|
About Rev. Robinson Our congregation welcomes Rev. Edmund H. Robinson and his wife, Jacqueline Schwab, to our community. He will be our second consulting minister while the search committee continues interviewing for a permanent minister. Edmund grew up in South Carolina as an Episcopalian, went to Yale in the 60's (where he was located on Staten Island for a summer as part of an Urban Studies internship), and married his high school sweetheart. They were both charter members of the first class at Antioch School of Law, a radical experiment in legal education in Washington D.C. Upon graduation in 1975, they started practicing law in Charleston, SC. Their apartment was right across from the gothic towers of the oldest Unitarian church in the South, and very soon they joined. Over the next 20 years Edmund was chair of the vestry, long-range planning, canvass drive and major gifts for the capital campaign; ran a debate series broadcast on public radio, a coffeehouse and a contra dance; sang in the choir; and got involved in producing folk music, working to oppose nuclear power, and reviving the ACLU. He and his wife also raised two children, Luke and Sally. In the early 90's, when Luke was in college and Sally in high school, Edmund felt called to enroll in a ministerial program at Harvard Divinity School. The change proved too much for the marriage, and it came apart. Edmund then dated and married Jacqueline, who is an accomplished pianist known to the public for her work on Ken Burn's The Civil War and other films. Her website is www.jacquelineschwab.com. Luke is a web designer living in London, and Sally is a law student at CUNY Queens. Since entering divinity school Edmund has been involved with the Institute for Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS), the oldest organization devoted to the dialogue between religion and science, the New Massachusetts Universalist Convention (NMUC), devoted to keeping alive the spirit of Universalism within Unitarian Universalism, and UU Religious Naturalists, a new organization devoted to promoting the religious naturalist perspective. Edmund is an amateur folk musician and an enthusiast of traditional American, Irish, Scottish and English music and dance. He was musician for a Morris team and has played for many contra and English country dances. He also enjoys biking, sailing, canoeing and hiking. Honors
|
Read Rev. Robinson's Sermons
(click for list)
"I
am certain of nothing except Contact The Rev. Edmund Robinson, Unitarian Universalist Minister Church: (718) 447-2204 Parsonage: (718) 442-1012 Cell: (617) 710-0508652-0298 edmuund@gmail.com. |
From the Parsonage April 29, 2008 |
|
Rev. Ben Bortin Minister Emeritus |
![]() accepting the title "Minister Emeritus" with Congregational President Jill Hueckel October 8, 2006 |
|
In appreciation of Reverend Benjamin J. Bortin’s 21 years of service to the UUCSI, the congregation named him Minister Emeritus on July, 2006. In reflecting on his years of service at the UUCSI, Reverend Bortin stated, “The opportunity to serve as minister of the Unitarian Church of Staten Island for twenty one years has been one of the great privileges of my life. I end my tenure with a lot of fond memories and many cherished friends. “I also harbor deep appreciation for this inclusive, pluralistic, vibrant liberal religious community, the Unitarian Church of Staten Island, and confidence that its future is a bright one. “Amid the changes and accomplishments of the past more than two decades, there have been certain luminous continuities. The church is a place where human worth and dignity are considered primary. It is a center for free inquiry, learning, and thought. “It is a caring and welcoming community. It is a place for spiritual and personal growth and development. It holds that religion must be expressed in ethical action. And it is a place to celebrate the gift of life amid its many and marvelous possibilities.” |