Rev. Gary Southerton
Letter of Introduction, Rev. Gary Southerton
March 2016
Dear Members, Friends and Visitors of Broadview United Church of Christ,
It is with great joy and anticipation that I begin my tenure as your pastor. My husband David Isla and I are very excited about this opportunity and are looking forward to the years ahead with you.
Now a little bit about me. I grew up in Greenwood, just south of here and am a native of Seattle. I have two brothers, a sister and ten nieces and nephews. My dad and my oldest brother are no longer living but my mother is living very close by at the Foss Village assisted living facility. David is a native of San Francisco and comes from a very large Filipino family of eight brothers and sisters. When we married a year and a half ago, my extended family increased by over sixty!
I attended school at St. John’s Elementary and Blanchet High School. Following high school, I attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate and attended graduate school at Columbia University in New York City and seminary at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. I hold master’s degrees from each of these universities respectively. I was ordained as a Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Seattle in 1988 by Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen and served several church communities in Bremerton, Lynden and Deming and was the founding pastor of Holy Disciples Church in Puyallup, WA. After fifteen years, I left ministry in the Catholic Church because I found it too oppressive and restrictive. It did not provide equal access to ministry for a whole host of people, including women, and gay and lesbian people. Most importantly, I wanted to be married and that was not possible in the church of my birth. The Catholic Church had taken a hard right turn and was no longer a match for my own desires to be a pastor that invites all people to share their gifts of ministry. For the past twelve years I have worked for two non-profit agencies; Multifaith Works, an agency that helps people living with AIDS and Plymouth Healing Communities (PHC) which serves people who are homeless and living with mental illness. During my time at PHC, which is hosted at Plymouth Church in downtown Seattle, I transferred my ordination to the United Church of Christ so that I could return to my first love of being a pastor and proclaiming the Christian faith. Little did I know that it would take several years to return to the ministry that I feel called to and love so much.
I have many interests including spirituality, public service and politics, cosmology and mysticism. David and I love to travel, enjoy the arts in many forms and spending time with friends and family. I am passionate about hearing about the lives and faith journeys of people and preaching and teaching so that churches can be vibrant, active and alive. I feel incredibly blessed to be called to be your pastor and to have the opportunity to learn and grow from each other. Thank you so much for this opportunity!
Blessings for Easter and in the Easter Season!
Pastor Gary Southerton