Dr. Kate Sullivan will join First Parish in Cohasset in late August as our new Director of Religious Education (DRE).

Kate has a PhD in developmental psychology. Her doctoral research was on social and cognitive development in children and youth. She has taught classes in developmental psychology in area universities. Her entire career has been spent in education, always with a focus on children and youth. She brings her wide and deep understanding of development to the care and keeping of our beloved children and youth.

She became a Unitarian Universalist (UU) nearly 30 years ago. She has been working as a Director of Religious Education in various UU churches on the South Shore for almost 20 years. She has also served as a Leadership Consultant for many South Shore UU congregations, developed religious education curricula at Meadville-Lombard Theological School in Chicago, served as Interim RE Director in Fairhaven, Mass., and was a Board member of the Ballou Channing District of UU congregations for 5 years. She is a regular staff member at the Religious Education Week conference at Ferry Beach Conference Center in Saco, Maine, where she currently teaches a photography workshop called “Sacred Seeing: Photography as Spiritual Practice.”

Kate tells us, “I live in Pembroke with my husband Chad and my pup Glory. I have two fabulous grown kids who live in the Boston area.”

“I am thrilled to continue my work in education with the families at Cohasset,” Kate says. “I look forward to getting to know all of you.” She officially starts at First Parish in late August, but she says, “I’ll be popping in during the Eco Justice camp (Aug. 14-18) to get to know some of the kids.”