Before finding her calling, the Rev. Barbara Pescan, an out lesbian, followed her father from church to church looking for a choir to sing in. Her father was a fine tenor and when he found he needed a different theology, a different expression of beings and behavior, they ended up in a church in Akron, Ohio.
She found her interest in ministry through the kindness she and her family was shown during the time that her father was developing dementia. The Unitarian Universalist Church in Akron was very present for her family and very kind to them even though the central nervous system degeneration her father was going through made his behavior inappropriate at times. She was inspired because they never cut him or her family loose.
After his diagnosis and several months, she went to talk to her minister about doing some more leadership in the church. After a few months, he gave her the phone numbers of the three seminaries available at the time. Of the three, Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif., spoke to her most clearly. She applied in 1977 and started school in September 1978.
Pescan's started her career working as a group counselor and then as a probation officer for juveniles in the justice system. After holding those positions she became head of the girls' probation department of Summit County Juvenile Court in Akron, Ohio. In June of 1978, after she was accepted at Starr King School she quit her job to pursue ministry work.
From 1978 through 1981 she attended seminary, and was granted the Master of Divinity degree from the Thomas Starr King School for the Ministry ( Unitarian Universalist ) in Berkeley, California, in 1981. She and her partner were ordained in December of 1982 by the Marin Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists. She worked as secretary at Pacific School of Religion from 1981 to 1984 during the search for a called ministerial position. From 1984 through 1988 she served at Beacon Unitarian Church in Oak Park, Ill.
From September 1988 through October 1995 she was a minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Northern Fairfield County in West Redding, Conn., outside of Danbury. From November 1995 through June of 2003, she and her partner served as senior co-ministers at the Unitarian Church of Evanston. Her partner changed paths and now has her own meditation practice. From July, 2003 through June, 2011, Pescan was been the sole senior minister at Evanston.
Since she began in ministry she has learned many things about the church and about her own beliefs. Every church is different for her and every union church is different. In her Unitarian ministry there is no central office or central place that says this is how you ought to behave, this is what you ought to believe. They do not have a creed or a dogma. "Individuals and individual congregations are able to learn and articulate what it is they believe," she says.
Unitarian Universalist Association ( UUA ) churches have a congregational policy where congregations democratically decide what they believe. The congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association promote principles such as the inherent worth and dignity of every person. They value justice, equity and compassion in human relations as well as the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth among other principles.
Pescan and her partner, Ann Tyndall, searched for work both singly and together as a co-ministry for over two years before Pescan was called for a half-time position in Oak Park, Ill., in 1984. As far as she knows, she was the first out lesbian called by a congregation in the UUA. According to Pescan, "That was a big deal; it has been a big deal for me. It wasn't that easy to get a church in the 80s even if you were Unitarian Universal."
Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns ( PLGC ) taught Pescan about creating a welcoming congregation. They taught her how to make it possible for gay people to feel welcome and to come to church. She worked on creating a welcome in the face of the fear and loathing of gay people. When she and her partner were looking for work they would be turned down and they and other gay people would be asked absurd questions like, 'What would we tell our people?' and 'Would we become a gay church?'
Pescan and Tyndall went to the UUA and helped create a program called Welcoming Congregation. The program helps people encounter their categorical thinking about gay people and lesbians. Beyond categorical thinking the program started working on issues with women in the ministry and then extended to other groups including people with disability, and bisexual and transgender people. The program also addressed concerns regarding differences in race as well as economic and educational differences. They had to push the boundaries of what the church considers 'the inherent worth and dignity of every person'.
Pescan is proud of the work she has done in her years of service. She noted, "As we have taken our place in the pew and in the pulpit, people have begun to understand that they ( LGBT individuals and many others that her work has targeted ) will take positions on the board and do the work of the church and they will help us fulfill our mission. They will come and become part of the church, they will love the church and our faith and they will try to live it to the best of their abilities."
Pescan is happily retiring after 27 years of faithful service to her position as minister and teacher. In addition, she is a published author. One work, published by Skinner House Books, is a meditation manual called Morning Watch; there is also a book of sermons published by the church called This Fierce Tenderness.
She is retiring to La Crosse, Wis., to be with Tyndall, her partner of 32 years. She is unsure of her plans at the moment but knows they could include more writing or interim ministry.
Pescan concluded by saying, "Our presence as individuals, as people has meant that people can no longer see gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as a category. They see us in all our imperfect humanity and get to know us as individuals."