WELCOME TO OUR NEW MINISTERIAL INTERN

Our new intern will participate in the worship service this Sunday and stay for the annual Activity Fair and then participate in the Soul Matters group facilitators’ training with Rev. Lucy. Here’s in intro:

Sophia McKean is a seminarian at Meadville-Lombard Theological School in Chicago (my own seminary from 1993-97). Following the school’s half-time internship model, Sophia will be with us September-June in each of the next two church years. Sophia (they/them) grew up in the UU Community of the Mountains in Nevada County, which is marking its 30th anniversary this year. Sophia has been a worship associate and board member, among other roles.

They earned a bachelor’s degree in religion at Reed College and participated in the UU group on campus. This past summer, Sophia completed a Clinical Pastoral Education internship at a hospital in Olympia, WA.

Since August 2023, Sophia has worked as a farm hand for an organic family farm. In earlier jobs, Sophia has provided administrative and fundraising support for several not-for-profits.
As a volunteer, they have worked for Sierra Streams, Yuba Harm Reduction, Nevada County Mutual Aid, and Nevada County Pride.

Sophia and our ministers look forward to learning and serving together, and Sophia looks forward to getting to know the individuals and families who make up this vibrant congregation. There is an Internship Committee up and running to provide support, feedback, evaluations, and good reflective questions to Sophia. Many thanks for their service. And thanks to everyone for your pledges and donations to the general operating fund, so our budget can include an internship stipend for Sophia.

WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR PAST INTERNS?

Rev. Rosemary Dodd finished her 10 months of learning and service with us in June 2024.   She is starting her second year as the contract minister for the First Parish of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where she began in the fall of 2024.  She was ordained by her home congregation in Petaluma in April 2025. 

Our first intern was Rev. Devorah Greenstein, Ph.D., whom we ordained in 2003. She then served eight years as an accessibility program associate at the UUA and eight more as full-time faculty at Starr King School for the Ministry (advising UU seminarians and teaching the psychology of religion). She recently turned 80 and lives near two of her three grandchildren in Maryland. She told me that UUSS was her only experience in parish ministry, and for that she treasures her memories of us.

Rev. D. Scott Cooper has been serving First UU Church of Houston as assistant minister for congregational life since 2019. He was called to the position in 2023; Rev. Lucy preached at his installation ceremony.

Though Rev. Sangye Hawke was not an “intern” here, she did various voluntary ministries at UUSS to earn seminary credits for field education. We hosted her ordination in 2021. Sangye served for two years as minister at the UU Church in Livermore and this fall began her second year as the minister for the Sierra Foothills Unitarian Universalists in Auburn.

Rev. Daniel King, Esq., did his internship at the UU Community Church of Sacramento. He served UU churches in Augusta, Ga.; Leesburg, Va.; Richmond and Houston, Texas, and in Kingston, Mass. Dan is minister emeritus at Kingston and an affiliated minister in Richmond, Texas, where he and his wife are retired.

Rev. Christopher Holton-Jablonski served as the RE and family minister at the UU Church of Berkeley and later as a co-minister with his wife at South Church, Portsmouth, N.H. He is now the senior minister of First Church in Belmont, Mass. His wife, Rev. Lauren Smith, is Director of Stewardship and Development at the UUA in Boston, and they have three children. Chris and Lauren sent UUSS a video message for our pledge drive in 2022. I will be preaching in Boston Sept. 14 and will have dinner with Chris on Sept. 15. I’ll say hello for you!

Choosing to serve as a teaching congregation is a major commitment of time and money by a church and its ministers. By doing this, we can make a significant contribution toward the future of professional ministry. At the same time, both interns and congregations gain enrichment and new perspectives, and we feel more connected to the larger UU movement. Thank you!