Untitled Document


	What a delight ... it is to be coming to spend a year at Pathways Church! I had a chance to meet some of the lay leadership during my apartment hunting visit in late June and am very excited by what I heard and saw. I am looking forward to getting to know you as individuals and as a community and to discovering the ministry that we can do together. In the meantime, for those I haven’t yet met, here are some answers to some of the frequently asked questions that people have when a new pastor is about to arrive in their midst. My Ministry Style: I see myself as a facilitator and love to work collaboratively. I believe the work of ministry is most effective when the lay leadership and the pastor work together to assess the strengths and challenges of the congregation and to determine where the particular gifts and skills that the pastor brings will be most effective.
I enjoy developing and supporting lay leaders. I like to work with others to bring creative and innovative ideas forward in all areas of congregational life. I love to find ways to integrate the various activities of the congregation (i.e. worship, social actions, religious education) into a coherent whole that honors and gives power to the mission, vision, and values of the community. My Background: A life-long New Englander, I was raised in a humanist home and attended a liberal congregational church as a child. I have a BS in Computer Science from Cornell University’s College of Engineering and worked as a software engineer for 13 years before entering seminary. I was an active lay leader at my local UU congregation and served as its Director of Religious Education for 3 years while in school. In May of 1999, I graduated from Andover Newton Theological School, was ordained at First Parish Church of Chelmsford, MA, and was called to serve All Souls Church of Braintree, MA. I have been serving All Souls for the last 8 years. It has been a wonderful and challenging ministry as the congregation regained its footing and focus after an earlier difficult ministerial transition. The congregation is a Welcoming Congregation and a Green Sanctuary and understands its role as a beacon of liberal religion on Boston’s South Shore. It was difficult to make the decision to leave them, but my spirit was called to new adventures. Personal and Family Information: My husband, Charlie Behrens, will be coming to Texas with me. He is a Senior Software Development Manager at IBM and will be working remotely from our home. Charlie and I have been married for 13 years and have two daughters from my first marriage. Pam, 24, is married and lives and works in Atlanta, GA. She is involved as a religious education teacher at the UU Congregation of Atlanta. Riky (Erika), 22, graduated from college this spring as an arts management major. She is engaged to be married, and plans to remain in Massachusetts for now. Three areas of interest I take pleasure in sharing with Charlie are traveling to new places, local politics, and practicing an environmental lifestyle. We are vegetarians and, at the moment, both drive hybrids. I enjoy being active and work out regularly. I also love to sit in the local coffee shop to read mysteries or to do math and logic puzzles. Theological Orientation: Like many Unitarian Universalists, I find it hard to give myself a label. It would be perhaps most accurate at the moment to say that I am an eco-humanist, strongly influenced by Buddhist practice and teaching. The “eco” prefix on humanism is to actively counter the old humanist idea that humankind is the measure of everything. My humanism recognizes that humans are only one part of a complex web of existence. My spirituality is strongly grounded in the natural world, a reality that expresses itself most clearly in an environmental lifestyle. I am also consistently drawn to Buddhist philosophy and over the years have incorporated many Buddhist practices into my everyday and spiritual life. I feel that the opportunity to be in community with others who have different beliefs is one of the great gifts of Unitarian Universalism. I personally enjoy listening to and trying to understand other perspectives. I believe that our movement would be stronger if we developed more robust ways to engage these conversations at all levels. I actively work to support such conversations. In worship, I rarely speak from a specific theological perspective. I tend to take on universal themes (joy, courage, forgiveness) that can be considered from a number of points of view. I intentionally include readings and meditations from people who use language or express ideas that I do not. I also believe that it is important to supplement the main pulpit voices with alternate worship leaders from different perspectives, whether from inside or outside the congregation. I look forward to hearing your stories, your perspectives, and your passions when I arrive in August and we begin our journey together! Many Blessings, Home \| ©2008 Pathways Church

What a delight ...

it is to be coming to spend a year at Pathways Church! I had a chance to meet some of the lay leadership during my apartment hunting visit in late June and am very excited by what I heard and saw. I am looking forward to getting to know you as individuals and as a community and to discovering the ministry that we can do together. In the meantime, for those I haven’t yet met, here are some answers to some of the frequently asked questions that people have when a new pastor is about to arrive in their midst.

