Right Relations at Work: Legal Wisdom for Faithful Ministry
2025-10-09 11:00 - 2025-11-13 12:30 (America/Chicago)

Navigating the Land of Never: Empowering a Broken-Hearted Spirit
2025-10-14 10:00 - 2025-11-18 12:00

Clergy Reset Retreat: Into the Heart of Grief
2025-11-10 00:00 - 2025-11-14 23:59 | Seabeck Conference Center

Orientation (Required for new students)
2026-02-02

In-Person Course Meeting Time
2026-02-02 - 2026-02-06

Tending the Wounded Spirit: Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction
2026-02-03 15:00 - 2026-03-03 16:30
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Tending the Wounded Spirit: Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction

February 3
@
3:00 pm
–
March 3
@
4:30 pm

This series is designed primarily for spiritual directors, yet chaplains, ministers, pastoral counselors, religious educators, and all who offer spiritual care are warmly welcome.
Together we will explore how trauma lives in bodies, relationships, and communities, and how our practices of presence, discernment, and compassion can help create spaces of safety, agency, and sacred repair.

5-part series, 90 minutes each
$50 for the whole series. Register here or click the button below.
$20 for individual workshops, registrations below.

register for all five sessions here

Session 1: When Trauma Lives in the Body: Listening with Gentleness and Grounding
with Pastor Jacqueline Duhart
Tuesday, February 3 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT
Trauma is not just a story we carry—it lives in our bodies, our nervous systems, and even our spiritual practices. Pastor Duhart will guide us in noticing how trauma surfaces somatically and spiritually, and explore practices that tend to these wounds with gentleness and grounding. Together we will reflect on how our own trauma histories shape the way we listen and accompany others.
Pastor Jacqueline K. Duhart (she/her/they/them) is Director of Spiritual Care (where?) and a certified spiritual director with an M.Div. from Starr King School for the Ministry and an MSSW from the University of Texas–Arlington. A retired Air Force clinical social worker and former parish minister at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, she brings decades of experience in chaplaincy, social work, and ministry. She lives in El Cerrito, CA, where she gardens daily, dances to gospel beats, and commits herself fiercely to ushering in radical love and inclusive community.

register for session one here

Session 2: Spiritual Direction or Psychology? Clarifying Scope and Boundaries
with Rev. Dr. Sarah Moldenhauer Salazar
Tuesday, February 10 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT
What belongs to the sacred art of spiritual direction, and what requires the clinical skills of psychology? This session offers clarity around scope and boundaries, helping directors discern when we are accompanying and when a referral is necessary. Through teaching and practice, participants will learn how to honor the distinct gifts of spiritual direction while referring directees to therapeutic support with compassion and care.
Rev. Dr. Sarah Moldenhauer Salazar has served Unitarian Universalist ministry for over two decades in parish, community, and denominational settings. Holding two Masters in the field of psychology, an M.Div., and a D.Min., she has focused full-time on spiritual direction since 2016, working primarily with spiritual leaders across diverse traditions. Rooted in psychology, earth-based spirituality, and interfaith wisdom, she also supervises spiritual directors in trauma-informed practice.

register for session TWO here

Session 3: Trauma Work as Justice Work: Queer Experience, Courage, and Care
with Rev. Amy Beltaine
Tuesday, February 17 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT
Trauma shows up in both seekers and companions. This session will deepen our awareness of trauma in spiritual direction, including the unique challenges faced by queer and disabled people in spiritual spaces. Rev. Beltaine will guide us in seeing trauma work as justice work, and in reflecting on our own stories as we cultivate practices of courage, compassion, and care.
Rev. Amy Beltaine (she/her) is a spiritual companion, supervisor, teacher, and ritualist who creates sacred spaces for growth, healing, and connection. A faculty member at Cherry Hill Seminary and former president of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Amy companions individuals and groups with compassion, wisdom from many traditions, and a playful spirit rooted in love and justice.

register for session three here

Session 4: Ancestral Wounds, Living Stories: Trauma Across Generations
with Tandi Rogers
Tuesday, February 24 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT
Trauma lives not only in individual lives but also across generations. This session explores ancestral trauma and epigenetics in spiritual direction, particularly the moral injury experienced by adoptees and those with in-utero trauma. Through reflection and practice, we will consider how ancestor work and trauma awareness can open new paths for healing, meaning-making, and resilience.
Rev. Tandi Rogers is founding director of the Spiritual Direction Certification Program at Meadville Lombard’s LIGHT Institute. She is ordained to UU ministry, a certified spiritual director, and a Credentialed Religious Educator. An adoptee living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, she brings lived experience of resilience and complexity to her ministry. Formerly on UUA staff in multiple leadership roles, her writings appear in several UU meditation anthologies.

register for session four here

Session 5: Weaving It All Together: Practicing Trauma-Informed
Tuesday, March 3 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT
In our final session, we will weave together the insights of the series and apply them to our own practices as spiritual directors. With guided reflection and spacious breakout groups, participants will have multiple opportunities to share, practice, and integrate trauma-informed approaches. This is a time to deepen learning, embody new skills, and leave with tools for sustainable, grounded spiritual accompaniment.

