Many years ago I took a year away from my ministerial preparation at Meadville Lombard Theological School, to do a chaplain residency at a teaching hospital on Chicago’s far north side. I wanted more pastoral practice at the “thin places” between life, death, and meaning. I also wanted the extra year of spiritual guidance/pastoral counseling […]
On Training Ministers: The Choices We Make
One Irony of the Unitarian side of Unitarian Universalist history, is that we’re structurally descended from New England’s Puritans. As English followers of the notoriously hard-core John Calvin, the Puritans were famously straight-laced. At first blush it would seem strange that Congregationalists, Unitarians, and others among America’s most liberal traditions, trace our lineage to Calvin. […]
PTSD and the MFC
Unitarian Universalist ministry was a huge, mid-life career change for me. When I made the decision, I didn’t dream I had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s a rigorous path. The Unitarian Universalist Association requires self-analysis, years of postgraduate education, and extensive fieldwork. As a final step, the Candidate goes before the UUA’s Ministerial Fellowship Committee […]