The Settled Minister Search Committee is very pleased to announce that they
have selected Reverend Susan Karlson of Wilmington, NC
to be our final candidate. Church President, Kathy Santo and Rev Karlson have signed the Letter of Agreement. Some of your questions about her may be answered by the Committee, and some you will have to learn for yourselves during Candidating Week at the end of April.
There will be several opportunities to meet her, but do save the evening of April 26th for a reception in the Parish Hall, and Sundays, April 27th and May 4th for her sermons at our church.
After the second service, there will be a Congregational Meeting to vote on whether we will call her as our settled minister. Ministers are advised not to accept the call of a church where the vote is less than 90%.
The Committee, however, feels strongly that they have found the best candidate, and each of them shared some reasons during the Milestone ceremony at our March 30the Sunday Service.
- John Adrian: Strong background in social services gives her training, experience, and insight in handling minor counseling and referrals, and enhances her ability to empathize. He praised her decision to stop acting as an agent of civil governments that refuse to provide equal access to marriage regardless of sexual orientation. He found her sermon compelling. He called her intelligent, resourceful, industrious and deeply commited to UUism and said she will raise the bar for clergy on SI.
- Rona Solomon: Impressed with her presence - that is - she was totally present with us. She focused the group. Her caring and commitment to social justice is practical, not theoretical or preachy. She will be good for regrowth of Church's committee infrastructure - especially Social Concerns, RE and Membership. (Her partner who loves to fix old houses is a plus) .
- Ruth Benson: Impressed with the depth and quality of her pastoral care. A congregant at Wilmington, who is a cancer survivor, spoke of how Susan made the three hour trip to be with her in the hospital, and stayed close through her darkest days, making her feel safe. Also, impressive were the quality of sermons and special services in her packet, deep sense of social justice, simplicity and universality of her messages, beauty of wedding ceremonies. She had an ease of manner and was genuinely interested in our church and congregation. I felt that she just put her arms around us and took us to her heart and that this is just what our congregation needs. .
- Susan Flynn: Agreeing with what has been said, added that Susan's pre-candidating occurred during a snow storm that cancelled her flight to NY. She and her husband took the train instead. That, along with speaking to some of Susan's references, left me with a sense of "here is a person who keeps commitments and won't let me down."
- Maureen Curran: Impressed by her letter, and her being in sync with our commitment to social justice. She is a good listener, provides feedback, has excellent communication skills. Appears to be a hard worker, organized, focused and will fit well with the congregation. I really enjoyed her sermon, and still think about it today.
- Ray Vasser Semanchik: I really liked her sermon and felt that it challenged me to be a better person. She is easy to talk to and very nice.
- Harry Hicks: As Treasurer, I appreciate that after being approved to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn for candidating week, she researched and booked a Bed and Breakfast at a significant saving to us.
- Jill Hueckel: I really felt the connection when at lunch, Rev Karlson called us into a huddle, and having spoken about her deep admiration for our church's history and continued commitment to social justice, said she felt confident that this was a good fit. She also asked me to relay that she is overjoyed to be returning to Staten Island and looks forward to meeting each of you.
The following information is taken from Susan's Gulf Coast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship's Minister's page.
I am currently dividing my time between Gulfport, Mississippi and Wilmington, North Carolina where my husband, Alan Kindler, our cavorting dog Lillith and beguiling cat, Obi-Wan, live. I have a 28-year old daughter, Heather, living in South Carolina, who is a Unitarian Universalist as well, and three stepdaughters from Alan's previous marriage. Alan visits his daughters as often as he can so you can see we are a traveling family.
I previously served as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wilmington in North Carolina. Unitarian Universalist ministers are ordained by the congregations they serve and the Fellowship in Wilmington ordained me to the Unitarian Universalist ministry on November 2, 2003. I completed my Masters in Divinity at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. in May of 2003. I had a prior career as a clinical social worker and received my Masters in Social Work from Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia and my B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in social welfare from Old Dominion University, also in Norfolk. I was previously ordained as a Minister of Integral Yoga in 1982 and had a teaching center in Los Angeles, California where I taught hatha yoga, prenatal yoga, and meditation classes.
I have a passion for social justice work, probably born out of my lifelong desire to be of service and my social work background. I am on the Board of Directors for the African American Heritage Foundation and co-chair of the Ministerial Roundtable (an interfaith, interracial clergy group dedicated to healing the wounds of racism) in Wilmington, N.C. I have been a member of my District's Antiracism Transformation Team since its inception and have participated in an interfaith panel about our response to marriage equality and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender concerns. I have also been part of interfaith panel discussions on the difference between religion and spirituality, and the significance of the first amendment concerning religious freedom.
I regularly practice gigong and other forms of meditation and yoga. I have an active prayer practice and spend time each day with devotional readings. I love to write, walk, travel, and am learning to play the guitar.