Clergy and Ministerial Interns

Clergy

Clergy are trained for life, and licensed yearly. All clergy can be reached through Ecumenicon Fellowship. Write or call Charles Butler, 3205 Kimberly Road, Hyattsville, MD 20782; 240-764-5748; or Rosanna Tufts, Rosanna@RosannaTufts.com; 443-860-9604.

ECUMENICON RITUALS AND ORDINATION

If you are interested in pursuing ordination through Ecumenicon, see http://ecumenicon.org/ordination/ for information.

CLERGY, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND MANDATORY REPORTING

Every state differs with mandated reporting. Rev. Riki Fire covers this subject matter in his Ethics for Clergy course. Even those states that do not cover “clergy” as a category, there is loose language in many state statutes referring to “any person…”. Therefore, I ALWAYS recommend clergy err on the side of caution and report. There are good faith, anonymity and immunity coverages in many states. Professionally, as a licensed clinical social worker, he is currently facing this situation at present as a local county investigatory revealed his identity as a reporter. Their action was illegal & he is awaiting rectification.

Riki recommends all our clergy contact him immediately if they have an ethical dilemma re: reporting so that he may advise them. Contact him at rikfire11 @ aol.com.

CLERGY AND THE MILITARY

Clergy are never required to notify the military. Professional therapists/counselors are never required to notify the military UNLESS the clinician is employed by or contracted with the military. Our clergyperson with counseling certification, Rev. Riki Fire, LCSW, has contracted with the military to complete post-deployment psychological assessments on soldiers that returned from deployment. So, in that case, his assessments went to the military.

CLERGY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION

When the Fellowship started, we were coming with people to be ordained who had already been in the field of ministry for many years, and knew many of the counseling needs and at least some of the pitfalls. As we have grown and added other clergy, we recognized that those counseling needs, which all clergy find themselves in, were not already in our training, so we had to add them as we went, sometimes having to go back to people who were already ordained, and get them up to speed.

This is not to say that they were not already in the field functioning as clergy, but recognizing that we, the old timers with years under our belt, had forgotten much of what we knew, and needed, ourselves, to ensure that we were not training without proper understanding. None of the Trustees are exempt from anything we ask our clergy for. We all take the same classes. One of our clergy is licensed in that field, and generously gives of his time to train when asked. At the conference, that is free, off campus it is not, he is working full-time and you are learning from a licensed counselor. One’s training does not have to come from him, but if you go somewhere else, you will pay three to four times as much.

TRAINING WITHIN THE FELLOWSHIP

Ecumenicon’s Trustees are overseers and mentors within Ecumenicon who have been chosen for their lifetime experience within an interfaith framework to oversee training and finances within the Fellowship. They each give of their time in mentorship as volunteers. We are blessed with having a prison faith representative, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), a music director trained in conflict resolution, a lawyer with church and corporate law experience, and one working with the home-bound. Without exception any funds they earn in classes have been donated every year back to the Fellowship to ensure the conference expenses are paid for. Outside of this conference, their salaries and fees for teaching are much higher than they would ever earn at a single conference. The combination of expertise of overseers who also have training in another field makes us unique among many pastoral ministries. This is not conflict of interest, but contributed asset.

Among our teachers who are members of the Fellowship we also have LPCs - Licensed Professional Counselors - who teach at our conference at greatly reduced rates or volunteer. We never demand that anyone give up their titles or their training for being clergy or members, nor that they reduce their rates, each person makes their own decision. The joy of being a Fellowship is that we have each other to count on, and when those persons have the licensure of their profession, we can be sure that the information is accurate, articulate, and legal.

TRAINING OUTSIDE THE FELLOWSHIP

Ecumenicon is somewhat rare within ministerial circles in that we encourage continuing education outside of our fellowship, and recognize prior training from other groups toward credit for ordination and continuing education requirements. We realize that courses outside of our Fellowship are often much more expensive, so that if the courses are taken as fulfillment of continuing education requirements we are glad to provide such necessary letters from the Fellowship for state or federal tax requirements.

CURRENT CLERGY AUTHORIZING CONTACT THROUGH ECUMENICON

PLEASE NOTE ALL EMAILS BELOW are split to prevent hacking. If you need confirmation of ordination for any others, please inquire of the Trustees through Rev. Rosanna Tufts, rosanna-108 @ comcast.net.

