Lois first heard about Andover Newton from Fred Anderson, the interim minster at her local church in Westfield, Massachusetts. “He encouraged me to go to a conference on ministries at Andover Newton, and I was very drawn to the students who were here. They were on a panel and talked about how passionate and committed they were to their work, and that kind of sucked me in.”

Western Massachusetts has been a part of Lois’ life since her undergrad years at Mount Holyoke College, where she studied English literature. And even while studying in Newton for her Masters, Lois kept her roots out in the Berkshires and wanted to bring her ministry there after graduation.

“My last year at Andover Newton while I was working on my field and clinical education, I got a job at Mount Holyoke College as the interim head of their technical services department,” she explained. After Lois graduated, she worked part time at Mount Holyoke, and part time at Richmond Community Church in Richmond, Massachusetts. Through ministry there, Lois saw first-hand the disconnect between the haves and have-nots that make up the Berkshires.

“The people in my church were not the people with second homes in the Berkshires,” she explained. “In that area of the state, there’s a lot of economic disparity between the wealthy and the poor. It made me more sensitive to the situation in our country today, and how important it is in a democracy for people to have financial stability and economic opportunities. That’s important to all of us, not just for the people who are struggling.”

With the support of Andover Newton’s community, Lois said she was able to connect with other churches and understand their struggles to help her own church.

“I was aware of how vulnerable a small church can be, but I realized that they were having the same struggles as everyone else. Thanks to Andover Newton, I was better equipped to help the church connect with other churches.”

With emphasis on compassion, and relationships, Lois was able to help her church navigate this new challenge as their congregation numbers declined.

Of all the lessons she took from her ministry, Lois said that having the Andover Newton community was the support she needed to be successful. Like many part-time pastors at small churches, what brought Lois back to Andover Newton was the need for a full-time job. That’s how she ended up at the Franklin Trask Library, where she is now helping a new group navigate a move to Yale. But of all the lessons she took from her ministry, Lois said that having the Andover Newton community was the support she needed to be successful.

“Ministry can be very lonely, so it was helpful to have friends that I went through school with to help me navigate my roles. It became very clear that you need not go it alone and that you need to develop your relationships,” she said.

That’s where Nancy Lois comes in.

As the director of Andover Newton’s library, Lois is tasked with two projects to help with the move to Yale — first, to go through the entire school’s inventory, labeling which materials will remain in Newton for the coming year, which will be sent to Yale, and which ones are repeats in either collection. The goal of this is task is to assure that students have access to a full library in Newton, while also transferring any materials that Yale does not have to the New Haven campus. This massive task will continue to be documented and shared in the days and weeks to come. During this time, the institution will have reason and opportunity to celebrate Nancy’s tender care of Andover Newton materials.

“There’s a lot of resources going in to making sure the school’s history will be preserved,” Lois, who is also an alumna of Andover Newton, explained. “We have some older books, for example, that are no longer in print and that Yale doesn’t have that will go down to New Haven, but any book being used by students will remain in Newton for the coming year.”

Through electronic resources and by hand, Lois and her team have worked tirelessly for months to make sure that everything is in place. By default, any item that was checked out after 2000 will remain in Newton for the coming academic year. Those books will be housed in the Franklin Trask Library (where all of Andover Newton’s office space and classes will also take place for the 2017–2018 year) and all students of Andover Newton will have access to use those materials.

Any materials unique to Yale’s collection (meaning Yale does not already have a copy), will be sent down to New Haven and remain in the Divinity School’s library. Some materials have already made the trip, while others are marked to travel to Connecticut in 2018.

Once each item is categorized, Lois’ second task is to raise as much money as possible for Andover Newton by selling the remaining books. The sale will take place in Spring 2018.

Andover Newton has also expanded its e-book collection to offer more students access to the content they will need to finish their degrees.

The faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and students regularly express gratitude for Nancy and the rest of the library staff. The current team includes Diana Yount — familiar to many — who has returned on a volunteer basis to help with special collections during the transition.

