Susan Frederick-Gray | |
---|---|
9th President of the Unitarian Universalist Association | |
Assumed office June 25, 2017 | |
Preceded by | Rev. Sofia Betancourt,Rev. William Sinkford,and Dr. Leon Spencer (interim co-presidents) [1] [2] |
Succeeded by | Rev. Sofia Betancourt |
Personal details | |
Spouse | Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray |
Children | Henry |
Alma mater | University of Wisconsin-Madison B.S. Harvard Divinity School M.Div |
Website | UUA President's pages |
Susan Frederick-Gray is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served as the ninth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 2017 to 2023. [3] She was the first woman to be elected to the office. [4]
Frederick-Gray graduated from the University of Wisconsin,Madison in 1997 with a bachelor's in molecular biology and received a Master of Divinity in 2001 from Harvard Divinity School. [5] During seminary,she served as a Student Minister in Religious Education at the Winchester Unitarian Society,then interned at the First UU Church of Nashville. She served as minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown,Ohio from 2003 to 2008,and as lead minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix from 2008 to 2017. [6] [7] As the latter congregation's lead minister,she led organization for the Arizona Immigration Ministry and hosted the UUA's 2012 "Justice GA" in Phoenix. [8]
Frederick-Gray was nominated by petition to run for president in 2016. [9] Her campaign centered around three themes:"spiritually vital,grounded in relationships,organized for impact." [10] Following the resignation of UUA president Rev. Peter Morales,candidate Frederick-Gray worked with the three interim co-presidents and the two other presidential candidates,the Revs. Alison Miller and Jeanne Pupke,to ensure new hiring practice policies would last. [11]
On June 24,2017,Frederick-Gray was elected President at the UUA's General Assembly in New Orleans. In the UUA's first entirely electronic instant-runoff presidential election,Frederick-Gray received 39.7% of delegates' first-choice ballots,then 58.3% of the second-choice ballots from voters for the eliminated Rev. Alison Miller. She won in the second round with an overall 56% of the vote. [12]
During her first month in office,Frederick-Gray nominated acting Chief Operating Officer Carey McDonald [13] and condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on transgender people from military service. [14]
Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America,respectively. However,modern Unitarian Universalists see themselves as a separate religion with its own beliefs and affinities. They define themselves as non-creedal,and draw wisdom from various religions and philosophies,including humanism,pantheism,Christianity,Hinduism,Buddhism,Taoism,Judaism,Islam,and Earth-centered spirituality. Thus,the UUA is a religious group with liberal leanings.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religious movement characterized by a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists assert no creed,but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth. Unitarian Universalists do not have an official,unified corpus of sacred texts. Unitarian Universalist congregations include many atheists,agnostics,deists,and theists;there are churches,fellowships,congregations,and societies around the world.
The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans is an independent affiliate of Unitarian Universalists who identify with the precepts of classical or contemporary Paganism:celebrating the sacred circle of life and guiding people to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. CUUPS members foster the development of "liturgical materials based on earth- and nature-centered religious and spiritual perspectives" as well as encourage "greater use of music,dance,visual arts,poetry,story,and creative ritual in Unitarian Universalist worship and celebration." Many members of CUUPS embrace the cycle of seasons and beauty of all life forms found in nature. Unlike many mainline religious sects,Unitarian Universalists and Pagans both value the "sacredness in the present world rather than on an afterlife." CUUPS is a community open to all Unitarian Universalist members and those who support the tenets.
The Rev. William G. Sinkford is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served as the seventh president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA),from 2001 to 2009. His installation as UUA president made him the first African American to lead that organization,or any traditionally white religious denomination in the United States.
Unitarian Universalism,as practiced by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA),and the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC),is a non-Creedal and Liberal theological tradition and an LGBTQ affirming denomination.
John A. Buehrens is an American Unitarian Universalist minister and author.
Peter Morales is an American former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Morales was the UUA's first Latino president. In the early 2000s,he was the senior minister of the Jefferson Unitarian Church in Jefferson County,Colorado,a rapidly growing Unitarian Universalist congregation in the northwestern Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. He also worked for the UUA from 2002 to 2004. In 2008,he announced his candidacy for president,and in 2009 he was elected. As the result of a controversy regarding the UUA's hiring practices and charges of institutional racism,Morales resigned as president in 2017,three months before the end of the term.
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