Introduction of East Shore’s Candidate for Settled Minister
After a thorough search process within the Universal Unitarian Association minister search system, your Ministerial Search Committee (David Baumgart, Martin Cox, Ann Fletcher, Leta Hamilton, Connie Hirnle, Julie Heise, and David Langrock) is thrilled to announce the identity of our Candidate for East Shore’s next settled minister – Rev. Dr. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa!
Getting to Know Reverend Maria Cristina
The Rev. Dr. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa is originally from Chile. Her approach to Ministry is collaborative, deeply rooted in unconditional Love, and intentionally engaged in transformative Social Justice. Rev. Maria Cristina’s rich multicultural background as a proud Latinx/Immigrant/Two Spirit/Queer/Indigenous person informs her spiritual practice of radical welcoming of people from diverse theological/religious/spiritual beliefs, ages, socio-economic backgrounds, sexual orientations, genders, and gender expressions.
Rev. Maria Cristina received a Juris Doctor degree from the City University of New York School of Law, with a specialty in Immigrants’ Rights. She received her Master of Divinity and Doctor of Theology degrees from Harvard Divinity School. She received her calling to the Ministry while working in the AIDS Law Clinic in Boston. During her Ministerial Internship, she was the Youth Minister at First Parish in Needham. She later served First Parish in Brookline as Assistant Minister. She has served Starr King UU Church in Hayward, California, for the past six years. She is the past President of DRUUMM (Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries) and currently serves the UU Ministers Association as a Dedicated Good Officer. She is on the Faculty of Starr King School for the Ministry where she teaches Eco-Feminism and Indigenous Wisdom, Decolonizing UU Worship, Queer Latinx Liberation Theology, and Spanish for Social Justice.
Her son Erick lives in Boston and she lives with her mother, Lily, and their cat Rafiki. Rev. Maria Cristina loves teaching and enjoys walking meditations, nature photography, sewing, and cooking.
Rev. Maria Christina made this introductory video for us:
For more information about Rev. Dr. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa’s ministry and to listen to some of her sermons, we encourage you to visit her website. Also, we believe you will enjoy this slideshow that she put together especially for East Shore.
If you would like to know more about Rev. Maria Cristina, please don’t hesitate to contact the Search Committee directly or at the e-mail below.
Invitation to our Beloved Community
Congregants are invited to participate in Candidating Week April 24 – May 1, where there will be multiple opportunities for East Shore members, friends, and staff to meet and get to know Rev. Maria Cristina —and for her to meet us and get to know our congregation.
Our newly settled minister will need time to understand East Shore as a whole, and gain a sense of its organization as well as its strengths and challenges before making commitments or decisions that affect the resources and future of our beloved community.
For more information about Candidating Week, please see the updated details here.
Thank You East Shore
The Search Committee values the trust and confidence you have placed in us to make this momentous decision. We reviewed a number of applications, checked references, interviewed candidates for many hours, and discussed the candidates in depth as a committee. At every stage, we held in mind the hopes, dreams, and concerns of our East Shore congregation.
We are so thankful to everyone at East Shore who participated in the ministerial search process through the congregational survey, Beyond Categorical Thinking workshop, focus groups, and cottage meetings.
You can contact the Ministerial Search Committee with any questions at [email protected]
Joyfully,
David Baumgart, Martin Cox, Ann Fletcher, Leta Hamilton, Connie Hirnle, Julie Heise, and David Langrock
Ministerial Search Committee