SUMMIT, NJ — Mary Early-Zald will be ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister on Saturday, Sept. 10, at 4 p.m., in a ceremony at Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The ordination will be celebrated by the Beacon Unitarian Universalist congregation and the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville. The public is welcome to attend in person, 4 Waldron Ave., Summit, or to watch the livestream on Facebook, facebook.com/summitbeacon.org, or YouTube, youtube.com/c/BeaconUU. For the in-person celebration, masks are required and child care will be provided. Clergy members, seminarians and religious professionals are invited to robe and process. Guests are encouraged to RSVP at bit.ly/mary-ordination.
The Rev. Sara Dendy-Green, Unitarian Universalist minister and movement chaplain, will deliver the sermon.
Early-Zald began her career as a clinical psychologist, attending the University of Nebraska and receiving her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota. Following the loss of both her father and brother to AIDS and other personal challenges, she felt called to do more in the world and was especially inspired by the words of Martin Luther King Jr. and by the resilience of love. She became a member of the Unitarian Universalist church in 2001, while living in Nashville, Tenn., and decided to pursue her calling to ministry by attending Vanderbilt Divinity School, from which she earned a master of divinity degree.
In Nashville, Early-Zald was involved in social justice, activism, and community response. While a member of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, she became a Unitarian Universalist chaplain. On moving to New Jersey in 2020, Early-Zald joined the Beacon congregation because, “I was attracted by the congregation’s affirming community; its diverse leadership, integrity and commitment to self-growth; and their social justice ministry.”
Currently serving as Beacon’s affiliated community minister, she volunteers with Summit Warm Hearts, providing spiritual care to individuals experiencing homelessness who are in need of respite from the weather and access to basic needs and services. As a Unitarian Universalist chaplain, Early-Zald has provided spiritual care in urban, hospital, hospice and congregational settings for five years.
A native of Santa Monica, Calif., Early-Zald has lived in every region of the United States except the Pacific Northwest. She lives with her husband in Somerset; their daughter lives in Asheville, N.C.