From: John_Graves@cellbio.duke.edu
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: Not necessarily Christian
Date: 31 Aug 92 15:51:28 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Duke University Medical Center

In article <1992Aug30.193330.6382@macc.wisc.edu> anderson@macc.wisc.edu (Jess
Anderson) writes:
>

>The correspondent also points out that John Graves is an
>"Intern Minister." This means he has completed his academic
>requirements for ordination.  He has yet to convince the
>congregations concerned of his fitness to be ordained.

Actually, this statement is not accurate.

My title is "Campus and Young Adult Minister."  I have all the duties and
responsibilities of an ordained minister while serving as an intern to fulfill
the academic and denominational requirements for fellowshiping with the
Unitarian Universalist Association.  I can marry, hold services of union, bury,
preach, and do all those things which an ordained minister can do, under the
authority of the Board of Trustees of the church I'm affiliated with and the
State of North Carolina.  On completion of the internship I will be eligible
for Preliminary Fellowship with the UUA.  Ordination does not have to wait for
preliminary fellowship but it is so suggested and therefore one does not
request ordination until after the internship and M.Div. are received.  A
church may however ordain a minister without preliminary fellowship.  Having
completed all the other requirements (psychological review and career
assessment, sponsorship by a UUA congregation), the need to prove fitness is
not at issue. Interning and seminary are learning experiences.  

It should be noted that I am the holder of a prestigious local Unitarian
Universalist award in the field of religious education, have served as Chair of
our district's extension committee (new congregations), founded the local UU
Lesbian, GAy and Bisexual Concerns Group; edited and co-authored the district's
growth manual; served as a youth leader and religious educator; was
Vice-Chairman of the Nassau County NY Runaway Youth Council; Juvenile Justice
Specialist with the National Council of Crime and Deliquency; member of the
Youth Services Advisory Board in Durham NC, a co-founder of Harpur Gay Lib at
SUNY Binghamton, an information specialist at the National AIDS Hotline; a
consultant to the Vice President's (Mondale) Task Force on Youth Unemployment. 
I hold a Master's degree in Community Counseling from Long Island Univ. and a
certificate in Volunteer Management from the Univ. of Alabama.  As an undergrad
I was representaive to the National Student Association and the Confederated
Student Governments and then a organizer of the Student Association of the
State University.  I've also worked with, been a member of, and/or developed
programs for the Education Assistance Center on Long Island, Middle Earth
Switchboard on Long Island, the Adelphi Univ. Center on Volunteerism; the AIDS
Task force at Duke Univ., and Duke Gay and Lesbian Association, among others. 
Through all this time I have been an out homosexual.  In 1989 I offered an
amendment from the floor of our UU General Assembly to recognize the role of
HIV in the AIDS crisis to recognize the discrimination faced by persons who are
infected with HIV but who do not have AIDS.  THe motion was passed
overwhelmingly after being amended and the UUA has taken the forefront of
religious organizations dealing with AIDS/HIV.  Locally I persuaded my local
congregation to offer meeting space to AIDS and HIV support groups without
charge for the past 5 years.  

The support of both my home congregation and my internship congregation has
been phenomenal and without question.

Without a doubt I have much to learn.  I would not be doing an internship or
studying at Duke if I thought I knew everything there was that needed to be
known.  But my "fitness" is not an issue.

John Allan Graves
Unitarian Universalist
Campus and Young Adult Minister
Raleigh, North Carolina