Dear Members of Unity Unitarian Church, St. Paul!
Greetings! I am delighted to have been asked to serve as your Interim Minister for the 2022-2023 church year. My contract is renewable for a second year if it feels right to both of us.
After serving two years at All Souls Church in Washington DC, I had planned to take a self-funded sabbatical for 2022-2023. However, when I realized that Unity Unitarian needed an interim for the upcoming year, I immediately applied.
As I said in my video, I have admired and appreciated Unity for many years. I’ve hired Unity Consulting for two churches who were in the process of creating new Ends Statements. Whenever my husband and I would visit the Twin Cities, I always made a point of attending Unity. Whenever I’ve visited, I’ve been impressed with not only your competence and clarity as a congregation, but your warmth and kindness.
Many congregations are experiencing high levels of stress and uncertainty at this time. Some churches have held steady throughout this extraordinary time; others have come to realize that they not only need to rebuild the church they once had; but are re-thinking current ways of doing church. What this pandemic has taught me – and those of us involved in the life of the church is that now, more than ever, we need each other and we need the church.
We need a place to hold one another in concern and to offer care when we come to life’s end.
We need a place for our children to develop their spiritual muscles and our elders to share their life experience.
We need a place where together, we can challenge, in word and deed, the voices of those who’s policies and practices diminish human worth and dignity.
And, we need a place to provide both a voice of reason in a culture of half-truths and a spiritual and moral compass for what can feel like an increasingly chaotic world.
Friends, the world needs us; and the church needs your leadership. Because you are yourselves in transition between one leadership and another, you are uniquely poised to offer guidance, courage, and bold leadership to one another, to your congregation and to the world.
As an Interim Minister who specializes in transitions, I am looking forward to working with you; and to help your congregation embrace your mission and to live out your values in the world. I have served seven congregations of varying sizes, styles and geographical locations. I’ve been a Unitarian Universalist minister for twenty-nine years. I’m committed, passionate, energetic and will be joining you on August 15th.
I am so looking forward to meeting you.
Reverend Kathleen Rolenz
Accredited Interim Minister (AIM)