Update – April 26, 2026
The Pastor Search process has gone public with the release of two church profiles. The Search Committee is now accepting applications from pastors interested in serving as the Dorset Church’s next settled pastor. The application process is managed through the UCC Vermont Conference which has posted a narrative profile and a more detailed UCC profile prepared by the Search Committee. See below for narrative profile. The Search Committee will be posting additional updates, similar to those on this page, as the interview process moves forward, though all applications will be treated with full confidentiality since many candidates are currently serving other congregations.
Chronology through March, 2026
After 26 years of devoted service, Rev. Dr. James Gray retired in 2024. We were most fortunate to find a highly experienced interim, Rev. Dr. Mark McDonough, who began in November 2024 and continues to provide strong leadership, thoughtful guidance, and inspiring worship programs.
The spring of 2025 saw a period of reflection and congregation input around questions such as what drew us to the Dorset Church, what activities are most important to us, what are our values and what changes would we want to see in the future, and what are our expectations of the next minister.
This resulted in a document entitled, “Summary: Transition Team’s Small-group Conversations”. This was reviewed and accepted by the congregation. In December 2025, the Cabinet appointed a Search Committee composed of eleven members: Joel Ario, Janet Chandler, Henry Chandler, Dick Coss, Rob Gaiotti, Rich Grip, Steve Holman, Elizabeth Karet, Linda O’Leary, Liz Shafer, and Lynne Welsh. Linda O’Leary and Joel Ario were selected as Co-chairs.
The Pastor Search Committee has been meeting weekly since late January 2026. Our first task was to complete the online UCC Church Profile. This 18-page “fill in the blanks” document includes a tremendous amount of data specifically about our demographics and finances as well as sections on our history, community vision, and expectations for our next minister, to name a few. We decided that this format, while required, doesn’t allow us the freedom to truly convey who we are as the United Church of Dorset & East Rupert. So additionally, we are working on a free-form narrative profile that will allow us to paint a picture that facts and figures alone don’t tell.
April 1st saw this hardworking committee meeting for the tenth week in a row. After consultation and review with VT UCC Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Paul Sangree, and Ministries Coordinator, Rev. Jackie Lingelbach, we are in the process of finalizing our online UCC Church Profile and our Dorset Church Profile. Both ministers gave our profiles a grading of excellent! Together, these documents are approximately 35 pages long and include photographs of our church facility, the manse, and various activities. We are awaiting final editing and will coordinate publication with the launching of our new church website. The Search Committee will take a well-deserved week off and meet with the Rev. Sangree on April 15th. At this meeting he will provide information and advice on the next steps of receiving and reviewing applications and developing interview questions. In addition to the eleven members of the committee, we wish to thank Lee Romano, Julie and Dave Citron and Maggie McDonough for their expertise, guidance, and assistance.
Joel Ario and Linda O’Leary, Co-chairs