“The main message I want to get out there is that the students finishing up their degrees next year in Newton will have excellent library services,” Lois said. “The collection will be here, in the same place, and will be available to students. We want students to make use of those books during the upcoming year — we’re going through great lengths to make sure that the books stay here for the year, and we’re checking everything. We want to make sure we do this right.”

Doug Green sits on the President’s Advisory Council for Andover Newton’s president, Martin Copenhaver. Doug attended the ceremony in which Beriah Greene received a nomination to be included in the National Abolitionist Hall of Fame. Doug says: “I am not a descendent of his, but a number of his family members said they would adopt me, which is sweet.”

Beriah Greene was inducted on October 22, 2016.

Q: What is Beriah Greene known for?

A: He was a major abolitionist, who created this school, the United Institute, and admitted people of color into his school — a real radical thing at the time. That had caused riots and a lot of opposition where it had been tried in New Hampshire and Connecticut. But he had success in doing that. He graduated a lot of African Americans. This was in the 1830s. He also- I have a great quote about him that, the poet John Greeleaf Whittaker- said about his death… [Whittaker] called [Greene] not only a noble man but he said the world never knew Beriah Greene; he was a great man morally and intellectually. [Witaker] went on to just to say how [Greene] was such an inspiration to so many people, and was at the forefront of the abolitionist movement.

Q: Did he get to see the end [of the Civil War]?

A: He got to see the end of it. He was a real radical. When it began, it didn’t have much to do with emancipation, and the freeing of the slaves. It was more about keeping the whole Union together. And he was disgusted with Abraham Lincoln for not fighting to free the slaves. He felt it was his Christian duty to be involved with politics besides being a teacher, a theologian and holy man. He was very active in the anti-slavery conventions of the time. He also helped start the Liberty party, and that upset a lot of people. At the time the most popular and powerful movement was the Colonialization movement, and almost all of the members of the clergy belonged to it — most politicians, judges, prominent people. And that was a movement that said freed black slaves they wanted to go back to Africa; they didn’t want to integrate them into society. Beriah Greene was saying, No, they have to become equal, full citizens of the United States. And he attacked, vigorously, Northern interest, Northern prejudice, and Northern racism — they are just as bad. He said, Look, the cotton pickers and cotton growers in the South need the markets and mills in the North. And we are complacent with slavery by economically supporting the growers of cotton in the South, the cotton industry in the South.

He also talked about the fact that a lot of people thought that the black people were intellectually inferior to whites. Beriah Greene said: No — that’s why he had them in the schools, they were just as good and smart and bright as the white people.

Q: What were some of the reactions from people who disagreed with him? Was there a lot of backlash?

A: Oh yeah. In 1831 there was a convention of abolitionists in Utica and a mob broke in and drove them out of Utica. So, they went 18–20 miles south to this little town called Peterborough, and met there. That’s where the abolitionist’s hall of fame is: in Peterborough, because that’s where they had their meeting back in 1831. But many of the times Beriah Greene’s career was up against very powerful people, economic and political people that fought him all the way. When he started to change the United Institute, he got support from local churches in the beginning, and had support from the trustees. But, eventually he lost them and people saw him as such a radical. He did die isolated and alone. The United Institute (that he did so much to transform) was a great institution, eventually lost its ecclesiastical support, lost the support of churches. He got into this big political fight and it was a real shame. He was a real prophet and real man of high principle so as much as he would get into politics — he wasn’t a great politician.

Q: What do you think Beriah Greene would say about 2016 and how do you think he would react to some of the movements that we have today?

A: He was always a friend of the oppressed, and he always used to talk about the Bible. There was a scene in Matthew where Jesus says “if you visit me in prison, feed me when I’m hungry, as a stranger treat me as your brethren as you did to me,” and he was saying that we need to do that and that’s the Golden Rule. And he would look at the oppressed today and be advocates to them. Certainly, he would be at the forefront of the gay rights movement, the women’s rights movements, and Black Lives Matter, and things of that sort. He would be standing up for Muslims who are being terrorized and marginalized. Those are just guesses of the kind of man he was. He was very much into human rights.

