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Photo courtesy of First Baptist Church of Westwood. Reverend Catherine M. Miller is the new pastor of Westwood's First Baptist Church.
4-13-2023 2:30pm
First Baptist Church's New Pastor to Lead First Service on April 16th
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Thanks to First Baptist Church of Westwood for contributing this article to Westwood Minute.
The First Baptist Church of Westwood has recently announced that The Reverend Catherine M. Miller has accepted the call to become the church's new settled pastor. On Sunday, April 16 at 10:00 a.m., she will conduct her first worship service at the church, located at 808 High Street in Westwood.
Pastor Catherine is a graduate of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, where she received her Diploma in Urban Ministry and a Master of Divinity degree with honors in Christian Thought. She was licensed and ordained to pastoral ministry by The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts (TABCOM) while serving at Congregation Lion of Judah in Boston. More recently, she served as the settled pastor at Hill Memorial Baptist Church in Allston. She is also a member of the Standing Committee of TABCOM’s Commission on Ordained Ministry.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Pastor Catherine graduated from LaGuardia School of The Arts. She was accepted into Marymount Manhattan College’s Business Management program but when she felt unenthused with that area of study, she withdrew and obtained her Paralegal Certification at Long Island University. She has enjoyed a satisfying career as a legal secretary with law firms in Manhattan and then in downtown Boston. However, feeling confirmed about her decision to come to First Baptist, she has retired after 33 years in the legal field.
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In a variety of contexts, Pastor Catherine has engaged extensively in pastoral care and community chaplaincy, effectively serving people across a broad spectrum of race, age, ethnicity, professional and socioeconomic backgrounds. Having been formally trained in ballet and modern dance, she founded and conducted a liturgical dance program for eighteen years that nurtured youth including those with special needs. She was particularly pleased when interested parents began to participate in the dance program. Youth were encouraged to have fun with the arts, and the program nurtured their creativity, self-esteem, physical fitness, friendship building, and family engagement.
Among other outreach projects, she has conducted “seated movement” workshops for seniors, volunteered with Straight Ahead Ministries at a Brockton juvenile facility for at risk girls, and provided community chaplaincy support for families participating in a church food bank in Holbrook. While at Congregation Lion of Judah, she served as pastoral liaison to the community of homeless people at the Woods Mullen Shelter in Boston’s South End. And in 2019, Pastor Catherine created and was the host for the next three years of the “Be Still” radio prayer program on Salem Radio Boston, WEZE 590 AM.
Pastor Catherine and her husband, Minister Shelton Miller, enjoy a blended family of two sons and a daughter. No longer youngsters, one son was married last summer and their daughter is engaged to be married soon, so their family continues to grow. Wanting to truly be part of the Westwood community, they have recently moved into the church’s parsonage.
With over fifteen years of hands-on community experience, Pastor Catherine understands how to walk alongside individuals, couples, and families on their spiritual journeys. She notes that prayer is one of her favorite activities, especially while walking alone or with her dog, or on long drives. And she always likes to meet new people, so when you see her, feel free to say hi!
