Muskoka Area Parish

Pastoral Report Clergy Support Memorial Church 2018

It is a continuing honour to be an Ordained minister with the church since 2005.

I have a moveable congregation that continues to grow. I am becoming recognized as a much-needed resource in my community of Muskoka. I have been able to synthesize all my training and experience as a teacher/Guidance counselor, psychotherapist, artist, writer and pastoral counselor in one ministry.

Outreach and Pastoral Care

Not only do I provide pastoral care and worship for my own local congregation, but I have been asked to baptize/dedicate/christen children of couples I have married much earlier as outreach.

These referral ceremonies include gay/straight/lesbian/transgender couples. In addition using our own Clergy Support template I provide services with multi-cultural themes and work with other representatives of different faiths or family members to co-create elements of a rich, satisfying ceremony for these couples.

My professional training in Death and Dying and hospice work allowed me to officiate several weddings at death beds in the local hospice, and I married a close friend two days before he died.

Although I have been asked to officiate at Christian funerals, I am much more comfortable co-creating memorial services with family members, where a celebration of life is held, with a distance from the grief-stricken time following a passing of a loved one. This material comes from our ministers’ hand-book.

My ministry extends beyond my community to the United States, Europe and beyond.

For many years I have exhibited the spiritual art of my husband’s famous aunt, Alma Rumball. I give ongoing workshops, presentations, meditations and screenings of our documentary, ‘The Alma Drawings’ (Vision TV, ONE, Discovery and Documentary Channels) Through the Spiritual Cinema Circle DVD Club it is now in 80 countries.

I participated in and graduated from James Twyman’s Beloved Community’s two-year seminary program, attending spiritual retreats, for the Seminary of Spiritual Peacemaking. I received my Masters of Divinity. I teach study groups around the Art of Spiritual Peacemaking.

My Ordination, pastoral skills and ministry and credentials were later recognized by our church.

I go on pilgrimages to sacred sites globally (Greece, Glastonbury, Italy, Mary Magdalene’s cave in France, Mother Mary’s home in Ephesus, Turkey, Australia, Egypt, Israel, Peru).

Later I share my research, and teach through my community newspaper column, Wise Woman Ways. I am also writing a series of books about my spiritual journeys, entitled Alma Matters – matters of the soul. All of this is recognized as Pastoral Care and Outreach by our national church.

My pastoral ministry, and ongoing involvement with Women’s spirituality and activism leads to regular workshops with women’s groups, healing circles. I have co-organized the December 6^th Vigils, International Women’s Day, Earth Day events for years.

Mission Ministry

I am a founding and original, active member in the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers projects, participating in The Muskoka Chapter of G2G for the past ten years. We raise awareness and money in support of African grandmothers, who are raising their orphaned grandchildren, due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Community Ministry

A group of ecumenical leaders in my community meet regularly to share and teach within our eclectic community.

I offer on-going counseling, for free, by donation, or paid. One on one, in groups, or by telephone. My home is my center and spiritual art gallery.

I am well-known and respected as a minister with Clergy Support. Our message, that all paths are honoured, is welcomed wherever I go. I teach, write, speak and counsel that, as global citizens, we have more similarities than we have differences. Part of my ministry focuses on My mission is planetary stewardship and spiritual peacemaking.

I was honoured to receive the title of ‘Muskoka’s Most Popular Wedding Officiant, in 2017. I look forward to a long and fruitful affiliation with Clergy Support Memorial Church.