We have a new pastor! We are very excited that the Holy Spirit has led to us our new pastor, Rev. Joseph Blotz.  The Search Committee unanimously agreed to present him to the Board of Trustees and the Board unanimously voted to hire him for our community. He will assume full duties on July 1, 2024.
Joseph was raised Catholic in Wisconsin and wanted to be a priest at an early age. He entered the Catholic seminary in Madison, but the bishop closed it without consultation (sound familiar?).
Joseph next attended the University of Wisconsin, where he worked in the peace movement. There he met UCC volunteers and was impressed by their dedication to Christ and to justice. He decided to enter the UCC seminary. His theological education next took him to the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, where he studied Catholic Theology at the Jesuit university there and earned a Master of Divinity degree. Joe was ordained herein Northeast Ohio at the UCC church in Shaker Heights. Joseph was known in our community for a long time, being married to James Buccini, son of our own Marianne Buccini. Joseph and Jim have four children. The oldest is entering graduate school at Fordham in social work and the younger three are in middle school.Â
He visited our community on February 19 Â as a step in the search process. On that day, he celebrated a simple and beautiful Catholic liturgy for the Search Committee, the trustees, and Martha. Susi and Cynthia were unable to attend.Â
Since Joseph and his family live out of state, they will relocate here after the end of this school year.Â
We will record a short video so that Joseph can introduce himself to you. The video will be linked in a newsletter soon.  So let’s all thank God for guiding us to this graced moment.
I also ask you to keep in prayer his present congregation. He informed them this past week that he would be leaving after 14 years as first their assistant pastor and then as solo pastor. They will really miss him!Â
We hope you will join us in welcoming our new pastor.
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Louise Prochaska, Board President
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Please find below links to some of Rev. Blotz’s homilies:
All of the recordings of the live-streamed liturgies of the First Church of Christ in Mansfield can be found on the church's  YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/user/fccmansfield/videos
• January 8 on the casting out of a demon to be a compelling explanation of how the story is relevant today and what it calls us to.
• March 10 homily (John 3:16; "Whosoever") - is a meditation on divine love.
• March 3 homily (Jn 2:13-25; cleansing of the Temple)
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