Q: Seeing that you got to figuratively spend some time with him, what are some of the takeaways and lessons that you think his story has taught you?

A: Well, I see someone like this who is such an example of moral teaching and who lives the gospel it makes me look at my own life and say: “What am I?” “What am I doing to measure up to someone like this?” He was an ordained, congregational minister and so am I and I think: “What have I done that comes even close to any of this?” It inspires me to continue to work on those causes. I do a lot of work in the mental health field, with Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International and various things like that. I am kind of involved in politics locally, too. I support local Democrats out here, and sometimes I think this is a lot and I’ve gotten people upset when I supported some candidates, but it just pales in comparison to the kind of sacrifices and work that Beriah Greene did. And I think it’s just nice to know that there are people out there who have done a lot more, and can inspire me to do a lot more.

Rev. Aaron Stockwell is an expert in transition. He’s seen it in countless times in his career — as a developmental minister, his role is to come to congregations on an interim basis to help them through their transition, and give them the guidance to achieve new goals.

“Developmental ministry is something the Unitarian Universalist Association has to help congregations who have gone through the traditional interim process, and need a minster for more than the traditional one to two-year period,” Stockwell explained. “During this period developmental ministers help congregations work towards achieving goals not usually covered by an interim minister.”

Currently, Stockwell, an alumnus of Andover Newton, is the developmental minster at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brazos Valley in College Station, TX. The church has occupied a multi-building complex in the city for decades, and the land was bought by the Texas Department of Transportation as part of a redesign of town roads. Although the highway project was first proposed 20 years ago, Stockwell said it was still a bittersweet moment when the day finally came to say goodbye to the church campus.

“We held a service of remembrance and went through all the buildings, shared our memories, released them from our use and rededicated ourselves to the congregation,” he said.

The importance of community is key with any transition, Stockwell continued, and it’s important to remember that while the physical space may change, the mission and dedication to their faith is still there. In the case of UU Church of the Brazos Valley, he said at first the congregation fought this change, but given enough time they realized that with the money they received from the state, they can rebuild a bigger and better space to worship.

The lessons of UU Church of the Brazos Valley can translate into broader themes too — with any move or transition, it’s important to take that time to reflect on the past, and look to how you want the future to look. It’s also good advice for the alumni, students and staff of Andover Newton as we transition closer to an affiliation with Yale Divinity School.

“I think religious institutions are changing, and that yes, it is sad that Andover Newton is moving,” Stockwell said. “I love the campus; it was a laboratory for worship. But as society changes and the place of religion and communities of faith change, we have to take the lessons we see at Andover Newton, the joyful moments, the sad moments, the fumbles and successes, and see how we can use them as a case study for transitions in our own life journeys. Watching from afar, it’s an instructive text on how our faith communities will be changing in the coming years. It can teach us and mark more bittersweet transitions.”

And Stockwell reminds us too that as we deal with these transitions in life, it’s important to remember that “all feelings are valid, and that is key.”

Tourists and visitors passing through South Dakota may get distracted by billboards for Wall Drug, Mt. Rushmore, and other frequented sites in the state. Pastors, however, are often focused on the needs emerging from South Dakota’s rural towns and villages.

Gordon Rankin — and the 77 churches that he is responsible for in his conference — make their rural communities a priority.

Some communities are so isolated that he has been unable to find pastors willing to serve them. “So,” he says, “we have to train folks in the community.”

“We have a collaboration with the local college, who help us with some of the training,” he explains. “We are now developing a regional theological network.”

Gordon graduated from Andover Newton in 1991. More recently, he has been working with South Dakota’s UCC conference for the past eighteen months. In this role, he connects with various people and groups in the state and focuses on their needs.

