Our Ministers
For staff descriptions, go to First Universalist Professional Staff Page
Rev. Justin Schroeder and Rev. Kate Tucker share the parish ministry, including the conduct of Sunday services, rites such as wedding and commitment ceremonies, child dedications and memorial services, and pastoral care.
Justin Schroeder, Senior Minister
Email: justin@firstuniv.org
Blog: Wells We Did Not Dig
Twitter: revjustin1stu
See this excerpt, printed in the Sept. 2011 Liberal newsletter, about how his childhood shaped him
Read his Lake Harriet Bandshell sermon (August 14, 2011), or listen to it here, in which he encouraged us to think of ourselves as lamps, lifeboats and ladders
Justin was raised Unitarian Universalist in Colorado, where the seeds of his ministry were planted while looking up at the mountains and the Milky Way. He earned his Master of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 2007; his undergraduate is in English with a creative writing emphasis.
Justin Schroeder’s vision for ministry has been shaped and formed by twelve years of experience working in UU congregations, eight of which were at two of the largest congregations in the Unitarian Universalist Association. (All Souls Church in Tulsa, OK, and Unity Church, in Saint Paul).
Justin hopes that, led by the spirit of love, he inspires congregants to follow a path of meaning and purpose as they serve each other and the community. "Relationships" are at the heart of his ministry - deeper relationship with God (however you understand that word), with community, and with the world.
Justin's wife, Juliana, has worked at interfaith organizations as a community organizer and program director. Together, they are the proud parents of Tucker Robert Keen Schroeder, born in 2008.
Justin's role at First Universalist is to ensure the spiritual health of the congregation. He serves as the "chief of staff" and is responsible for the worship life of the congregation. He works closely with the Board of Trustees, the Pledge Team, the Planned Giving Team, and the staff to ensure that the church moves toward fulfilling its mission in the world.
Rev. Kate Tucker, Associate Minister
Email: kate@firstuniv.org
Kathleen (Kate) Tucker was called as Associate Minister in September, 1998, after serving the previous year on a contract basis. She earned her Master of Divinity degree at the Earlham School of Divinity where she had earlier completed a baccalaureate degree. She also holds an MFA degree from the University of Minnesota. Before coming to First Universalist in 1997, she held interim positions with the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Kent, Washington, and the First Unitarian Church in Portland, Oregon.
In a sermon Kate has commented: "Our individual experiences, powerful as they are, need a language to live in. Our individual experiences, intense as they are, can still seem random, isolating, disconnected from the web of life. This is what religious community is for: to give us a language. To give us a way to see our experience within a larger pattern of meaning and beauty."
Her role at First Universalist is to provide and arrange congregational care. She works with small-group ministry to ensure spiritual growth of individual members of First Universalist Church. Groups that work directly with the Associate Minister: Congregational Care.
Rev. John Cummins, Minister Emeritus
With his wife, Drusilla, Dr. Cummins served First Universalist from 1961 to 1986.