Rev. Catharine Clarenbach

Reverend Catharine Clarenbach, is an ordained minister of the Unitarian Universalist tradition and a Priestess in the Stone Circle Tradition of Wicca (USA). Fae serves as a spiritual director through faer ministry of The Way of the River, providing guidance to others on finding a personal connection to the divine. Rev. Clarenbach helps those who have faced trauma within past religious communities, survivors of assault, those who face mental health challenges, and those who are yearning for a deeper connection to the great power of the divine as these are all paths that fae has overcome in faer journey.

Rev. Clarenbach grew up in the Roman Catholic faith tradition at the Our Lady of Victory church. Both of faer parents had a deep appreciation for liturgical music and found comfort in the choirs at Our Lady, which became a love for Catharine throughout faer youth. Fae became increasingly active in the musical ministry as part of the girls’ and later adult choirs, the handbell choir, and played piano and organ for the church. Catharine felt a calling to serve in ministry even as a young child, and once of age, helped teach Sunday School, run children’s programs, and read the Psalms during Sunday liturgy. Faer passion for the divine filled all aspects of faer life, seeing Catharine strive to explain the existence of God at the age of 6 to a friendly child of atheists, baptize a best friend in the river at the age of 12, and seek out opportunities to live in a convent. Catharine’s fascination and desire for a connection to the divine was at the heart of faer efforts, with the Our Lady church a vehicle through which to explore this desire. It was the comforts of the church and this desire that offered solace through the pain of bullying, assault, and suicidal depression. Catharine felt the inspiration of Our Lady and the music fae created within its walls that helped drown out the inner malicious voices.

Rather than join the convent, Rev. Clarenbach pursued an academic opportunity and attended Penn State University in 1990. Catharine was inspired by faer highly academic family, with both parents serving in scholastic roles throughout faer life. It was during faer time at Penn State that Catharine experienced a profound revelation that would alter the trajectory of faer life forever. In faer first year, Catharine learned that fae was queer, using the term “lesbian” as a hopefully satisfactory explanation for faer family and friends, and the church community that had for so long been a refuge. However, the explanation was not acceptable and Catharine found rejection in the face of faer church at the revelation of faer newly understood identity. This rejection broke a core part of Catharine, and for the first time in faer seventeen years, fae was without that connection to the divine that was so fundamentally important to femme.

Yet in the face of rejection, Rev. Clarenbach discovered beauty both within faer self and the queer community that became a home in the place of the church. It was the others in this community who brought peace and security to Catharine as fae struggled with bipolar illness and rebuilding an identity without religion. However, it would not be long that Catharine wandered without faith, for within the year of coming out and losing the bastion of the church, Catharine met a practicing witch. During her studies in college, Catharine would explore what it meant to be a Pagan, joining the women’s spirituality group with other feminist witches, and eventually becoming President at the age of 21 for the Silver Circle Pagan organization. Catharine recalls the very first ritual in which fae participated, and the words of the Charge of the Star Goddess that to this day serve as the heart of faer theology: “Know that your seeking and yearning will not avail you unless you know the Greatest of the Mysteries: If that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold! I have been with you from the beginning, and I am That which is attained at the end of all desire.”

The difficulties of dealing with bipolar illness while at university became unmanageable, and Rev. Clarenbach left Penn State in 1995. Shortly after leaving university and while seeking a place to once again be part of a faith community, Catharine joined a Pagan community called the Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary of Earth Religion. Fae would spend nearly a decade with this community, learning the nuances of Wiccan practices and helping write and organize large ceremonies for the group. In 2002, still seeking a way to quiet the voices within and find peace with the divine, Rev. Clarenbach returned to the Catholic church for guidance. For about two years, Catharine lived amongst the Sisters of St. Joseph in their convent, even becoming a postulant for a year. Even though the differences in faith perspectives would be too much to overcome, Catharine finally found amongst the Sisters the tools that fae needed to organize faer mind and heart toward faer goal of serving the divine. Rev. Clarenbach left the convent to reside with faer now fiancée and, armed with the peace of spirit founding in the tranquility of the Sisters, began to explore other opportunities for ministry.

Rev. Clarenbach began to attend the All Souls Unitarian Universalist church in 2008 after leaving the Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary, and finally found a place that welcomed faer as a whole person, both as a queer woman and a Pagan priestess. With a place to call home and years of learning how to manage faer mental health, Catharine returned to school and graduated with honors from the University of Maryland University College in 2010. Seeking to finally serve the divine fully, Catharine entered Wesley Theological Seminary to earn a Master’s in Divinity and graduated with honors in 2014. During seminary, Catharine completed clinical pastoral education at the Hebrew Home in Rockville, Maryland, which serves as an assisted living facility for the Jewish community. Catharine was afforded the opportunity to preach before the Jewish congregation and lead the Easter services. The Rabbi presented femme with a pewter Havdalah spice box in the shape of a pomegranate and said faer message was an Easter sermon they could get behind, even as a rabbi! In 2013, Rev. Clarenbach served as the intern minister for the First Unitarian Church of Portland, Oregon, leading Winter Solstice services. Rev. Clarenbach also served the interfaith community as a lay leader at the All Souls Unitarian in Washington, D.C., and was later ordained by this church in April 2015.

Throughout all faer many travels and pathways, Rev. Clarenbach has always sought to be a helper for those seeking the divine. From the earliest days of faer awakening as a Pagan and a queer woman, Catharine sought out and participated in earth-based religious communities. In 1999, fae helped found the Stone Circle Tradition of Wicca (USA) which is today Catharine’s primary faith community. Fae served initially as a teacher and later the organization’s President, and is now a member of the educational administration team and a Third-Degree Initiate and member of the Council. The Stone Circle Wicca is a community that includes trans people, cis women and men, lesbians, bisexuals, gay men, and straight people. It was founded as a Wiccan-focused faith group with roots in queer spirituality and eco-feminist work, with ties to the DC Radical Faeries. It strives to uphold the efforts of women’s spirituality movements of the 1980s and 90s, bringing those efforts forward to help people today.

Rev. Clarenbach focuses faer efforts today in faer ministry The Way of the River, which provides a guide to those who are alienated by previous religious systems and seeking the divine, much as Catharine was in those early years. Rev. Clarenbach belongs to Spiritual Directors International, the Unitarian Universalist Spiritual Directors Network, The Liberal Religious Educators Association, and the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. Fae holds formal credentialing through the Urban Spirituality Center, an interfaith spiritual direction program in Portland, Oregon. Fae also has studied spiritual direction with Franciscan sisters, the Sisters of Saint Joseph, and the Sisters of the Holy Names. Fae has over 30 years of experience guiding others as a companion through the journey to find the divine. Faer broad background across a wide and diverse range of faith traditions affords femme the ability to support wanderers from almost any background. Reverend Catharine Clarenbach remains dedicated to helping those who are seeking and yearning for a sense of the divine essence.

(This biographical statement was written by Joseph Wilburn for the Fal 2024 Queer & Trans Theologies class at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities from an interview with Catharine Clarenbach and was reviewed by Clarenbach.)

Biography Date: July 2025

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