Rev. Rosemary Kooiman Rosemary Kooiman Adept, Nomadic Chantry of the Grammarye Ancestor in perpetuity. On May 1, 2007, her husband Abraham Kooiman, Purple Heart, and she received a joint tombstone at Arlington National Cemetery with the symbol of their faith, the Pentacle. We will always remember her every Beltaine.
Rev. Charles Butler Neto Charles Butler Interfaith Minister, Rising Sun Terreiro (Terreiro do Sol Surgiu) Trustee of Ecumenicon Fellowship, Director of A Company of Strangers, Pae-de-Santo (Papa) of Rising Sun Terreiro, 3205 Kimberly Road, Hyattsville, MD 20707. (240) 764-5748. Interfaith minister, trained as ecumenical minister with Christian, Wiccan, and Umbanda traditions. Available for handfastings, weddings, child blessings and other life passages. Lecturer, teacher, and ritualist. chazzer3332000 @ yahoo.com. Licensed for marriage in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Available as clergy in all jurisdictions. Cleared Wiccan faith representative for Cumberland Prison, Cumberland, Maryland.
Rev. Patricia Taylor Patricia Taylor
(Lady Luna Rose)		 Sacristan, Crossroads Silver Spring, MD Training in ritual, sacred space, herbalism, history, and comparative theology. Member of Ord Brighead. childsight @ yahoo.com. Works with role play gamers weekly in Virginia as outreach.
Anna SaraAnna-Sara Fire Interfaith Minister Ecumenicon Fellowship, Village of Radikal Healing, 593 Lowell Road, Warminster, PA 18974, (215) 396-3818. Rev. Anna-Sara Fire (Ecu 2008, Ecu 2009) is a Master of Divinity candidate with Stockholm University, focused on Sami Studies, and an Interfaith Minister with Ecumenicon Fellowship with a focus in Christian, UU, and Shamanic studies. For the past 3 years she has been a student of Shamanism under Rev. Dr. Crow Swimsaway and Bekki Shiningheart of the Church of Earth Healing. She presented the Play “Ruth” as her internship project in Queer Studies. She is embarking on an intensive course in chaplaincy.
Rev. Rik Fire RevRikfire2011 Interfaith Minister, Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Reiki Master Trustee, Ecumenicon Fellowship, Village of Radikal Healing, 593 Lowell Road, Warminster, PA 18974, (215) 396-3818. rikfire11 @ aol.com Rik is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Reiki Master. He operates a private practice and also works for national behavioral healthcare companies. Rik Fire’s passions include: spiritual noize of rhythm & drum; being in the sacred covenant of community; and ordained clergy having the appropriate toolkit to serve.
Rev. Elspeth Odbert Wiccan Priestess Grandmother Elspeth is Trustee Emerita of Ecumenicon Fellowship and co-founder, with her husband, of Haven, a Wiccan church in West Virginia
Rev. Mary Jean “M.J.” Pierson Interfaith Minister 6287 Price Road, Loveland, OH 45140; 513-697-7658. IngotGoldRaven @ aol.com M.J. Pierson is a 1981 graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary wiith an MRE. After leaving full-time educational ministry she studied and searched many of the major world religions. She bacame a Unitarian Universalist about twelve years ago and is an active lay person teaching and leading worship both in a UU congregation, a Pagan circle (Ra Luna) and in the Pagan community at large. Her passions include women’s studies, comparative religion, sexuality and inclusiveness, and planning ritual with individuals and groups for solemnizing the events of life. She has two sons who are 14 and 15. M.J. resides in Loveland, Ohio.
Minister of Music and Dramatic Arts Rosanna Tufts Rosanna Tufts (Sophia Heartsinger) Cantor, Primalist, and Wiccan clergy Trustee, Ecumenicon Fellowship, Director, A Company of Strangers, PO Box 21168, Catonsville, MD 21228 Specializes in sacred music and its use in worship. Certified specialist in conflict resolution. Co-director of A Company of Strangers theater ministry. Contact Charles Butler for private contact. rosanna-108 @ comcast.net

Ministerial Interns

Ministerial Interns are those in current training for chaplaincy, pastoral care, sacristy work, and other appropriate clergy duties who are registered with the Trustees of Ecumenicon Fellowship. Contact Ecumenicon at chazzer3332000@yahoo.com if you are in need of an intern, or wish to inquire how to become one, contact Ecumenicon Fellowship at 3205 Kimberly Road, Hyattsville, MD 20782 or at chazzer3332000@yahoo.com.