A Transition in Ministry
On Oct 18th, 2024 our senior minister Rev. Carolyn Patierno announced her retirement after 24 years of ministry at All Souls, effective at the end of June 2025.
Search for our Interim Minister
The All Souls board appointed the Interim Ministry Search Team (IST) to conduct the search for an interim minister who will serve All Souls for two years. The team consists of Eileen Ego (chair), former board chair Maggie Clouet, and current board members Rebecca Graebner and Linda Sargent.
During the winter and early spring of 2025 the Interim Search Team is working with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Transitions Office and All Souls leaders, building our online All Souls Information Profile. This profile contains a broad collection of documents which provides a comprehensive picture of our congregation.
In May 2025 the Interim Search Team evaluates ministers' profiles, interviews, and checks references of those ministers who have expressed interest in serving as our interim minister. Congregations and ministers rank their choices and the UUA shares the rankings with each other and helps each to finalize their decisions. We should know who our interim minister is by the end of May 2025.
In August 2025 the new interim minister arrives. Their overarching job is to prepare us for our next settled minister. An interim minister has fresh eyes to see what we don't. Based on experience with many different congregations they will suggest and encourage us to explore constructive changes going forward.
Five Key Tasks of Interim Ministry
Interim ministers help congregations explore five areas:
Heritage - reviewing how the congregation has been shaped and formed
Mission - defining and redefining our sense of purpose and direction
Leadership - reviewing our member needs and the congregation's ways of organizing and developing leadership
Connections - nurturing our community relationships beyond our walls
Future - preparing for the next era of leadership
Search for our Next Settled Minister
In the winter/spring of 2026 the Nominating and Leadership Development team at All Souls, along with the Board, present names of congregants who will serve on the search team for our new settled minister. This is the "Settled Minister Search Team". This team will be voted on by the congregation at our annual meeting in May of 2026. Going forward from there, the Settled Minister Search Team and the congregation will deeply engage together as we collectively decide what we are looking for in our next settled minister.
In December of 2026 our updated congregational profile will be submitted to the UUA Transitions Office.
In January 2027 the Settled Minister Search Team will begin reviewing the profiles for ministers who have expressed interest in serving All Souls. During the spring of 2027 the team will identify two to four ministers with whom they want to engage. They will check references, meet with them and hear them preach. In May 2027 the team will invite one minister to come and spend a week with us. The congregation will then vote whether to call that person as our next settled minister.
The interim minister leaves in June 2027. Our new settled minister joins our community in August 2027 and begins their ministry at All Souls.
UPDATES: Interim Search Team Update March 5, 2025
The Interim Search Team has begun work on our Congregational Profile. This is an online document that asks about our history, demographics, programming etc.
We expect to complete the profile in mid to late April for submission to the UUA.
On May 4, we will receive the names of candidates interested in our interim position.
The members of the Interim Search Team - Maggie, Eileen, Rebecca and Linda - are available at any time to discuss the process and answer any questions you might have.
Maggie Clouet at maggieclouet@yahoo.com
Eileen Ego at 4.girls@sbcglobal.net
Rebecca Graebner at rjgraebner@gmail.com
Linda Sargent at lindaesar@gmail.com
Ministerial Transitions Timeline
You can find a graphic for the timeline described above for our ministerial transition by clicking here.
Additional Resources/links from the UUA
Transitional Ministry Handbook
