Don Reagan

Hearing that Mary Katherine Morn will be leaving us at the end of June is significant news. So I want to share with you my thoughts about this announcement and what will be happening over the next weeks and months.

First, I am really happy, as I know you are, that Mary Katherine has this new and exciting opportunity to serve our larger movement. If she must go, then I am so glad it is into a role that will positively affect all the congregations in the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). She now will be working hard not just for us but also for all Unitarian Universalists as part of the leadership team of our association. So let me just say to you Mary Katherine, we are so very proud of you and so fortunate our movement has you as one of its leaders.

Yet, it is sad to see Mary Katherine go. Some of you might be feeling some anxiety about what this may mean for our congregation, and that's normal.

So let me tell you about some things that are already underway. Your Board will be very busy over the next weeks working to find us an interim minister. That person will be in place by late summer. We will also be looking at alternatives for choosing a ministerial search committee to help us find our next wonderful parish minister.

The Rev. Keith Kron, who is the UUA's Director of Transitions, will be flying down from Boston in a few days to meet with the Board to help us in this process. I appreciate this personal visit even if it may have something to do with the UUA feeling just a little guilty about snatching Mary Katherine away from us.

I know all of us will have lots of questions so please feel free to reach out to any members of the Board. I and they will be glad to talk with you about our plans, hear you thoughts and suggestions, and reassure you in whatever way we can that we are very optimistic about the opportunities that we will create together in the coming months and years; and know that we will be communicating frequently with you about our progress.

I am so confident and excited about our future. Let me tell you why. Mary Katherine came nine years ago and we've had a wonderful time together, right? But we know that the congregation is not the minister. Ministers come and ministers go. The congregation is of course us, and we are a very strong congregation. Rev. Kron, the Transitions Director I mentioned, told me we will be "wildly popular" among the candidate pools, both for the interim minister and for a new parish minister when the time comes to call that person. I believe that to be true and the reason is because of you. You are what make this place great. We are a very healthy congregation, packed with incredibly talented, generous and committed people; we have a fantastic staff; and we have the most beautiful and sustaining mission. We are making significant investments in technology and other infrastructure projects, setting aside a quarter of a million dollars in fundraising money for social justice and outreach initiatives and we are exploring innovative and non-traditional ways to expand our community reach and our welcome to all. Such an ambitious and visionary agenda will unquestionably attract the most talented ministerial candidates.

Let me end with the words from one our members, Pete Rafle. Pete's currently on the Music Director Search Committee, and when Pete heard the news that Mary Katherine is leaving us, this is in part what he had to say:

"Dear Mary Katherine,

"The opportunity to learn from, and work with, you over the past nine years has been extraordinarily meaningful and important to me personally and to our family. It is difficult for me to remember UUCF before your arrival, and even harder to imagine what it will be like after your departure, but I suppose our work is to not only imagine the best possible future, but to have the courage to work to make it so."

I really appreciate Pete's words and I believe we are a courageous congregation. And that wonderful future (some of which we have yet to even imagine) I mentioned earlier? I believe that together we will make it so.

Pete ended his comments to Mary Katherine this way: "We'll have time to celebrate what you've accomplished here between now and June, but for the moment, I'll just say, thank you.

"With abiding love and admiration,
Pete"

So for now, Mary Katherine, from all of us at UUCF, with abiding love and admiration, Thank you!

President, Board of Directors