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Community Corner

Installation & Ordination for Pastor Cleo Graham


We are pleased to announce that on Sunday, the 20th
of January, 2013, at 3:00 PM, Hope Congregational Church, UCC, will hold an Ordination & Installation service for Pastor Cleo Darcia Graham.


Pastor Graham is being installed as a member of the Pastoral Leadership Team at Hope Congregational Church and will become the first African American to be ordained by the Rhode Island Conference of the United Church of
Christ (RICUCC).  This is truly a historic event in Rhode Island’s history, occurring just one day before the 2013 public holiday for the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


A resident of Rhode Island for over 30 years, Cleo Graham, M.Div., M.A., RNP, BSN, graduated from the Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Centre, MA, in May of 2012, and received special recognition for her outstanding Scholastic Achievement in Christian Education.  Pastor Graham is also Rhode Island’s first African American Board
Certified Family Nurse Practitioner.  She worked for over twenty-five years as a clinician educator and community health activist.  She graduated from Adelphi University,
Columbia University and the University of Rhode Island and was a recipient of the American Heart Association – NE Affiliate Nurse of the Year Award in 2000. Combined with her many academic achievements, Graham says “It is
my walk with God that prepares me for ordained pastoral leadership.”

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Anyone wishing to attend this historic event should call
(401) 434-2415. 

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