father of the famous Indian poet Rabindranath
Tagore, revived and reorganized the Samaj. However, Tagore did not share Roy’s
cosmopolitan vision and opposed Christian missions. He staunchly believed in the
infallibility of the Hindu scriptures and developed the Samaj in accordance with his
beliefs. Under his guidance and leadership, the Samaj became an active Hindu
missionary organization, drawing adherents from among educated Hindus and
establishing branches in several towns in Bengal and other Indian states.
Keshub Chunder Sen’s work had a mixed impact on the Samaj, which
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The Brahmo Samaj, pg 3
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ultimately fragmented into three factions. Sen rejected the caste system and child marriages and promoted
women’s education and the remarriage of widows.
Drawing upon world scriptures, he gave the Samaj a universal character.
However, by 1865 differences between him and other members of the Brahmo Samaj became sufficiently acute
that he split off from the parent group and formed the Brahmo Samaj of India. A further schism resulted from the
marriage of his underage daughter to the maharaja of Kuch Bihar. Sen’s claims that the marriage was in
accordance with God’s will disenchanted some of his associates, who, in 1878, responded by founding the
Sadaran Brahmo Samaj. Sen continued as leader of the Brahmo Samaj of India, and in 1881 his group adopted
the name the Nava-vidhan Samaj, or Church of the New Dispensation.
Sivanath Sastri became one of the prime movers of the Sadaran Brahmo Samaj, the largest Brahmo group in
existence today. While maintaining traditional Brahmo characteristics of faith in a personal God, congregational
worship, and condemnation of idol worship, the Sadaran Samaj also emphasized universal brotherhood, opposed
caste distinctions, and promoted a well-ordered organization.
Today, the Brahmo Samaj is a very small minority with mostly hereditary
membership. Though unable to purge Hinduism of what it saw as idolatry and superstition, it did provide a
rational critique of religious thought and practice that contributed to the establishment of a secular, democratic
Indian society.
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Abhi P. Janamanchi
Sources:
Kopf, David. The Brahmo Samaj and The Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1979.
Lavan, Spencer. “The Brahmo Samaj: India’s First Modern Movement For Religious Reform.” In Religion In
Modern India, edited by J. L. Baird. New Delhi, India: South Asia Publications, 1981.
———. Unitarians and India: A Study In Encounter and Response. Chicago, IL: Exploration Press, 1991.
Sastri, Sivanath. History of the Brahmo Samaj. 2d ed. Calcutta, India: Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, 1974.
Sankofa Archive Staff & Contributors
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Rev. Dr. Michelle W. Bentley
Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed
Joseph Santos-Lyons, M.Div.
Joe Cherry
Dr. Qiyamah Rahman
Michael R. Bentley
Christopher Simms
Peace
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Please visit the www.uusankofa.org web
site:
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detailed and further information on Unitarian
Universalist Laity and Clergy of Color and Latin
descent,
to enter your photo and life narrative,
to show your support with a generous financial
pledge and/or volunteer efforts.
You may also phone us at 773-7643-6988 to ask
questions or find out about research possibilities.
Unitarian Universalist
Sankofa Project
 www.uusankofa.org
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For more information contact:
Rev. Dr. Michelle W. Bentley, Project Director
[email protected]
5700 S. Woodlawn Avenue (Physical Archive)
Chicago, IL 60637
773-643-6988
773-643-6989 Fax
Maria Cristina Vlassidis
Maria Cristina Vlassidis