Below is a list of tasks and goals drawn from my contract with All Souls, and from a Board of Trustees meeting from December 2024

1. Explore and report on the five developmental tasks of interim ministry: History, Identity, Strengthening Denominational Connections, Leadership and Preparing for the Future.
2. Provide a fresh perspective on the strengths and challenges of All Souls in key areas of Congregational life: Worship & Liturgy; Pastoral Care; Religious Education for Children and Youth; Anti-racism, anti-oppression.
3. Provide institutional knowledge, experience & support for the Operating Budget and Capital Campaign to improve financial sustainability
4. Develop a Covenant with Rev. Dr. Galen Guengerich
5. Support Ministerial Colleagues and Staff; includes review of all portfolios.
6. Increase ministerial presence
7. Provide knowledge, experience and support for the Future Leadership Model
8. Support efforts that will help heal the congregation and restore a sense of community.
9. Provide expertise in rebuilding the Religious Education Program
10. Provide information about and assist with the Transition to the next Interim Minister.

Of course, I’m not doing any of this as a solo agent!  I am working in collaboration with my ministerial colleagues, with Director of Operations, with the fine staff of All Souls, the Board of Trustees and, most of all – with YOU, the members who continue to give generously of your time, talent and treasures to this community.

Stay tuned for more news and transitions updates!

Blessings, Kathleen

Annual Report

Targeted Senior Minister, Rev. Kathleen C. Rolenz

February 2, 2025

All Souls Church Unitarian, NYC

Happy Groundhog Day!   It’s  old ritual born of superstition, but it’s a beloved one regardless.  Most people think about this as a cultural phenomenon rather than an old superstition – influenced by the film “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray playing this cranky and obnoxious news reporter who is caught in a loop which forces him to repeat every day in the same way, over and over and over again.

I’m sure when the film came out, UU churches heard many a minister preach about this theme – because it’s a good metaphor for then – and for us today, as I stand in this sacred space and offer you my reflection on what I’ve read, seen, heard and felt just 32 days into this ministry. The metaphor which links the film “Groundhog Day” and church is that church’s over time can find themselves repeating patterns and habits without knowing how to change them.  Most of the times those patterns and habits can be an institutional strength- like having quality worship or religious education programs.   Other times, they are like the dreadful waking up that happens in the film, hearing Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” over and over again. Some habits and patterns “got us”, over and over again, creating cyclical behavior that our congregation needs to examine to see if they still serve us..

What I’m saying today will certainly be evolving as we get to know each other better.  I fully and freely admit – I might be wrong about some things I have to say today. I’m wrong a lot! So I will count on all you New Yorkers to be direct and tell me: “Nope, that doesn’t ring true for what I know of All Souls.” If that’s what you feel.  That’s not only fair – in fact, that’s your job as a member of the congregation!  But now I’m going to do my job and tell you I’ve seen so far.

When I first began in ministry what was modeled for me by mostly older male ministers I respected is that the people run the church; that is, the day to day operations of the church to enable the professional minister to do the ministries of the church – the ministries of preaching, teaching, and pastoral care.  But over the last 30 years or so, that model of the ivory tower minister sitting in his study thinking deep thoughts and offering wisdom to the troubled has shifted. I still do those things within the limits of my time and ability, but today, as a member of your ministry team and staff my job includes running the church effectively–and here’s the most important part – so that YOU can find your ministry.  And what do I mean by YOUR ministry – it is to assist you to live into what you are called to do and to be in the world.  and live it out with the support of your fellow congregants.   In other words, the ministry of this church is not about ME. It’s about YOU.  A minister’s job is to inspire you and to provide you with the theological and spiritual tools to do the ministry that calls you into ever deeper acts of love and service.  Most people don’t join a church because they want to argue about the minutiae of church institutional maintenance.  Most people come to religious community because they want to find a place that share their values and calls them into service, especially during times when our values are so imperiled.

All of this leads to my first Point of observation in this Annual Report – governance and by-laws.  They are the bones of the institution.  You have what I call a Shared Governance System.  It’s a good one.  There’s nothing wrong with it.  But what I think may be the problem – is that after it was implemented, the disciplines around governance were not followed.  Why?  In church life, Boards and ministers can focus on what seems more urgent and crisis oriented than tending to the disciplines imposed by governance.  Your board, in collaboration with the congregation, that supremely important work that is unique to them – to reflect on the question “what are we as a church called to do and to be in the world”. That role is imbedded in your governance system and it works, but you’ve got to work it.  I can help you with that, if you want it.   You already know that you need to update your by-laws and the board needs to review, refresh and engage with its governing policies.  And you – as a congregation can and should engage in a process of creating new ends statements.  But, you’ve got some work to do before you’re ready for that process. So, onto the Second Point I want to make in this report.

