Message from Stephen Schwichow, Moderator of the Board of Trustees:

I am extremely pleased to announce that our Board of Trustees approved an agreement with the Rev. Dr. Stephen Furrer to become our Interim Senior Minister, effective August 1, 2011 for one year with the option of one additional year.

I believe he is a wonderful match for our congregation, and will help us through the transition search for a called minister.

Rev. Furrer comes to us with impressive experience dating back to 1981: an Assistant Minister (Berkeley, '81-'82), Settled Minister (West Redding, CT - '83-87; Vineyard Haven, MA -'88-'91; East Suburban Pittsburgh - '93-'99; Santa Fe, '00-'09), Contract Minister (Morgantown, WV - '94-96; Indiana, PA - '96-'99), and as an Interim (Saco, ME - '87-'88; Berlin, MA - '91-93; Binghamton, NY - '99-'00; Santa Monica, '09-'10; and Long Beach, '10-present)

Rev. Furrer, who is a sixth generation Unitarian Universalist, did his Internship at First Church in San Francisco, and he tells us he is thrilled to be bringing his great passion for liberal ministry and our movement, back here to San Francisco.

Rev. Dr. Stephen Furrer

(photo by Sonnie Willis)

Jeremiah is a love warrior, artist of beauty, native healer, liberal educator, creative writer, and voice for those without. From fighting for queer rights to feeding the poor and working with the terminally ill, he has a long history of effectively working with individuals, communities, institutions, and congregations to affect progressive social change.  He has managed community nonprofits, organized political campaigns, lobbied congress for racial and economic equality, served as the special assistant to the mayor of a major city and taught college sociology—all while still in his twenties! He brings all of these experiences to bear in his congregational service.

His responsibilities include community service and social justice programs, hospitality and membership, neighborhood ministries, and spiritual life and learning.  Additionally, he provides broad administrative support to the senior minister and the congregation.  In his first year, he helped found the Interfaith Food Pantry which serves low-income families in our neighborhood, the Guardian Group which supports gay refugees fleeing their countries of origin, Neighborhood Ministries, which provide social, pastoral, and service opportunities throughout the city, the Prayer Shawl Ministry, the Spiritual Counseling Program, Staff Chapel, the, Church Activity Fairs, and the Hospitality Ministry.

Jeremiah brings the devotion of an evangelical Christian, the honoring of tradition and ritual of a Hindu, and the open-heartedness of a Unitarian Universalist. As a Unitarian, he experiences God as the unity that is continually reconciled all things to wholeness, harmony, and beauty through the powers of love, forgiveness, and compassion. He teaches the greatest commandments are to love God with all of your heart, mind, body, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself.  Spirituality, a living thing, is continually blossoming in his heart in unpredictable ways that guide, challenge, and inspire him. Rooted in the Christian tradition of his upbringing and culture, his faith is broad and inclusive as has branched to included serious periods of study, practice, and devotion in the Hindu (Raja Yoga and Shakta Tantra), American Buddhist, Neopagan (Reclaiming and Sha’can), Indigenous (Apache), and Baha’i lineages—many of which he has received formal initiation into, and all of which he draws upon heavily in his spiritual life. A Unitarian Universalist, he encourages all to follow their paths with the full force of their being, understanding that there are truly as many spiritual paths as there are people.

He completed a clinical residency in spiritual care at the Cleveland Clinic working in its advanced Center for Integrative Medicine and world-renowned Heart Center, providing end-of-life planning, grief counseling, guided meditation, healing touch, Reiki, and other modalities of holistic spiritual care. Prior to this residency, he was named a Killam Fellow at the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland. He was well prepared for this fellowship by his internship at All Souls Unitarian of Tulsa, a 1650 member congregation known for its activism, vibrant spirituality, and religious leadership.

When not contemplating the divine, trying to dance, or going to the gym, he enjoys Ashtanga Yoga, silent meditation, vegetarian/ vegan cooking, integrative medicine, underground drag, spontaneous activism, traveling, learning to surf, and spending time with friends and family.

Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae

Rev. Fred Rabidoux is the Society's Minister for Pastoral Care. Rev. Rabidoux is part-time and his in-office schedule is approximately 15 hours per week. To speak with Rev. Rabidoux, or to make an appointment, please contact the church office at (415) 776-4580 or Email UUSF .

