Welcome

I was born in 1965 in Birmingham, Alabama to Sheila and George Weaver. My Grandfather, The Rev. Porter G. Weaver, was a Methodist Circuit minister in Arkansas, where my parents were raised. After their marriage, my parents moved from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Knoxville, Tenessee, where my sister Karen was born, and then to Birmingham, Alabama, where my sister Amye and I were born. Soon after, my family moved to Annadale, Virginia, then Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and finally, South Salem, New York, where I graduated from John Jay High School in Cross River in 1983. 

 

I attended the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF).  I earned a B.S. in Special Education: Emotional Disturbance with a minor in Elementary Education and English in 1987, and I was chosen by my peers as the speaker for graduation in part because I was so well known on campus from my time working in the cafeteria, my radio show on WUMF, and running the Big Brother Big Sister program on campus. Following graduation, I was employed as a special education teacher working with children diagnosed with behavioral impairments.  When I was 25, my mother, Sheila Lenell Berry Weaver, died at the age of 55 from a battle with breast cancer. The most influential moment made me want to become a minister. From 1987 to 2000, I taught students with neurodivergence, ranging from preschool to high school.  During that time, I was actively involved in the UU Church in Portland, ME, teaching Sunday school and hosting coffee hours. During this time I was also involved in several human rights and environmental action groups, including get-out-the-vote campaigns, Stop Clear Cutting in Maine, and  Pro-Life/Pro-Choice. 

 

From 2000 to 2003, I attended Bangor Theological Seminary. I started a house cleaning business I dubbed “Domestic Engineering”  to put myself through seminary. I also completed a field study unit at the First Parish in Portland, Maine. I was actively involved in Maine Interfaith Power and Light, which worked to bring sustainable power to Maine and encourage the use of LED bulbs and alternatives to fossil fuels. I completed a year of Clinical Pastoral Education at Maine Medical Center.  In My final year of seminary, I was the subject of a SALT Magazine story titled Pew to Pulpit by Susan Baxter. Upon graduation from seminary, I was invited to San Francisco for a year-long internship under the Rev. John Newcomb Marsh. While in San Francisco, I was actively involved in standing against the death penalty and began visits with Jack Williams, a wrongly convicted young man on death row who I continue to correspond with to this day.  At the end of My internship year, I was hired as the Interim Director of Lifelong Learning. In that role, I revived the children's and adults' religious education offerings, taught classes on understanding neurodivergence, and helped manage the afterschool program for homeless youth. 

 

In 2004, I passed the Minister Fellowship Committee and was invited to King’s Chapel as the Assistant Minister under the Rev. Earl K. Holt.  I was ordained at King’s Chapel in March 2005.  At King’s Chapel, I assisted with all aspects of worship and pastoral care, oversaw the children’s and adults' religious education, and led the children’s chapel. King’s Chapel was in a period of discernment for the congregation, and I assisted the committee in working with an outside consultant to create a long-range plan. 

 

In May 2007, I was called to the First Church and Parish in Dedham as the first female Parish Minister in 369 years. During my time there, I revived congregational life and helped the congregation focus less on fundraising and more on service to the community. In my second year in Dedham, UU World named First Parish of Deham one of the fastest-growing UU Congregations.   

 

In 2008, I completed my final fellowship with the UUA. During my tenure, I supervised three ministerial students, all of whom went on to serve congregations and the denomination.

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In my time in Dedham, I encouraged collaborative relationships with AIDS Rides, Dedham Shines, Stop the Pipeline in Dedham, Bikes Not Bombs, Cradles to Crayons, the Dedham Artist Guild, Bay State Learning Collaborative, Star Path Montessori, and the Dedham School of Music.  During my eighteen years in Dedham I also served on the Mass Bay District Ministers Committee, The Chickering Foundation, Sophia Snow Place, Dedham Food Pantry, Dedham Refugee Collaborative, Mass Convention of Congregational Ministers, Christian Clergy in the UUA, and the Boston Minister’s Club. 
 

In Dedham, I started an annual February Justice Matinee Film Series, encouraging community conversations on issues ranging from Black Lives Matter to Women’s Rights to Climate Change. I also offered a yearly sermon series during Black History Month, raising awareness of long-forgotten Black History and encouraging our congregation to examine its whiteness through discussions, readings, and reflection.
 

In 2015, I organized several trainings in nonviolent resistance at First Church. I was arrested twice for disturbing the peace charges related to my active attempts to register my descent to the Spectra Natural Gas Pipeline, which runs through Dedham’s Gonzalas Field. In 2017, I helped facilitate the petition signing and discussions that led to Dedham's final adoption of a Human Rights Commission. I also actively participated in planning and organizing the first MLK Day community event in Dedham.  

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During my tenure, I also decorated thousands of paper mache eggs for a yearly Easter egg hunt. During the pandemic, I organized a reverse Easter egg hunt, where hundreds of eggs were delivered to the front doors of quarantined parishioners. I also established and ran the live streaming and YouTube channels for First Church and Parish Dedham during COVID-19 and after. 

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In my eighteen years serving the Dedham Church, I earned three sabbaticals. First, I took part-time (one week a semester and five to six days per month to study over three years) to work on her PhD in Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where I explored issues related to church vitality.   I could no longer afford the time and commitment to finish my dissertation, but my studies have enhanced my ministry in countless ways.  On my second sabbatical, I traveled back and forth from Connecticut every other week for six months to care for family members in crisis.   I took my final sabbatical in 2023 with my wife, Jenny Carlson-Pietraszek, just as we became empty nesters. We traveled the world and shared our journey with the congregation through blogging and social media.  Upon our return to serving our community, I completed my first-level training in Internal Family Systems Therapy to augment my ministerial counseling skillset. 

 

While ministering in Dedham, I strove to help the wider UU Community by offering pastoral support and education for several other congregations, including The First Church in Jamacia Plain, First Parish Milton, and First Parish Needham. I was also the sabbatical minister at King’s Chapel from July to August 2019 and served as the Denominational Counselor to UU Students at Harvard from 2019-2020. In June of 2024, I was approached by the Falmouth UU Fellowship (UU Falmouth) to help them as a part-time contract minister. I have served Dedham and Falmouth throughout the 2024-2025 church year, acknowledging that “no minister can serve one congregation forever.” I have actively tried to sunset my ministry with grace and dignity and, as my mother always taught me, “to leave a place better than I find it.”. I will be wrapping up my ministry in Dedham in the 2025/2026 church year and am seeking a congregation where I can work, walk, grow, and strive to make the world a better place.