Introducing Karen Christiansen, Chaplain, Pastoral Care Team

Karen has been a Unitarian Universalist since 1992 when she joined the First Unitarian Church of Toledo. Other UU experiences included membership at Maumee Valley UU,  First Unitarian UU in Chicago, and the board of Hyde Park Transitional Housing working with churches that provided homes for the homeless with mentor support.

Karen attended Meadville Theological Seminary, Chicago, Ill., 2008-2010, after retiring from 31 years of teaching.  She became certified in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) from the University of Chicago Medical Center in 2010.

Karen did her clinicals on the Radiation Oncology Unit of the University of Chicago Medical Center’s Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine. She was the chaplain “on call” every Friday night for the entire hospital, including the children’s trauma emergency room, adult ER, plus doctors, nurses, and staff.

Karen’s favorite way of meeting people at BBUUC has been in small groups, listening and talking to one another about our lives, passions, and spirituality. She has led groups including Evensong, Heart to Heart, Loss and Transitions, and classes including the New Jim Crow, The Long Strange Trip, Cakes for the Queen of Heaven, Living the interdependent web, Behind The Kitchen door, Gathering the Spirit, Water, Earth, and Us, plus early on, topics for some coffee conversations. She has enjoyed a few years of being with the kids in RE to be UU’s together.

You will find Karen at ICARE, in the pulpit from time to time, with her family at home and at church, and zooming on line!