Rev. Rabidoux received a Masters in Divinity degree from Starr King School for the Ministry, in Berkeley, CA.

Rev. Fred Rabidoux
(photo by Sonnie Willis)

Alyson joined SFUUC in 1991, attended Star King School for the Ministry and became an Endorsed Community minister in 2002. She served as the Associate Director of A Home Away from Homelessness.  She is currently in search. Alyson’s church experience includes several years as a member of the Adult Religious Education Committee and YRUU Youth Advisor and ministerial liaison to the Membership Committee.

Alyson holds an undergraduate degree in Speech Communications from Emerson College in Boston. She has worked with a variety of non-profits in San Francisco with a focus in arts, education and social services.

Alyson is a native of Massachusetts and has lived in San Francisco since 1985. She and her partner share a home in Bernal Heights. She is a member of the Threshold Choir . Watch for her as she pedals to and fro on her trusty Bike Friday, Toots!

As an Affiliated Community Minister, Kay Jorgensen's primary responsibility is the day-to-day administration of the Faithful Fools, an outreach and “inreach” effort supported by this congregation which provides a peaceful presence and a helping hand to those struggling and confused over the close living quarters shared by the poor and wealthy with our city. Kay serves the Faithful Fools as Co-Founder and President.

Kay has been a performer, teacher, and director of theater groups for many years. Her credits include performing as a mime and clown in The Street Circus, a company that brought theater to the streets of Minnesota. She has blended drama and spirituality since her undergraduate days when she earned a B.A. in drama and religion at Minnesota's St. Olaf College.

Kay has been a parish minister, a leader in the Unitarian Universalist Community ministry movement, and an adjunct professor at the Starr King School for the Ministry. Her current ministerial work includes an after-school program for children of parents going from welfare to workfare; UU Just Economic Community that advocates for workers rights, living wage and others; Religious Witness with Homeless People; Tom Wadell Public Health Clinic; Interfaith Winter Shelter; and many others.

Rev. Denis Letourneau Paul has been a member of this congregation since 2001, and after completing his M.Div. training at Starr King School, was ordained a Unitarian Universalist Minister by this congregation in March of 2009.  He was simultaneously affiliated as a community minister, in support of his work with the Faithful Fools Street Ministry in the Tenderloin.

As an outreach minister, he seeks to build bridges between the streets and the congregation, between community ministry and Unitarian Universalism.  As a Program Coordinator for the Fools' somatic care work, he brings together volunteers practicing body work like Somatic Experiencing, mindfulness meditation, the Rosen Method and Feldenkrais, all infused with the principles of harm reduction.

In our congregation, Denis takes part in helping to create worship experiences, facilitating religious education classes for youth and adults, and working on social justice issues like marriage equality, water rights, health care, homelessness and mental heath advocacy.

Born in 1937, Margot Campbell Gross is Scottish by heritage, but grew up in Great Britian. The oldest in a lively family of seven children, Margot had a talent for art and design. She graduated from the Royal College of Art with a BA in 1958 and went to work as a designer for the London County Council. 

In 1960 Margot married Peter Watson Gross, an American law student. They lived in Boston but later moved to Knoxville, TN, where Margot quickly became involved in the Religious Education Program at the Unitarian Universalist Church. Youth services continued to be a strong calling, along with raising their growing family: two birth and four adopted children.   

In 1985 the family moved to Berkeley, CA, where Margot attended Starr King School for the Ministry. She graduated in 1988 after completing an internship at All Souls Church in New York City with Revs. Forrest Church and John Buehrens.  

Following her ministry at the First Unitarian Society of Plainfield, NJ, in 1995 Margot was called to be Co-Minister with Rev. John Marsh of the first Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco. Here, her passions for social justice and spiritual growth in the congregation created a living legacy, exemplified in the founding of our community after-school program – Up On Top – and the cofounding of the Faithful Fools Street Ministry.  

Margot retired in 2004. She enjoys traveling with her husband Peter, time for painting, walks on Ocean Beach, and visits with extended family. 

“The words on the walls of our Sanctuary speak to me: ‘Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God’ is a call to the work of social justice in the world.”