PHOTO: Rev. Joel Miller and Rev. Dr. Debra Haffner are the new ministers at First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton. Courtesy Photo
The First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton (FUUSN) recently hired two new ministers, the Rev. Dr. Debra Haffner and the Rev. Joel Miller.
In the Unitarian Universalist (UU) tradition, a church seeks out new clergy, and then ministers decide whether or not they’d like to apply for the position.
FUUSN spent a year searching for a new minister before choosing Haffner and Miller, who will both be part time and share ministerial responsibilities.
“We talked with the previous pastor, who is very fond of them, and really appreciated their commitment to one another and their commitment to making their community a better place as well, for everybody,” said Haffner. “And we were excited about serving a large church in New England.”
FUUSN has about 200 people at its 10:15 Sunday worship service, which is offered both in person at 1326 Washington St. and online. They are enjoying Newton’s beautiful natural environment as well as its many small businesses, and they have been working on visiting each of the 13 villages.
“We’ve been delighted by the number of parks you have,” said Haffner. They’re also enjoying Newton’s cultural diversity, and hope to get involved more with the Newton Interfaith Clergy Association. Haffner, who was raised Jewish, wants to connect with the local rabbis more, but was also pleased to meet members of the local Muslim community.
One thing that’s novel for them is being somewhere that Unitarianism isn’t unheard of. Miller was raised UU in Ohio, and to him, it feels like “coming home” to be in the Boston area, which is the birthplace of Unitarian Universalism. At previous churches, he was sometimes the only UU minister for hundreds of miles; now, every neighboring town has a UU church.
Haffner said this is the only place she’s lived where she can tell people she moved here to be a Unitarian Universalist minister and people know what that is.
“In Virginia, you would say that, then they’d be like, What’s that? So it’s really a pleasure to be here,” she said.
Before becoming a minister, Haffner was a sex educator, and she has written several books for parents on how to approach sexuality with their children.
She hopes to offer an event focusing on that topic for parents in the community in the spring.
Miller is the co-founder of the Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry. He started this because he was the minister at Columbine Unitarian Universalist Church in Littleton, Colo., in 1999, and several of the teenagers at his youth group were at Columbine High when the shootings happened that spring.
“None of my kids were killed or injured physically, but they saw terrible, terrible things. I learned a lot about trauma in that moment and in the months that followed, and I also learned how traumatized people can echo that trauma and then traumatize others, or we can use trauma to understand our own lives, and more deeply, and care for others more effectively,” said Miller.
He hopes to be able to work with local clergy on how secondary trauma can affect them.
They both hope to continue the work FUUSN has been doing on anti-racism and ministry with the social justice association UU Mass Action and with the UU Urban Ministry, which serves people in need in Roxbury.