Reverend Ashley Burczak
Rev. Ashley comes to UUCS after seven years as a hospice chaplain. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in religion from Barnard College and her MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She has also worked as a chaplain in New York, Dublin, Ireland, and Philadelphia. Before her work in ministry, Ashley founded the nonprofit organization Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER), devoted to providing college antiviolence activists with grassroots organizing training, and worked in LGBTQ/HIV+ human and civil rights advocacy.
Ashley’s personal spiritual path includes practicing in the Kagyu lineage of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She loves dancing and native plant gardening and lives with her family and a menagerie of animal friends in Maryland.
Reverend John Monroe (Affiliate Minister)
Rev. John was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister in August 2020. On his journey to the ministry, he has served internships at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax (UUCF) and UUCS, and at Sibley Memorial Hospital. He also served as acting minister for social justice at UUCF. Rev. John’s beautiful stole, which he wears each time he preaches, was a gift lovingly made and presented by UUCS.
Rev. John’s faith is rooted in his belief in what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called “an inescapable network of mutuality” that binds all living beings together, and his call to ministry is rooted in his belief that we are all called to the work of kindness, compassion, and justice. At present, John is working as an editor and writer, which has been his vocation for the last 30-plus years. He lives in Centreville, Virginia, with his wife, Karen, and their two cats, Kittyfish and Belle.