Catie Scudera Welcomed as New Minister of First Parish Church

On Sunday, May 4, the congregation of First Parish in Needham, Unitarian Universalist, unanimously voted to call Catie Scudera as their next settled minister, announced the church on its website. Ms. Scudera accepted the call, and her ministry at First Parish will begin in August.

Scudera was selected as the ministerial candidate by a search committee that began their work last summer. The vote culminated an eight-day period known as “candidating week” during which Scudera delivered two Sunday sermons, met with many individuals and committees, and co-officiated a memorial service at First Parish.

A 2012 graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Scudera is presently serving as Intern Minister at the Arlington Street Church in Boston, where she will be ordained on Sunday, May 18. She previously served as Student/Summer Minister at the Winchester Unitarian Society and did a clinical internship in pastoral care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA.

Scudera also spent a year in Karang, India, where she participated in the founding of the A. Margaret Barr Children’s Village. Prior to that she taught at the Match High School in Boston. She is a 2007 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where she gave the student commencement speech.

Liz Rover Bailey, chair of the search committee, describes Scudera as someone “with extraordinary presence, a natural leader with a heart as large as her vision and a social justice orientation that is as inspiring as her intellect”.

For more information on Ms. Scudera, visit her candidating website or read the brochure prepared by the search committee.