Building Global Partnerships To Enrich Women's Lives

Seminary Student and Recipient of ICUUW Scholarship for Work in Philippines

Written By: Kat Kowalski
Published: Sunday, January 15, 2012

Kristine “Kat” Kowalski is a first year seminarian at Starr King School for the Ministry and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis (UUCA).  This year she joined UUCA’s United Nations Global Justice Committee which is working on a congregational initiative for women’s rights worldwide.  In January 2012, as part of a team, Kat will be traveling to Negros Island in the Philippines to launch Network Enabled Women for Pathways to Enterprise (NEW Pathways), an innovative project spearheaded by ICUUW’s own Christine Nielsen.  The goal of the project is to enable women in developing countries to aspire to livelihood alternatives that offer profitable returns from their enterprise efforts.

Kat grew up mostly in Washington DC and began her activist career early on attending rallies on the National Mall.  Her passion for women’s issues blossomed during her college years; she was involved in a plethora of advocacy activities including helping organize “Take Back the Night” marches, leading a consciousness-raising group, and speaking to campus women’s groups about sexual and reproductive health.  She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1993 with a BA in Psychology and a certificate in Women’s Studies.  
Soon after graduating she met her life partner Eric Meyer.  Together they moved to Austin, TX and then Boulder, CO.  Over the years Kat has engaged in a variety of worthwhile enterprises including programming continuing education courses for Naropa University, running an organic imports business aimed at supporting farmers and their families in India, developing an environmental cartoon series for children, and directing an arts mentorship program for low-income and at-risk youth.  For the last twelve years she has worked primarily as a professional artist and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.  (View her art at www.KeridwenStudios.com, slides from which are featured throughout the newsletter.)   
In 2005, she and Eric traded the Colorado Rockies for the Chesapeake Bay, moving aboard a 41’ sailboat in Annapolis, MD.   Kat counts reading, writing, traveling, sailing, children’s literature, spiritual inquiry, and spending time with her many nieces and nephews as passions!  After following a winding religious path, Kat “discovered” Unitarian Universalism in 2008 and this year decided to answer a call to ministry:  
“I believe that our time on earth is precious and that we should practice love and empathy and kindness. I think it is about living a life of compassion, about always being mindful that everyone we encounter carries some form of suffering and so to be kind.  We may never know their exact brand of suffering, but we know what it is to suffer and we know that bringing love and an open-heart to any situation also brings with it the possibility of healing and acceptance and transformation.
Countering oppression has been a major theme of my life.  In all of my choices, a commitment to a better and more just world has been the cornerstone.  And I know that this commitment will play a significant role in my future ministry through continued community activism and promotion of communication and understanding amongst cultures.
For me, Unitarian Universalism is summed up so beautifully in the words of Rev. James Vila Blake: ‘Love is the spirit of this church, and service is its law.  This is our great covenant: To dwell together in peace, To seek the truth of love, And to help one another.’  Through ministry I hope to be a conduit of peace and understanding as I stand on the side of love.
I am feeling called ever more strongly to the work of social justice, especially as it relates to women.  And so I am very appreciative of the opportunity to travel to the Philippines to bond faith with action by engaging in the important work of women’s empowerment.  This work is the ultimate expression of my spirituality and I know it will be a focus of my ministry.  I believe this trip is vital to my ministerial formation, but it would be a financial impossibility for me without ICUUW’s help.  Thus, I am very grateful to ICUUW for supporting me in my ministerial aspirations.  My heart is overflowing with thanks!”