My Ministry Style: I see myself as a facilitator and love to work collaboratively. I believe the work of ministry is most effective when the lay leadership and the pastor work together to assess the strengths and challenges of the congregation and to determine where the particular gifts and skills that the pastor brings will be most effective.

I enjoy developing and supporting lay leaders. I like to work with others to bring creative and innovative ideas forward in all areas of congregational life. I love to find ways to integrate the various activities of the congregation (i.e. worship, social actions, religious education) into a coherent whole that honors and gives power to the mission, vision, and values of the community.

My Background:

A life-long New Englander, I was raised in a humanist home and attended a liberal congregational church as a child. I have a BS in Computer Science from Cornell University’s College of Engineering and worked as a software engineer for 13 years before entering seminary. I was an active lay leader at my local UU congregation and served as its Director of Religious Education for 3 years while in school. In May of 1999, I graduated from Andover Newton Theological School, was ordained at First Parish Church of Chelmsford, MA, and was called to serve All Souls Church of Braintree, MA. I have been serving All Souls for the last 8 years. It has been a wonderful and challenging ministry as the congregation regained its footing and focus after an earlier difficult ministerial transition. The congregation is a Welcoming Congregation and a Green Sanctuary and understands its role as a beacon of liberal religion on Boston’s South Shore. It was difficult to make the decision to leave them, but my spirit was called to new adventures.

Personal and Family Information:

My husband, Charlie Behrens, will be coming to Texas with me. He is a Senior Software Development Manager at IBM and will be working remotely from our home. Charlie and I have been married for 13 years and have two daughters from my first marriage. Pam, 24, is married and lives and works in Atlanta, GA. She is involved as a religious education teacher at the UU Congregation of Atlanta. Riky (Erika), 22, graduated from college this spring as an arts management major. She is engaged to be married, and plans to remain in Massachusetts for now.

Three areas of interest I take pleasure in sharing with Charlie are traveling to new places, local politics, and practicing an environmental lifestyle. We are vegetarians and, at the moment, both drive hybrids. I enjoy being active and work out regularly. I also love to sit in the local coffee shop to read mysteries or to do math and logic puzzles.

Theological Orientation:

Like many Unitarian Universalists, I find it hard to give myself a label. It would be perhaps most accurate at the moment to say that I am an eco-humanist, strongly influenced by Buddhist practice and teaching. The “eco” prefix on humanism is to actively counter the old humanist idea that humankind is the measure of everything. My humanism recognizes that humans are only one part of a complex web of existence. My spirituality is strongly grounded in the natural world, a reality that expresses itself most clearly in an environmental lifestyle. I am also consistently drawn to Buddhist philosophy and over the years have incorporated many Buddhist practices into my everyday and spiritual life.

I feel that the opportunity to be in community with others who have different beliefs is one of the great gifts of Unitarian Universalism. I personally enjoy listening to and trying to understand other perspectives. I believe that our movement would be stronger if we developed more robust ways to engage these conversations at all levels. I actively work to support such conversations.

In worship, I rarely speak from a specific theological perspective. I tend to take on universal themes (joy, courage, forgiveness) that can be considered from a number of points of view. I intentionally include readings and meditations from people who use language or express ideas that I do not. I also believe that it is important to supplement the main pulpit voices with alternate worship leaders from different perspectives, whether from inside or outside the congregation.

I look forward to hearing your stories, your perspectives, and your passions when I arrive in August and we begin our journey together!

Many Blessings,

Rev. Kathy Schmitz
Interim Pastor