Terry Burke
The Reverend Terry Mark Burke — beloved parish minister, devoted husband and father, world traveler, and community servant — died on August 15, 2015, aged 61.
Much of Terry’s travels focused on personal spirituality, justice activism, and religious study: he visited Central America in the 1980s, studied Orthodox churches and their icons in St. Petersburg, Istanbul, the Sinai, and Venice, walked the Camino in 2012 with his daughter Amelia, and went twice to Jerusalem to meet with religious peace workers.
Over 31 years in his one and only parish settlement (1983-2014) at the First Church in Jamaica Plain (UU), the Rev. Mr. Burke “revitalized” the church from a mostly elderly membership of twelve people to its recent and significantly younger constituency of 100+ adults and a children’s enrollment of 22.
Terry Mark Burke was born in Flint, Michigan, on November 12, 1953, to Jack and Virginia Burke. He discovered the UU congregation in Flint, drawn in his teens by a shared opposition to the Vietnam War. After earning a B.A. and M.Div. at Harvard, Mr. Burke was ordained by Manhattan’s Fourth Universalist Church, where, in an internship, he “fell in love with parish ministry.”
Terry’s friend and former roommate, acclaimed journalist Chris Hedges, eulogized Terry’s shared ministry with his wife Ellen:
“Terry and Ellen — she played the organ and handled the music — have given 31 years of their lives to this church. . . . The remarkable intertwining of [their lives] to create a thing of beauty, a thing we cannot see or touch but can only feel and sense, is what ministry is about. If there is a more meaningful way to spend a life I do not know it.”
Terry is survived by his wife Ellen McGuire, his brother Tim, and three daughters, Willow, Amelia, and Lucyanna.
Donations in Terry’s memory may be made to Samaritans (Samaritans) or to Jobs with Justice (Jobs With Justice).
A memorial service was held at his Jamaica Plain church. Notes of condolence may be sent to Ellen McGuire, 16 Rosecliff St, Roslindale, MA 02131-3525.