“Part of my role is that at any given moment you’ll have a conversation you wouldn’t expect,” he explains. “One minute we’re talking about church governance, and then the next about agriculture.”

Each day of ministry in this context is different than the last. Gordon finds himself opening to new experiences and insights all the time.

A short time ago, Gordon had an epiphany about race relations in his state. “I went to an event recently to see a presentation by Jennifer Harvey of Drake University, who spoke on issues of racial equality. The premise was that in order to move towards racial equality, it can’t be about reconciliation, but restitution. I suddenly realized how much context has changed me.”

Drawing from his education and experiences from Andover Newton, Gordon daily uses tools that he developed there. “I’ll always value what Andover Newton has given me. Through my career, I now understand how to use the tools they gave me.”

May it continue to be so.

Last week, Andover Newton announced that 2003 Master of Divinity alumnus Charles “Chaz” Howard would address the Class of 2017 at their Commencement ceremony on May 20, 2017. Howard, who currently serves as University Chaplain at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, has spent much of his career facing human tragedy and offering guidance for those he counsels.

“I curate religious life on the campus in general,” Howard said. “I work with students on all aspects of life — figuring out life after graduation, breaking up with a girlfriend, stress over classes.”

But it gets much deeper than that — Howard has to address crisis response on campus and help students navigate anxieties over local and global tragedies — whatever they seem to face.

“Ultimately, I feel my calling is to love God and bring the glory of God and His love to all people,” Howard explained. “For example, after the election and all these executive orders, my Muslim students have been terrified. It’s been part of my job to help them feel loved and safe on our campus.”

Trump’s executive orders hasn’t just affected UPenn’s Muslim community though — Howard said he regularly counsels the Latino students who feel terrorized.

“Immediately my first message is to remind these students that they are welcome on campus,” he said. “That they are loved, that we affirm them, and that we see them as far more than the inappropriate labels they hear in the media.”

Howard reminds us that these are just students, some who may have never encountered racism, xenophobia, etc. first hand. Howard works with the phycologists and therapists on campus to make sure that these students feel welcome and safe.

“It’s enough to feel stressed over their midterm exam, let alone not getting deported and harassed,” Howard added.

Of course, dealing with these issues requires years of experience in grief counseling. Before joining UPenn, Howard spent time as a chaplain in hospice and hospital and as a street outreach worker to individuals experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. His writing has been featured in such publications as Black Arts Quarterly, Black Theology: An International Journal, Sojourners Magazine, Chronicle of Higher Education, The Huffington Post, and Slate. He has also released a book earlier this month, titled Pond, River, Ocean, Rain.

And even with his years of career experience, Howard looks back on his time at Andover Newton fondly.

“Every time I hear Andover Newton, my heart warms,” Howard said. “Those three years up on the hill were the three best in my journey.”

Randy Mayer is pastor for Good Shepherd United Church of Christ in Sahuarita, AZ. For eighteen years he has been in this community, which is located 35 miles from the US/Mexico border. During his time in this Sahuarita, he has developed an intimate awareness of his surroundings.

Randy estimates that 6,000 people have died while attempting to cross the desert. When faced with this reality, he began asking his congregation how they should respond.

Together they decided that their Gospel values compelled them to respond with love. Given the life-and-death circumstances, this love needed to be a tangible recognition of the tragic circumstances they were witnessing.

“We first started putting water out on the migrant trails,” Randy explains. “In the process of delivering water we started finding people in desperate conditions. That’s how we formed our group called ‘Samaritans,’ where — just like the road to Jericho — we would go out on the road to offer food, water, and medical care.”

The Samaritans have been growing since they formed in 2005. There are currently over 300 volunteers. The ministry owns four trucks and these are used to drive water and supplies into the deep desert. They now find themselves at the forefront of immigration issues.

“This kind of work is humanitarian,” Randy says. “Our goal is to save lives.”

