The Musings of Reverend Catherine Harrington
Minister's Annual Report - June 11, 2006

This has been a busy year of healing, learning, losses, disappointments, accomplishments, joys and growth. Here’s what my second year of serving as your minister has been like for me:

I officiated at several weddings, including that of Dale Jorgensen, the son of Duane and Launa Jorgensen; and a UU couple from Kalamazoo who married at theUnited Methodist Church here in Ludington.

2 memorial services – one for Carolyn Beeker’s mother and one for Judith Dila’s mother. I am honored to be called upon to do these services.

I planned and officiated at the Christmas Eve Vespers service and 8 monthly Vespers services from October to May.

1 Pulpit swap – Jane Thickstun, minister of the UU Church in Midland spoke to our congregation and I addressed her congregation.

A multitude of pastoral visits and counseling in my office, with members, friends, and outreach in the community including the county jail.

1 pulpit supply – I gave a sermon at the Traverse City UU Church in July 2005 on my Sunday off before driving to Marquette for a ministers’ kayak retreat.

Numerous hospital visits, both emergency and otherwise, in Ludington, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, and Ann Arbor to see members and friends of our congregation.

Premarital and marital enrichment counseling for both members and non-members.

Facilitated a 12-week Living the Questions class – based on the success and richness of information the class offered, we will repeat it in the fall.

Planned and facilitated with David Nixon and Evert Mackinen, a Black History Month weekly film series that included four films.

Participated in a “Just Faith” class lasting 30 weeks at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church in Hart. The class focused on how to become a force for social justice and helped participants discern which direction to go in to this end. This experience reinforced my decision to pursue Parish ministry and economic justice.

3 public speaking engagements in the Ludington community: I was invited to give the Invocation at OPEN’s Peace awards; I joined with other ministers, Joe Ellenbaas and Stan Hagemeyer to co-facilitate one of the Democratic Book Club’s discussions based on Jim Wallace book about economic justice. I spoke to local chapters of the AAUW and PE about my path toward ministry and my work with the Faithful Fools. And, the Ludington Daily News published my commentary on the Day of Prayer and our country’s Christian roots as a “My Turn” column.

We offered two workshops – one last July and this June’s attitudinal healing and “being” in a caring relationship. My mentor, Cheryl Daniels Shohan, led the latter.

Hosted Nina Kalmoutis who assisted for almost three months and we accomplished a lot, including organizing the Worship Associates, working on the library, and establishing People’s Church participation in the Community Table.

I enjoyed working with our high school youth group this year and helped plan a wonderful Contemporary Youth Vespers Service with a Unitarian communion service.

A Small Church Growth Workshop proved to be a worthy investment of time and money. The team of 8 who attended worked together in conjunction with the winter exodus shift to accomplish an appreciative inquiry/survey that revealed a strong desire to become an intergenerational church with more families with children.

A Stewardship workshop in Portage was also a worthwhile venture providing insights and inspiration for this year’s successful stewardship campaign. I worked weekly with the Stewardship committee from January until Celebration Sunday.

Outreach in the community took the form of Habitat for Humanity $3500 and a successful Community table project.

I took a Comparative Religions class at West Shore Community college last fall, out of which came a world religions series with two guest scholars from the college: Dr. Louis Yock and Buddhist John Wolff.

I joined in the 4-mile Solidarity Walk in Hart for the Migrant workers with my Catholic friends from the Just Faith Class.

Personally—following a difficult time of posttraumatic stress due to the arrest of my daughter’s murderer almost eleven months after her death, I spent the anniversary of Leslie’s death in California with family and spiritual mentors.

I have continued my regular two-hour sessions of grief counseling with Dr. John Schneider in Traverse City. Dr. Schneider led a service last fall titled, “When the Worst is Past, the Best is Yet to Come.” This service was intended to help the congregation understand the complexities of grief stemming from homicide with the tremendous potential for transformative healing and awareness. At the time his words seemed unrealistic for me as an aspiration, but since then I have written for a grant from the Lily Foundation to fund a 4-month sabbatical in 2008 following my fourth year with you to work towards an understanding of restorative justice.

I am fortunate to have ongoing mentoring with Rev Dr. Davidson Loehr, Rev Dr. Doug Gallagher, and many colleagues around the Heartland District, and afar such as the Faithful Fools. I attended fall and winter ministers’ retreats in Cincinnati and Indiana for education, collegial connection, and renewal and I will join approximately 800 colleagues from around the country for Professional Days followed by the UUA General Assembly gathering in St. Louis on June 19-25.

On Leslie’s birthday last summer, I began a five-day kayak/St. Francis spiritual retreat on Lake Superior. Two days before, I was baptized in the Pere Marquette river by Father Ron Schneider my friend and colleague from St. Gregory’s Parish in Hart. A first for both of us!

I traveled to Nicaragua alone for the first time and returned with exciting plans to take youth and adult members next spring in collaboration with the Faithful Fools and Ken Fisher and Priscilla Tate.

I flew to Napa, California on Mother’s Day for the Preliminary Hearing.

I returned home from California on a Friday, met with a couple whose wedding I will preside over in August on Saturday, preached on Sunday and then drove to Marquette to meet personally with Sister Helen Prejean on Monday afternoon and drove home that evening to be present at church on Tuesday morning.

After two years at People’s Church, I have a clearer picture of what it means to be a parish minister. I’ve done my best to feed you physically at times and spiritually most of the time. I’ve received both harsh criticism and the highest praise, often on the same Sunday. I’ve been accused of hardly working and of working too hard. I will say it has been an honor to be your minister. I value all of the experiences I share with each of you, the challenges especially. I became a UU in the first place because I value diversity and when one or more of you disagrees with me or challenges me to stretch into a broader vision, my vision is enhanced and so is my capacity to use my gifts in a positive healing way in the world. We are on this spiritual journey together and to expect it to be smooth sailing is naïve.

To respond to any concern that some of you may have that I might leave in the near future or, on the other hand, for those who might be concerned that I might stay, I can tell you that I am moving my mother into Longfellow Towers next month.

I do this with complete and utter faith in myself, the Unitarian Universalist tradition and because of the hope our movement brings to our community, our nation, and the world, and with my faith in this church and the knowledge that the single most significant factor in successfully growing a church is the longevity of the minister. To ensure that you will remain small and stagnant, change ministers every three or four years.

My call to ministry is stronger than ever, and I would say that my commitment to this congregation has increased with time as I get to know you better and find my way through the complexities of church life. I am grateful for all the support, love, and hard work that each of you offer to me and this congregation’s well-being. I think sometimes that you hesitate to call me with problems or concerns, but please know that I am happiest when you give me the chance to be your minister. The only thing I ask is that you not call me on Mondays or after 9:00 PM other days unless it is an emergency.

The Reverend Catherine Harrington