My desire to change the world led me to open a bakery/cafe in Seward, Alaska. I wanted to feed people and nourish their bodies as well as their souls. The Miller’s Daughter Bakery cafe was a miracle in many ways, but most important was meeting the Rev Beatrice Hitchcock, a UU minister living in Seward. Beatrice and I decided to start a UU Fellowship in Seward, and after assisting her in creating sacred space and worship, I began to wonder if my call to feed people was actually a call to ministry. I had never known a woman minister before! Three years later, I was driving down the Al/Can Highway to Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California. I met the Faithful Fools during my first semester and knew the direction of my ministry would be to counter oppression.
The tragic murder of my youngest child just two weeks before my ordination changed the way I view the world and gave me a broader focus in my social justice ministry. I spent years speaking out against the death penalty and began my Doctor of Ministry studies with a focus on restorative justice at Meadville Lombard Theological School. I turned my focus on the injustice of juvenile life without parole. I am trained as a Defense Victim Outreach Specialist and have worked with the Legal Defense Fund as well as the U.S. Department of Defense in capital cases. I continue to consult with NAACP Legal Defense attorneys as they work to gain parole for men and women sentenced as teenagers to life without parole or sent to death row.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTFfT1Ix53k%5B/embedyt%5D
Rev. Dr. Cathy Harrington 