A conversation with Linda Tartaglia
about joining First Unitarian and getting involved in the church
community.
Brian Shea:
How long have you and your family been
members of the church?
Linda Tartaglia:
About 2 years now. My husband Jim
attended first, and then I started in the spring about a year later
and by the end of the summer/early fall, that’s when we became
members.
Brian:
A few months ago I was ushering and Jim
was the welcome person in the front of the church. So we were just
kind of chatting and it was funny because I think our family joined
around the same time your family did, but I just assumed you had been
members for a long time. You know when you go into a new place you
assume that everyone has been there for a long time? So he was like,
“oh yeah, we just joined relatively soon”. And he had mentioned, that he was brought up in the Catholic Church.
Linda:
Yeah. Me too.
Brian:
My wife and I as well, so we were kind
of chatting about that.
Linda:
The Catholic Church is totally
different.
Brian:
Totally. Did you grow up around here?
Linda:
No, I grew up in Revere, and Jim grew
up in Port Chester, NY. We met in college.
Brian:
You were saying that Catholic
upbringing is very different than our church now. That was a big
adjustment for us. A positive adjustment, but still, it was one of
those things where you have to get used to the new rituals and the
new culture and everything else.
Linda:
Yes, completely. Everything radiates
out from the priest. There is a highly entrenched tradition in the
Catholic church.
Brian:
Was First Unitarian the first church
that you went to after leaving your Catholic Church?
Linda:
Yes. The first few years after we left
our Catholic Church, we didn’t have any church. I was very busy,
and Jim was busy settling into our new home. But then he started
seeking church involvement.
Brian:
What do you do?
Linda:
Computer education for elementary
Catholic schools. So we worked primarily with nuns as principals.
Brian:
Both you and Jim worked in the
business?
Linda:
Yes, but we decided that we wanted a
parent to be home for the girls so Jim retired early. I continued
work but traveled a lot less because I loved what I was doing. So
anyway, in moving to Worcester, Jim started seeking a new spiritual
direction. He was introduced to the church indirectly through our
daughter, Joy, who, together with Madeline Brown, her teacher, played
her recorder at a church service.
Brian:
Joy is your daughter?
Linda:
Yes, she's our older daughter. She
played music at the First Unitarian and, since Jim liked the feel of
the church, he started coming. After a year settling into our new
home, I was seeking community involvement in Worcester, so I started
coming to church, too. In contrast to Jim, I was seeking community
involvement, not spirituality. At the time, I didn’t know anything
about the UU religion whatsoever. I went based on Jim's positive
experience. I was very pleasantly surprised to see how my personal
views on social and spiritual life meshed perfectly with those of
this church. Now I love it. I love the people and it’s the right
environment for us.
Brian:
You mentioned, I knew you were on the
welcome committee and you went on the woman’s retreat. You’re in
the UU Sisterhood?
Linda:
Yes. It’s a great group of ladies.
What really broke the ice for me was when I attended a meeting in the
Spring of last year about the church’s goals. And we broke down
into groups. I picked the welcome group because I had some ideas
about how the church could improve the way it welcomes new guests.
Initially I thought my experience was probably unique to me because
I’m not a very outgoing kind of person particularly in a new
surrounding. But, as it turns out, the other people on that team all
had the same reactions as me. So, we all agreed that the welcoming
initiative could be improved upon. After that goals discussion, Lee
[Reid] asked if I would like to be on the Welcome Team, and that is
how I got involved. Participating in that goals meeting opened up
the doors to the “inner sanctums” of the church in a real way.
Prior to that point, I did not know how to get involved in the
church, and, suddenly, I had became a member of a highly worthwhile
team.
Brian:
So it was joining the welcoming
committee that was kind of the tipping point for you, feeling like
you were starting to get involved?
Linda:
Yes. Before I joined the Welcome Team I
was on the verge of stopping, because I didn’t feel a strong
connection to the church. I enjoyed the sermons; I love the sermons.
But I didn’t feel a strong connection. After I joined the Welcome
team, I had a purpose. I talked to people more. And instead of
feeling like "nobody’s talking to me, what do I do?", all of the
sudden I had a purpose. If I saw somebody by themselves, I could go
up to them and talk to them. Because I have a role now. So that was
really great.
Brian:
Nice. It’s great to walk into the
church - whatever entrance you come in - and somebody’s there
smiling. You all do a really great job of it.
Linda: Thanks!
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