From lab experiments to leading worship, Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray's path to ministry was not an easy one. But it was one that led her to become a verifiable trailblazer, making history and finding a home Bloomington.
Frederick-Gray was born and raised outside of St. Louis. She started her college career studying molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley, confident she’d become a research scientist one day.
But a year and a half into the program, Frederick-Gray said she felt lost. She transferred to University of Wisconsion-Madison, and that’s when something shifted for her.
“I realized working in a lab all day didn’t resonate with my gifts or my passion,” she said. “I felt called to ministry, called to work in community with people and to make a positive difference in the world.”
She’s held multiple different religious positions since then. Now, the call has led her to Bloomington, where she was installed as the new lead minister of the city’s Unitarian Universalist Church on March 30. Frederick-Gray was unanimously voted by the congregation to be the next settled lead minister, on April 28, 2024.
Frederick-Gray said Unitarian Universalists believe that people create hell in this life through practices that undermine humanity, but that “God loves us all.”
“No one is outside of God’s love,” she said. “Our faith is a faith of inclusion and love.”
She said the religion has shaped her life in many ways, especially during times when she traveled the world and worked with migrant, indigenous and Black communities.
“We call ourselves the living tradition,” she said. “We’re always growing, we’re changing and (we say) that our lives as people of faith are a journey, a journey of ever-growth, learning and openness.”
She said one line from an early religious teacher always inspires her: “Some beliefs are like walled gardens and some beliefs are about always expanding.”
A life of firsts
Frederick-Gray's life has been marked by many firsts. In fact, her new position as lead minister at the Bloomington congregation is her first position she’s not been the first woman to hold.
But being the first woman in other roles was not always easy for Frederick-Gray.
“Often when you’re a woman in a senior leadership position, people don’t assume you know what you’re doing, even if you’re highly qualified,” she said. “I had to break through people’s assumptions, especially when it came to administration, finance and leadership.”
She is the youngest of three children raised in a Unitarian Universalist household. Her parents became involved in the church back in 1975 when her mother, Patricia Gray, was working on the Equal Rights Amendment in Missouri — a state that hasn’t yet ratified it. Frederick-Gray said one of the women her mother was working with at the time invited her mother to speak at the Unitarian Universalist church.
“My mom had grown up Southern Methodist,” she said. “She thought, ‘What kind of church invites a woman to speak and then gather signatures for equal rights for women?’”
When Frederick-Gray found her calling to ministry, she took a gap year to study religions in India before attending graduate school at Harvard Divinity School. To pay for her living expenses while studying, she worked for several companies including Monsanto, a major agrochemical company at the time.
From there, she found herself in Nashville, Tennessee, completing an internship at the city’s First Unitarian Universalist Church with its senior minister, Rev. Mary Katherine Morn in 2001. Frederick-Gray said she regards Morn as a dear friend, after whom she has modeled her ministry. In Nashville, Frederick-Gray also met her husband, Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray, who was attending Vanderbilt Divinity School.
When she began her career at a church in Youngstown, Ohio, two years later, she was the first settled female minister. After having her son, Henry, she and her husband wanted to live in a larger city. So, the family moved to Phoenix in 2008, where Frederick-Gray became the city congregation’s first female elected minister.
In 2010, Arizona passed Senate Bill 1070, legislation that made illegally residing in the country a state-level crime. Frederick-Gray then became a national voice for immigrant rights.
Many Unitarian Universalists, including Frederick-Gray, were arrested on July 29, 2010, during a protest against that law. She was a part of the human chain blocking the entrance to the Maricopa County 4th Avenue Jail. She was convicted of willfully failing to comply with police orders.
After nine years in Phoenix, Frederick-Gray ran for president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. She became the first woman elected in June 2017. She said she led the UUA through three significant issues: combating racial bias in hiring, challenges presented during President Donald Trump’s first term and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frederick-Gray said her predecessor had resigned in the midst of complaints that there was racial bias in hiring at the UUA.
“The first thing that really defined my presidency was working to improve our hiring practices and to nurture diversity, equity and inclusion,” she said. “I just want to say on the record that working on diversity and inclusion and equity is also a path to excellence.”
She said she found the organization grew tremendously in its insight and ability to navigate other issues because of how they had nurtured a successful, diverse staff.
During her presidency, Frederick-Gray helped launch a program called UU the Vote in 2020. The program had over 500 churches and over 4,500 volunteers reach two million voters during the 2020 election.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out, Frederick-Gray said the church worked with public health officials to create advice for congregations struggling with the time’s uncertainty.
“Church happened to be a really dangerous place,” she said. “Super spreader events were happening at church because people sing, they hug and they are in close proximity.”
Thanks to her background in molecular biology, Frederick-Gray found it helpful to work with public health officials and advise the churches.
Finding a home in the Midwest
Frederick-Gray said she always wanted to come back to the Midwest and move closer to family in St. Louis. What attracted Frederick-Gray to Bloomington, she said, was the “warmth” of its community.
“When I first read their materials, I was smiling,” she said.
Frederick-Gray spends her days at the UU of Bloomington writing, studying and preparing for the biggest day of the week: Sunday. Every Sunday, the church holds multiple services with food, fellowship hours and sometimes classes or programs. She loves that her work here is “never boring.”
She said that Saturdays are also a big day for her, filled with attending protests or other events with members of the church.
“I think at least 80 members of this congregation were part of the April 5 Hands Off Protest,” she said.
Earlier this month, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Monroe County Courthouse as part of the nationwide protest.
Frederick-Gray has also come to appreciate Bloomington’s rich art scene. She loves the theaters and live music in Bloomington, including the Orbit Room and the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival.
She said that she hopes that Bloomington UU grows in courage and love, referencing their current pledge drive.
“The theme of our drive that we’re in right now is ‘love blooms here,’” she said.
Frederick-Gray said Trump’s second administration has had a significant impact on her congregation. She said with recent federal cuts, distress is high for many people.
“Our values hold love at the center, and from love our values are justice, equity, pluralism — which is another word for diversity,” she said. “All those things are being attacked and so are our religious values.”
Inside the city’s church, quilts from community members hang throughout the building and books line nearly every surface. In every corner of the church is something by a member that was given to the church.
“It’s the best church I’ve ever served,” she said. “The amount of hospitality and generosity is really moving, it's really powerful.”
More information about the about the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington and the schedule for Sunday services can be found here.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct a quote from Frederick-Gray about a pledge drive, correct details about her arrest and clarify the number of voters reached in UU the Vote. Other clarifications regarding titles, descriptors and the process of calling a minister have also been made.