register for session five here

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Trauma-informed Healthy Boundaries

Drop/Add deadline (without Penalty)
2026-02-06, 2026-06-12 08:00 - 17:00

Spring billing / financial aid disbursements begin
2026-02-09

Wealth in a Post-Imperial Faith: Part One
2026-02-20 11:00 - 13:00
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Wealth in a Post-Imperial Faith: Part One

February 20
@
11:00 am
–
1:00 pm

Join the Global Connections Office at the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Leadership Institute for Growth, Healing, and Transformation at Meadville Lombard for this three-part series focusing on wealth in North American Unitarian Universalism. We’ll take a conversational approach to various topics including classism in North American U/Uism, charitable giving from congregations, church endowments, community partnerships, reconciliation, and reparations. The series will include presentation, discussion, and how-to’s of changing wealth practices with leaders across fields of ministry and philanthropy.
Part 1: Redefining Wealth: Embracing the Abundance of Pluralism
This panel will briefly review the colonial trappings of material wealth that have prevented UU congregations from moving into a post-imperial mindset. Two ministers share their personal experiences, as well as reflections from their two different congregational settings and how the call to pluralism is redefining their financial and social priorities. Participants will be invited to reflect with the presenters on class and privilege, the tension of vision and debt, and how mutual transformation is possible in a post-imperial future.
Presenters:

Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson, UU Congregation of the South Fork
Rev. Nic Cable, Minister, UU Congregation of Columbus, IN

registration

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Tending the Wounded Spirit: Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction

The Third Act: Redefining Ourselves as We Age

Spring tuition and fees due
2026-03-02

Graduate Vespers
2026-03-02 17:00 - 18:00

Wealth in a Post-Imperial Faith: Part Two
2026-03-13 10:00 - 12:00
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Wealth in a Post-Imperial Faith: Part Two

March 13
@
10:00 am
–
12:00 pm

Join the Global Connections Office at the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Leadership Institute for Growth, Healing, and Transformation at Meadville Lombard for this three-part series focusing on wealth in North American Unitarian Universalism. We’ll take a conversational approach to various topics including classism in North American U/Uism, charitable giving from congregations, church endowments, community partnerships, reconciliation, and reparations. The series will include presentation, discussion, and how-to’s of changing wealth practices with leaders across fields of ministry and philanthropy.
Benevolent Intentions: What Do We Want Our History to Do to Us?
In “Benevolent Intentions: Decolonizing the Religious Liberal Imperial Mind, an American Story,” Rev. Fred Muir traces the interwoven history of US imperialism and UU evangelization. Exploring themes of democracy as missionary work, American and UU exceptionalism, and the history of eugenics, Muir exposes religiously inflected thinking and actions undertaken by UU faith and political leaders with intentions of civilizing the “other.” Join us as we hear from Rev. Muir and Rev. Joan Javier Duval, who serve together as UUA Ambassadors to the Philippines, about this research and the importance of asking the question of faith, “What do we want our history to do to us?”
Presenters:

Fredric Muir, Minister Emeritus, UU Church of Annapolis; UUA co-ambassador to the UU Church of the Philippines
Rev. Joan Javier-Duval, Minister, Unitarian Church of Montpelier; UUA co-ambassador to the UU Church of the Philippines

NOTE: Participants are welcome to email global@uua.org if you’re interested in a free copy of Rev. Fred Muir’s new book “Benevolent Intentions: Decolonizing the Religious Liberal Imperial Mind, an American Story”

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Wealth in a Post-Imperial Faith: Part One

The Third Act: Redefining Ourselves as We Age

Spring grades due
2026-03-15

Spring Break
2026-03-16 - 2026-03-20

Summer registration for ALL students
2026-03-23 - 2026-05-01

The Third Act: Redefining Ourselves as We Age
2026-03-24 11:00 - 13:00 | Online
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The Third Act: Redefining Ourselves as We Age

March 24
@
11:00 am
–
1:00 pm

Rev. Dr. Clare ButterfieldFree
Many clergy and other working professionals have been privileged to enjoy long, stimulating, and maybe even impactful careers. Work has brought economic benefits, and it has helped to shape a sense of identity. Retirement—our Third Act—can be liberating but also complex and challenging!
You’re invited to join Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield, spiritual director and former executive director of Faith in Place, for a guided and grounded program to begin to look back on what you’ve accomplished and begin to look ahead to what comes next. Clare will lead you through a time of conversation and reflection, and will share about “The Third Act,” a 9-month guided program starting in Fall 2026 of reflection on service, wise discernment, and planning for continued meaning and purpose through retirement and beyond.
Co-sponsored by The Garrett Collective.

