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Reverend Cynthia Cain: Biographical Information |
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Rev.
Cynthia Cain was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 1995
after graduation from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. Before
she was called to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington in 1999,
she served congregations in Winchester, VA and Loudoun County, VA, and was
settled in Riverside, CA where she served the Universalist Unitarian
Church of Riverside for three years. In Riverside, she was recognized for
her work in anti-racism, and was at the forefront of protests against the
shooting by police of a young Black woman named Tyisha Miller in December
1998. The Reverend Jesse Jackson shared her pulpit in February of 1999
when he came to Riverside to lead a march demanding justice for Tyisha's
death. The officers involved were eventually fired. Rev. Cain was named
"Woman of the Year" by the Black Voice News in 1999.
Rev. Cain has been active in interfaith activities in Lexington, where she helped start and was the first President of The Interfaith Alliance of the Bluegrass (TIA), a local affiliate of the national TIA based in Washington, DC. The mission of TIA is to counter the narrow agenda of the Religious Right with an interfaith response. TIA Bluegrass, under Rev. Cain's leadership, has held numerous public forums and events, most recently "Faces of Faith", a community celebration in July 2003 to counter the "patriotic" rallies held at Applebees Park in 2002. During her ministry in Lexington, the church has involved
over 120 members in Small Group (Covenant Group) Ministries, and has grown
considerably in the number of programs and involvement of members both
within the church and in the greater community. She has participated with
lay leaders in two mission trips
Born in Southern New Jersey on a five acre farmette, Cynthia grew up in a large family of step and half siblings after the early death of her mother when she was five. She graduated from Rancocas Valley Regional High School and received both a BA and an MA from Trenton State College (now College of New Jersey) in English Literature. She taught high school for five years before the birth of her first child, after which she stayed home to care for her two sons, Casey (now 25) and Colin (now 22). During these years she was a La Leche League leader, an Emergency Medical Technician (volunteer), and a CPR instructor. After a divorce in 1988, Cynthia joined the UU Church in Cherry Hill, NJ. She entered seminary in 1991, married her husband Eric Amon in 1992, and welcomed daughter Marjorie (now 14). Rev. Cain's interests range from Bikram and hatha yoga to Buddhist study and practice to hiking and travel. She is a fiction writer and was chosen for a Master Level fiction class with Kentucky author Silas House in 2001. She recently traveled to Transylvania (Romania) to visit UUCL's partner church. |
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to Ecuador, traveled to Geneva for the 450th anniversary of the death of
UU martyr Michael Servetus, and has helped organize efforts ranging from
Bluegrass Adopt A Minefield to restoration of the African Cemetery. Rev.
Cain's greatest interest remains racial justice, and she served for two
years on the Fayette County Blue Ribbon Panel for Closing the Achievement
Gap: "One Community, One Voice."