Trust. Trust is such a fragile thread that can be so easily broken.  In churches where there has been either misconduct or lack of accountability by leadership, members can begin to mistrust their institutions.  When members begin to lose trust in their leaders, people get angry.  What’s underneath that anger is usually hurt and pain; an often-unarticulated sense that this isn’t the way church should be.  So what I’ve felt in these past 32 days is incredible energy and hopefulness and fierce love of this church coupled with sadness and grief – loss and pain.  Some of you are really hurting.  Some of you have hurt each other.  Some of you, especially newer people may not feel this at all. But I want you to know that issue is evident in my first month with you.   Trust takes a long time to rebuild.  It takes small, incremental step; leaders listening closely, reflecting back, being vulnerable, admitting mistakes. It takes congregants who are willing to forgive mistakes, and indeed forgive themselves and one another and begin again, first with trust, then with community, and eventually, with love – loving all souls.

One of the ways I hope to build trust with you is simply to listen to you – show up at coffee hour – return your emails promptly and when I can’t respond in depth, tell you why.  Building trust is holding the ministry, the staff and all of you accountable to the values we profess.  A well-functioning church that operates within its by-laws, governing policies, standard operating procedures and clearly defined roles helps to create a healthy church system.  That’s something that Rev. Pamela, the staff, the board and I are already working on.   But there’s a couple of things that you can do too.  You can support the staff in doing their job, because they love their jobs and they love you – but treat them with respect. In a climate of mutual respect your staff will go above and beyond for you.   You can support each other – even when you don’t agree with each other – and you can support the health of the congregation in so many ways. You can be on the lookout for the newcomer – or the new parents who bring their baby into the sanctuary – or the person looking lost at coffee hour.  And you can  support your church financially, which brings me to the Third Point I want to cover in this report: Church Finances.

You may know that there is a fair amount of anxiety floating around churches of all denominations these days, anxiety about finances and membership and whether or not they can keep the doors open and make payroll.  In that respect, All Souls is not unique.  What I find unusual is the culture surrounding money and giving here.  Every church I’ve served has had an Annual Stewardship/All Church Canvass/Pledge campaign – either in the fall or the spring.  It’s led by a team of volunteers with a minister involved to provide the inspiration and staff support to make it successful.  Every member is expected to pledge something – as they are able.  Ministers preach stewardship sermons; everybody yawns or even  rolls their eyes – and then they think about their giving to the church. It’s an annual ritual but it makes a difference to be up front about what the church needs and what the church spends. It’s about the dollars raised,  yes – but it’s also about the stewardship of this church community, this precious resource that is important to all of us. Isn’t making an annual ask a lot of work?  Yes.  Does anyone really like talking about money?  No.  We’d all prefer it just to magically appear without any effort.  But what happens when a congregations engages in conversations about their giving is that it provides an opportunity to talk to one another and to hold each other accountable in love and respect for the health and future of the church.  Now I may be wrong, but it doesn’t appear that you have a very robust congregational culture around annual giving and stewardship.  I think it’s critical that we can talk about money – and our values and pledging and donating generously to both the annual operating budget and what’s happening currently– with the launch of the second phase of your capital campaign.

I’m so proud of how you transformed this sanctuary into something so beautiful – so inspiring. Now it’s time for the less obvious but equally important phase of renovation.  You know this – but you really need to make this capital campaign a success.  And that means – everybody pledges to that campaign as well as to your annual operating budget gift. No gift is too small or too large.  My secret hope is that we will have raised the remaining 7 million by the time I preach my last sermon with you, so that you can get these renovations done and get on with the next phase of your life.

There are other issues which I will be addressing in either Tuesday Talks or in newsletter columns, from the pulpit, in small group conversation – ones that I can’t fully address here, but you’re familiar with them.   They include addressing issues in your past through several senior ministries; rebuilding your Religious Education program for Children and Adults; developing a healthy relationship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, learning to deal with conflict as a spiritual community, and funding your future.  I’m here to tell you that with solid interim work and with your commitment to do the work, I believe All Souls will be a healthier and stronger institution.

Today is Groundhog day, and I began this reflection by reminding you of the film of the same name.  For those of you who haven’t seen the film – spoiler alert here.  Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray is a cynical and sarcastic weather reporter, who finds himself repeating the same day over and over again. The only way he gets out of this terrible time warp is when he discovered kindness and love which changes him and in turn, changes his life.  The turn around happened because he fell in love.  I want you all to fall in love with your church again; or if you haven’t fallen out of love, then deepen your commitment to see your way through this time of transition.  Be generous with yourself, with one another and with the institution itself.  We all can do better – we’ll make advances together – and we’ll experience some failures – but hopefully we’ll also learn to forgive and not be shaped by our wounds but by the health and the strength and the love that I see, just thirty days into this ministry.  Blessings on you, All Souls.  I am grateful to be one of your ministers, and to walk this journey with you, together.