Tricia Hanson grew up in Minnesota in a religious Catholic household. She describes Sunday church as a religion in itself and a Catholic grade school for two years. But as she came of age in the 1970s she began to explore other faiths after seeing how issues like prohibitions on contraception and the divorce of a friend’s parents essentially banned them from the support of the Catholic church and a loving God in time of greatest need.
A late starter for college after a year abroad in Mexico as a Rotary Foreign exchange student and a few years working, Tricia joined a UU church in Minneapolis and was married to her husband Sheldon by a UU minister. Their jobs took them throughout the country and the world finding UU churches when they were available. Tricia also began to become attracted to Earth-centered worship beginning with a Goddess Resource cottage in the backyard of the San Francisco apartment where they lived. In Madrid, while working for Greenpeace Spain, she met some Galician women who seamlessly interwove Catholicism and ancient practices, and that space felt right. Jesus is still Tricia’s friend and there are angels looking out for her, but there is also the warm embrace and guidance of the Goddess.
Tricia and Sheldon came back to the states in 1992 and a few weeks later arrived at UUCSS with a very pregnant Tricia. With Sherry Sanborne, Ron Kendall, and former members (and still friends) the Redifers, they established a new parents group that became very important in their lives. She also connected with Gaia Circle which had begun as a UU study group on Goddess spirituality. Her practice deepened during the two years their small family spent living in Bali, Indonesia, with daily exposure to a Hindu/ Animism blend of spirituality.
Over the years, she’s worked on many Gaia Circle rituals and UUCSS Sunday services. Tricia has also taught RE, helped plan multiple Women’s Retreats, marched for justice, pulled weeds, sang in the choir and was the occasional soloist. Special moments were son Zach’s Coming of Age ceremony and a particularly memorable Winter Solstice ritual.
Tricia might be a closet introvert. On one hand, she is the hostess with the mostess and genuinely enjoys people, world music, and dancing. And yet there’s a side of her that needs quiet space and time without demands. She’s always there for the congregation in matters of elder care, her expertise, but not always in our church on Sunday morning. Her cathedral is nature. When she does come, there is still the shared beauty of the music and sanctuary, the warmth of friendships, common values and acceptance by the congregation, and support for an evolving spiritual journey.