He was born in Montana, and eventually decided to go to seminary to become a camp and conference director. He graduated from Andover Newton Theological School in 1994. While he was a student, he had the opportunity to study in Costa Rica for eight months. During that time, he developed a strong connection to Latin American culture and theology.

Eventually Randy began to recognize a developing mission field — one where the people required less evangelism and more solidarity. He recognized great need, and began to discern the ways this need might be met.

After graduation, Randy became an associate pastor for a local congregation in Rhode Island. He then accepted the call to Good Shepherd a short time later. When he arrived in Arizona, he believed that it was where God had always wanted him. His call to ministry was a call to respond to this need.

As a result of his faith and this ministry, Randy has become an ally and an advocate. “Because I am so active on the ground along the border, I have a critical voice when it comes to advocating for border communities and trying to stop the needless deaths and suffering of migrants in the desert. I have a role in public policy in Washington, DC, too. I’ve made twenty or so trips over the last few years to lobby and talk about immigration and border issues.”

When it comes to the foundation for his work, Randy gives credit to Andover Newton. “The main value a theological education gives is some grounding in scripture, ethics and theology,” and students can then, “go out and apply that knowledge in our different contexts. By having that strong foundation we fall in line and we are tethered to the great line of people who have walked before us… We are reminded to do our part to build the movement. As a Christian, I fall in line with the mandate of love: To love your neighbor.”

May it be so.

Eileen Norrington: A Woman of Firsts

Eileen Norrington is a pioneer.

She was the first single mother to attend Andover Newton Theological School. Later, she was the first woman to achieve the rank of Captain in the US Navy Chaplain Corps.

For the next 22 years, Eileen would shape the role of women in military chaplaincy.

Describing her transition from seminary to chaplaincy, she says: “I went right from Andover Newton into the Navy. They were desperate to get more women at that point, but it was still an unusual choice.”

At that time, gender roles were much more limited in the military. She experienced resistance to her presence. While trying to minister to military personnel, she found herself in a male-dominated profession, which was entrenched in military culture.

“The men didn’t want to deal with women,” she explains. “They had all kinds of experience working with women as mothers, wives, sisters — but not as colleagues.”

Nevertheless, she persisted.

It took time for women to develop a larger presence and be appreciated as equals in the Chaplain Corps. Much of the current culture of equality is thanks to Eileen’s work.

“I felt like there needed to be more role models for the women and it felt like a serious responsibility,” says Eileen. When she started at the Navy Chaplain Corps, there were only four women in her program. When she retired, 22 years later, there were 60. During her tenure, she mentored both women and men by helping them navigate the challenges and demands of military chaplaincy. “I would show them ways to do things that they might not have thought of and I helped mentor as I became more experienced and comfortable in my position.”

Eileen explains that while equal pay remains an issue in our culture, the military’s ranking system prevented her from experiencing that specific injustice. In fact, she noticed a shift in the way her colleagues treated her as she rose through the ranks. “On my first day as a commander, I was treated differently. I used to feel ignored in meetings until I became a commander — people started listening to me as if I were a man. It was nice for me to be taken seriously and into consideration. I knew what I was talking about after all of my experience.”

Eileen believes Andover Newton was important in her success, though her life leading up to seminary was difficult. She married immediately after high school and had two boys. Her husband was an alcoholic and he was abusive. She found courage and strength within herself to leave him. Then, with only a high school diploma, she began raising her two boys on her own. Eventually, she joined a group at the University of New Hampshire, who helped advocate for her admission. With their advocacy and the help of a local church, who provided free day care, Eileen went back to school.

She graduated with honors.

She first found Andover Newton through a scholarship ad in the UNH newspaper. Though she didn’t receive the initial scholarship, she was admitted to the seminary, and she responded to the Call.

“Andover Newton was a great experience for me,” she says. “I grew a lot — gained a lot of tools in ministry. The things I learned at Andover Newton stayed with me my entire life. I had good professors all around me who taught me about life, being a mother, and being a student. That foundation was fabulous, and stayed with me over the years.”

May it continue to be so.