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                                Serving the spiritual and intellectual needs of Unitarian and Universalist ministers since 1927.

Greenfield Group

Since 1927
A Unitarian Universalist Ministers Study Group

Greenfield Group, a semi-annual gathering of Unitarian Universlaist Ministers, meets to discuss papers and common readings related to a chosen topic.

Saint: Mary Harrington (by vote of the membership)

SAINTS

Nat Lauriat (d)

Jim Adams (d)

Dick Fewkes

Charles Magistro

Duncan Howlett (d)

Leslie Pennington (d)

Frank Holmes (d)

Mary Harrington

Fred Gillis

Frank Hall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rev. Mary J. Harrington, minister emerita of the Winchester Unitarian Society in Winchester, Massachusetts, from which she retired as senior minister in the fall of 2006 after being diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Mary cofounded the all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization Gulf Coast Volunteers for the Long Haul in 2007.  Gulf Coast Volunteers sponsors service trips to New Orleans. Mary served as its president. In March 2009, Long Haul led its sixteenth and largest intergenerational volunteer trip with fifty volunteers, including thirty college students from four Massachusetts colleges.
Mary became a Unitarian Universalist minister in 1995. Before entering the ministry, she worked in non-profit community organizing and philanthropy, and served as executive director of one of the first hospice programs in the United States.

She has served UU congregations in Santa Rosa, California; Houston; and Marblehead and Winchester, Massachusetts, and as a consulting minister for the North Shore UU Society in Lacombe, Louisiana.

Mary served as vice president for programs, Massachusetts Bay chapter of the UU Minister's Association, and moderator of the Greenfield Group.

In May 2009 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, her alma mater. UUA President William G. Sinkford invited her to preach at the Service of the Living Tradition at the June 2009 UUA General Assembly in Salt Lake City, Utah.

That sermon, A LIFETIME ISN‟T LONG ENOUGH ( Rev. Mary J. Harrington - June 26, 3009) is well worth reading several times and thinking aout the message . . . here is a teaser and the link to the full sermon . .

Tell me, the poet insists, what will engage you?
What does it take to get your attention?

The mystics of all time have understood that there is something in our nature that can pull us toward dull routine and habit, leading to numbness, forgetfulness, zoning out. The Bible frequently refers to us as sheep, and having personally raised sheep, I assure you this is not a compliment. We can easily become so caught up with busyness – jobs, homework, errands, meetings - that we tune out what really matters in our lives. For centuries religious leaders, poets and musicians - artists of every stripe - have been doing handsprings to get our attention and help us reawake to life at its heights and its depths. . . .

Link to the full copy of this sermon by Mary Harrington . . .

Mary and her husband Martin Teitel lived in Sheepscot Village, Maine, and have three children, Jason, Julia and Sam Teitel. (uuworld.org)   Mary passed away in October, 2010.

Thoughts and Remembrances at the time of Mary's death . . . . 

  • We all knew that this day was rapidly approaching and yet.... Perhaps you've all read her last blog posting entitled "Loose Ends?" She ends by saying " My hope is that I too will sail off on such a gentle, peaceful current as my friends the geese and ducks do, leaving behind whatever loose ends my little ducky toes didn't have time to complete-- but knowing that my people will come with me in my heart. Gentle sailing dear Mary... Carol

 

Vanessa’s Garage
Volunteering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—and the aftermath of my diagnosis with ALS—has helped me appreciate the complexity of asking for, and offering, help.

Gulf Coast Volunteers
for the Long Haul

Click Image

 

WHAT MAKES A PERSON A SAINT? The description is found in Article 2 of our Disciplines:

 All founding members of Greenfield Group are “saints” which confers upon them all the privileges but none of the obligations of membership. In addition, the Group may vote to confer the status of Saint upon any member who has been retired from the Group for a least one convocation. Sainthood is meant to reflect our high esteem for the retired member due to service in the Greenfield Group and the longevity of the membership of the retired member.

 

 

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