I was born and raised in St. Cloud, MN and was dedicated at the St. Cloud Unitarian Universalist Fellowship when I was two years old. I moved to the Northeast for college but will always be a midwesterner at heart. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Boston University and a Masters of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. I currently serve as the settled minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua, NH, where I have been since 2015. I was welcomed into preliminary fellowship as a UU minister in December 2013 and ordained by The First Church in Belmont in May 2014.
I grew up attending the small St. Cloud Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in the midst of a predominantly Catholic part of central Minnesota. The Fellowship gave me many gifts, but the most enduring were its teachings about two kinds of service. They taught me that one of the most important things about being part of a religious community is serving that community. As a lay-led congregation, every member took turns ministering to the rest. At the same time, social justice—service to the wider world—was at the heart of everything the Fellowship did. In religious education classes we learned about justice and injustice, oppression and privilege, and about our obligation as UUs to use our privileges to build a more just and peaceful world. I learned that believing in the inherent worth and dignity of every person is a way of life, an idea that is still central to my worldview.
I grew up attending the small St. Cloud Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in the midst of a predominantly Catholic part of central Minnesota. The Fellowship gave me many gifts, but the most enduring were its teachings about two kinds of service. They taught me that one of the most important things about being part of a religious community is serving that community. As a lay-led congregation, every member took turns ministering to the rest. At the same time, social justice—service to the wider world—was at the heart of everything the Fellowship did. In religious education classes we learned about justice and injustice, oppression and privilege, and about our obligation as UUs to use our privileges to build a more just and peaceful world. I learned that believing in the inherent worth and dignity of every person is a way of life, an idea that is still central to my worldview.
My interest in religion and in ministry did not fully bloom until I began attending a Catholic high school and developed a fascination with theology and a love of ritual. Rather than converting me, Catholic school strengthened my emerging UU identity, deepening my spiritual and intellectual connection to that tradition. I began to see myself as a religious being, and gained an enormous amount of respect for others who identified as such, especially those who devoted their lives to religious vocations. Beginning with the monks at my high school, I have watched clergy from all religious traditions living with faith at the back of their minds at all times, and realized then and now that this is exactly how I want to live my life.
I first felt called to ministry at seventeen and studied religion in college, first at Grinnell College in Iowa and then at Boston University. I took classes on everything from Religion, Ethnicity and Nationalism to Biblical Imagery in Medieval Art. I joined an interfaith Bible study group as a freshman and helped found an interfaith council as a senior. I joined numerous interfaith and UU groups and activities during that time and never seemed to be able to stop myself from getting involved in leading and organizing those groups. After my freshman year, I took a semester off and worked as an intern at a start-up nonprofit in DC with the mission to build a united, progressive, social justice based faith movement. As a result of my experiences there, and as a result of my own frustration with public perceptions of religion as a conservative, violent, and divisive force, I went on to complete my degree at Boston University with a senior thesis project on religion, politics, and faith-based social justice work in the United States.
Just before graduating from college, I began working as the Religious Education Assistant at The First Church in Belmont, UU (FCB), a mid-size congregation in the Boston suburbs. I served FCB for over four years, and held four positions during my time there: Religious Education Assistant, Youth Assistant, Adult Programs Advisor, and Student Minister. My time at FCB nurtured and affirmed my call to ministry and my love of congregational life.
I began seminary in 2010 at Andover Newton Theological School and graduated in May 2013. While in seminary I immersed myself in campus life, taking on a leadership role in our campus UU organization and becoming involved in the interfaith programming with our neighboring rabbinical school. I also served as a Chaplain Intern at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan and continued my work at FCB. In 2012, I moved to New York City to join my partner and to begin a two-year internship at the South Nassau UU Congregation. That fall I also began working for the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA), where I had the opportunity and privilege of working closely with some of my best and brightest colleagues to create programs and resources that nurture excellence in our Unitarian Universalist ministry. In 2015, I was called as the settled minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashua, NH.
I currently live in Nashua, NH with my husband, Tristan, our two children. Tristan works as a high school social studies teacher in New Hampshire.
I first felt called to ministry at seventeen and studied religion in college, first at Grinnell College in Iowa and then at Boston University. I took classes on everything from Religion, Ethnicity and Nationalism to Biblical Imagery in Medieval Art. I joined an interfaith Bible study group as a freshman and helped found an interfaith council as a senior. I joined numerous interfaith and UU groups and activities during that time and never seemed to be able to stop myself from getting involved in leading and organizing those groups. After my freshman year, I took a semester off and worked as an intern at a start-up nonprofit in DC with the mission to build a united, progressive, social justice based faith movement. As a result of my experiences there, and as a result of my own frustration with public perceptions of religion as a conservative, violent, and divisive force, I went on to complete my degree at Boston University with a senior thesis project on religion, politics, and faith-based social justice work in the United States.
Just before graduating from college, I began working as the Religious Education Assistant at The First Church in Belmont, UU (FCB), a mid-size congregation in the Boston suburbs. I served FCB for over four years, and held four positions during my time there: Religious Education Assistant, Youth Assistant, Adult Programs Advisor, and Student Minister. My time at FCB nurtured and affirmed my call to ministry and my love of congregational life.
I began seminary in 2010 at Andover Newton Theological School and graduated in May 2013. While in seminary I immersed myself in campus life, taking on a leadership role in our campus UU organization and becoming involved in the interfaith programming with our neighboring rabbinical school. I also served as a Chaplain Intern at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan and continued my work at FCB. In 2012, I moved to New York City to join my partner and to begin a two-year internship at the South Nassau UU Congregation. That fall I also began working for the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA), where I had the opportunity and privilege of working closely with some of my best and brightest colleagues to create programs and resources that nurture excellence in our Unitarian Universalist ministry. In 2015, I was called as the settled minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashua, NH.
I currently live in Nashua, NH with my husband, Tristan, our two children. Tristan works as a high school social studies teacher in New Hampshire.