The Parish committee would like to thank Rev. Erica for her message to the congregation updating everyone on her status. We are grateful for the incredible gifts she continues to bring to First Parish during her tenure. We recognize that the prospect of her moving on saddens us, particularly so soon after Marta’s retirement.
To add a little more background, in UUA congregations the focus is on the Ministry, not the ministers, so Rev. Erica’s original contract to work alongside Marta was tied to Marta’s contract. When Marta retired, Rev. Erica’s contract ended. The Parish Committee extended Rev. Erica’s contract through the Transition to give more time for for her own discernment, yet ensure First Parish is positioned to begin a new ministry and provide the Settled Lead Minister with the space to create their own vision.
As Rev. Erica said in her note, our next job is to explore our future staffing and ministerial structure. The Transition Team has already started with listening sessions and the recent Common Ground sessions, where we explored what we value most at First Parish. The Parish Committee and the Transition Team will be following that up with sessions on our values and needs, as well as current staffing and volunteer structure, looking at both the constraints and possibilities to help us create a strong foundation as we search for a new Settled Lead Minister.
Assuming the search is successful, we will be voting on our new minister in May 2027.
If you have questions, please reach out to the Parish Committee on Sundays at services or email us (Parcom-members@firstparish.info) and as a reminder, Rev. Jonipher is also available for pastoral support (jonipher.kwong@firstparish.info).