Register for third act

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Pilgrimage in Kildare, Ireland

Trauma-Informed Healthy Boundaries: Day One
2026-04-09 17:30 - 20:00 | Online
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Trauma-Informed Healthy Boundaries: Day One

April 9
@
5:30 pm
–
8:00 pm

With Kathryn House ($145)
Workshop for leaders who want to engage the significance of healthy boundaries for professional and personal lives and articulate how they can create and sustain boundaries in their own contexts of vocational significance. Fulfills UUMA continuing education requirement.
Are your boundaries clear-cut and well-defined or fuzzy and fading into the distance? Can you tell where you end and others begin? Do your boundaries support your commitments to nurturing flourishing and life-giving ministries or are they in need of bolstering and renewal? This workshop is grounded in a trauma-informed approach to creating and sustaining healthy boundaries and will utilize practical theological methods of reflection, collaboration, and strategizing for future action.

Registration Closed

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The Third Act: Redefining Ourselves as We Age

Trauma-Informed Healthy Boundaries: Day Two

Trauma-Informed Healthy Boundaries: Day Two
2026-04-10 09:00 - 12:30 | Online
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Trauma-Informed Healthy Boundaries: Day Two

April 10
@
9:00 am
–
12:30 pm

With Kathryn House ($145)
Workshop for leaders who want to engage the significance of healthy boundaries for professional and personal lives and articulate how they can create and sustain boundaries in their own contexts of vocational significance. Fulfills UUMA continuing education requirement.
Are your boundaries clear-cut and well-defined or fuzzy and fading into the distance? Can you tell where you end and others begin? Do your boundaries support your commitments to nurturing flourishing and life-giving ministries or are they in need of bolstering and renewal? This workshop is grounded in a trauma-informed approach to creating and sustaining healthy boundaries and will utilize practical theological methods of reflection, collaboration, and strategizing for future action.

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Trauma-Informed Healthy Boundaries: Day One

Wealth in a Post-Imperial Faith: Part Three

Wealth in a Post-Imperial Faith: Part Three
2026-04-16 13:00 - 15:00
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Wealth in a Post-Imperial Faith: Part Three

April 16
@
1:00 pm
–
3:00 pm

Join the Global Connections Office at the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Leadership Institute for Growth, Healing, and Transformation at Meadville Lombard for this three-part series focusing on wealth in North American Unitarian Universalism. We’ll take a conversational approach to various topics including classism in North American U/Uism, charitable giving from congregations, church endowments, community partnerships, reconciliation, and reparations. The series will include presentation, discussion, and how-to’s of changing wealth practices with leaders across fields of ministry and philanthropy.
Liberating Wealth: Lessons from Philanthropy on Decolonizing for Self- and Communal-Determination
What can people of faith learn from the philanthropic sector about how to liberate and decolonize wealth? What does it look like to ensure that practices and processes are mutually beneficial and support self- and communal-determination of impacted people and places? Join us for an interactive program with spiritually-grounded philanthropy colleagues Alicia Forde (Texas Methodist Foundation), Rich Havard (Decolonizing Wealth Project), and Syma Mirza (Neighborhood Funders Group) as they share stories from the field and invite us to reflect on what it takes to liberate wealth in our congregations and communities.
Presenters:

Alicia Forde, Texas Methodist Foundation
Rich Havard, Director, Youth Mental Health Fund // Decolonizing Wealth Project
Syma Mirza, Neighborhood Funders Group

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The Third Act: Redefining Ourselves as We Age

Pilgrimage in Kildare, Ireland

Summer registration closes
2026-05-02

Summer late registration (additional fees apply)
2026-05-02 - 2026-05-29

Commissioning of the Spiritual Direction Formation & Certification Program
2026-05-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Online
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Commissioning of the Spiritual Direction Formation & Certification Program
May 2
@
12:00 pm
–
1:00 pm
CDT
The commissioning class, trustees, and staff invite you to virtually witness, celebrate, and bless the 3rd Commissioning of
the  Spiritual Direction Formation & Certification program at LIGHT, Meadville Lombard Theological School’s lifelong-learning institute.
After two years of study, practicum, and peer supervision,
these 22 individuals are ready to be Spiritual Directors certified by LIGHT at MLTS:
Allison Barrett
Charla Bregante
Clare Butterfield
Isabel Call
Wekoye SarahRuth Hodgkinson Davis
Lindsay Donnelly-Bullington
Antoinette Hollamon
Haley Smith Kingsland
Anna Knapp
Pratik Mamtora
Diane Melvin
Linda Miner
Sophie Morse
Andrew Roach
Emmie Schlobohm
Leala Skwara
Kelly Stokes
Sam Trumbore
Natasha Walker
Pippin Witaker
Kim Wildszewski
George “Woody” Wood
May they bless the world!

Zoom link: tandi rogers

This Zoom link for the Commissioning Ceremony is public.
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Summer late registration (additional fees apply)

Responsible Leadership Summer Series Workshop 1

Graduates: All work is due
2026-05-08 00:00 - 23:59

Graduates: Books due in the library & MLTS debts MUST be paid
2026-05-08 00:00 - 23:59

Spring term ends
2026-05-08 00:00 - 23:59

Graduate grades are due to the registrar
2026-05-13 00:00 - 23:59

Memorial Day
2026-05-25

Commencement
2026-05-31 14:00 - 17:00

Summer term begins
2026-06-01
