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The Search Committee members are joyful, excited and unanimous that Rev. Mara Dowdall will be a wonderful match for us with her leadership skills, experience with church governance and organizational change, her familiarity and connections with Vermont and our issues and values, her theological match with our congregation, and most importantly a youthful and inspirationally powerful presence in the pulpit, in a group, and one to one. Mara has amazing credentials, preaches deep sermons, has a passion for social justice and has had broad and successful experience as a minister that matches the needs and structures of our Society.
Introducing Mara
Mara is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and Philadelphia native. Mara came to Vermont to be the Minister of the Unitarian Church in Montpelier in 2009 from the UUA where she served as Interim Youth Ministry Director 2008 -2009 during Rev. Bill Sinkford's tenure as President. She served the UU Society of Wellesley Hills as Assistant Minister from 2007 - 2008. Between 2004 and 2008 she was an Intern and then Coming of Age Leader for First Parish in Cambridge, MA and a Chaplain Intern at Jeanes Hospital Philadelphia in the summer of 2005. After graduation from college, Mara lived and worked in Washington D.C. as a reproductive-rights organization staffer, a legislative aide to Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a coffee shop barista, and a nanny. While in D.C. she attended All Souls Church and experienced her call to ministry.
Mara is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School where she received a full scholarship and Harvard College where she was the recipient of the Harvard College scholarship for academic distinction all semesters and was on the staff of the Harvard Political Review.
She lives in Montpelier with her husband Ben, a Vermont native, and her fourteen month old son Dean. She enjoys hiking and spending time with family, friends, and cats, Milo and Jack.
A Message from Rev. Mara
Greetings, First UU Society of Burlington!
Earlier this week, I was thrilled to accept your Search Committee's invitation to be your candidate for Senior Minister. Having long admired FUUSB from "down the road," it has been a joy this past month to get to know you better by exploring your congregational record and website and speaking extensively with your Search Committee and Interim Minister. I now look forward to having the chance, during candidating week, to get to know you in person!
Inspired by your mission, I hope to hear your dreams for and vision of FUUSB's future. Appreciative of your shared ministry model, I hope to hear your questions about my ministry and your ideas about how, if you call me, we could join in living out that mission together.
I am delighted that, in just a matter of days, we will get to be together and to begin our conversation! I am honored and humbled by this opportunity and your consideration.
With joy and excitement,
Rev. Mara J. Dowdall
What the Focus Groups and Surveys told us
We are poised at this time in our history having gained clarity of mission - "to gather together to inspire spiritual growth, care for each other and our community, seek the truth and act for justice" - and we endeavor to call a minister who is excited and inspired to join with us in shared ministry as we strive to bring to life this mission within our individual lives, between us, and within the broader community as a whole.
We envision our minister as an inspirational spiritual leader who is grounded and personable as an individual. We see her embracing the mysteries of life and using the breadth and depth of the world's religions, philosophies and traditions to support us in a reflective search for truth and meaning that results in spiritual growth in our lives and an ability to act for justice.
We envision a minister who is skilled at utilizing the worship service, and incorporating music and the arts as direct avenues to the spirit and who, through the sermon, is able to engage members in thoughtful, intellectually stimulating experiences that ultimately inspire and create opportunities for this spiritual growth and enacting of shared values.
We envision a minister who helps honor and hold true to our congregational history of social action and ultimately with creating a brighter and more just future for all. We recognize the essential role of the minister in supporting growth in membership and financial stewardship in order to realize this vision.
Finally, there is recognition of the importance of building connections between members and across generations and to reach beyond our walls as an open, welcoming and inclusive congregation. We seek a minister to foster this process through skilled community building, listening, and connecting of people within the congregation and beyond.
We think Mara is an excellent match for what we seek.
What Rev. Mara is seeking
"The ministry I hope for will be lit with a sense of possibility and excitement. It will be life-giving and challenging, stretching yet sustainable for both minister and congregation. I hope to serve a congregation whose commitment to healing and transforming the world beyond its walls is nourished by a capacity for joy and sense of wonder within its members' hearts. I hope to serve a congregation that values mind-challenging, spirit-moving worship and preaching, a congregation that sings out and listens deeply.
I hope to serve a congregation that has learned from its history, is attentive to its present, and is ready for its future; a congregation that is open to growing in the breadth of its programs, in the depth of its spirit, and in the size of its membership; a congregation that seeks to learn from mistakes, to find ways to disagree in a spirit of respect, and to maintain a healthy sense of humor. The ministry I hope for will bring the good news of our liberal faith to those who need it; it will feed the spirits of those who engage with it."
Why this timing
Mara says: "Since arriving in Montpelier nearly four years ago, I have followed the unfolding journey of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington as a friendly neighbor. With appreciation, I regarded the deep transition work you have undertaken since your long-serving senior minister retired in 2010. With curiosity, I wondered what lucky colleague would be called to your pulpit this spring.
While I have long admired your congregation, the time was not right for me to be in search this year. I was just beginning my fourth year of ministry with the Montpelier congregation, and was still adjusting to the rhythms of full-time solo ministry as a new mom.
However, this spring, when I learned that you were embarking on a second-round search, I felt a surprising stirring of the spirit, which encouraged me to learn more about your still-open senior minister position. After a close study of your profile and careful reflection, I was convinced that those initial flutters of the heart are more than a passing curiosity. Rather, they point to a potential 'right' fit between my ministry and what you are looking for in your next senior minister."
This Sunday and Candidating Week
Members of the Search Committee will be available after both services this Sunday to talk about how joyful and excited we are about what a wonderful fit Mara is for our congregation.
Please come to at least one of a number of opportunities to meet with Mara during Candidating Week May 12th - 19th. The schedule was in the last e-news blast and will be on the web site and the bulletin board.
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