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Editor’s Note: In the Spring 1985 issue of the
communigator, writer Mark Halton wrote about a
Catholic nun, a Protestant minister and a Jewish
social planner (“Alumni communicate religious
truths”). Seventeen years later, we find they are still
pursuing their religious callings.
Sister Carol Stovall
blends communications
education with
religious calling
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Sister Carol Stovall in cloisters |
Sister Carol Stovall, ADV 1971, has blended her communications background with her religious calling to create a career and vocation that have helped heal people's bodies and souls.
Celebrating her 25 years with the Sisters of St. Joseph, Sister Carol has devoted her life to communications, particularly in Catholic health care programs. Last August, she completed her graduate project toward a master's degree in health care administration: a marketing plan for parish nurses in Florida.
"When Jesus was on earth, he was into healing people," she said. "A nurse in a parish has the time to be that healing presence. A parish nurse acts as an advocate, educator and liaison but doesn't practice medicine."
Though Sister Carol is one of the few who actually live in a parish convent, she is a modern, professional woman trying to "instill Catholic values in the world through education and advocacy."
"Sisters have always done a lot of different things," she said. "When our order was founded, we were social workers. Later we were tutors in 17th century France. Today, our ministry is all the works of which a woman is capable. American religious are among the best educated in the world."
Her education at UF put her values to the test. During the Vietnam era, she found herself at a large state university, meeting people from all faiths and backgrounds. She and a classmate began a Sunday ritual of attending 9:30 Mass, going to the Campus Inn for buffet lunch and then reading the Jacksonville paper.
After graduation, she answered her calling to "make a commitment to the values that I felt important in my life" and to get the support of others who shared those values. She took her vows and began a series of jobs that enabled her to use her education and vocation simultaneously.
In addition to teaching religion to high school freshmen and sophomores, she worked in many areas of Catholic health care. She served on a hospital ethics committees. As an assistant in community relations at Mercy Hospital in Miami, she organized outreach programs in parishes, providing health screenings and a speakers bureau.
As Diocesan director of communications, she produced a weekly TV Mass, a large-type newsletter for shut-ins, mailing lists, news releases and a media relations program.
Today she works for Catholic Charities as division director for social
concerns. 
Senior pastor Richard Parker leads Creekside Church in Gainesville
by Michael Curran
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Pastor Richard Parker at Creekside Church (Photo by Edward Wells) |
When Richard Parker, PR 1972, entered his senior year at the College, he knew that a career in the business world was not for him. Parker was spiritually inclined and felt the calling to serve God. He wanted to help people discover the real meaning of life. After graduation, he entered the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago and earned a master of divinity degree.
“I believed the Lord was calling me to pursue the pastoral ministry,” said Parker. “I wanted to invest my life in teaching people about the message of Jesus Christ and how a personal relationship with Christ answers life’s most important questions.”
Since 1986, Parker has been the senior pastor at Creekside Community Church in Gainesville. Affiliated with the Evangelical Free of America, the church is home to many UF students and faculty.
“As team leader of a staff of 10 full- and part-time people who work with me, I need to be able to communicate effectively. I feel that my public relations background has helped me significantly in achieving that necessary communication.”
The principles of public relations are useful in communicating any message, including the Christian faith, Parker noted. He believes that through clear, precise and truthful communication, he can be a better teacher and pastor.
“We believe that the Bible gives us knowledge of absolute truths. Our desire is to present the truth claims of Jesus Christ to our church family and this university community. My training in public relations still influences my thinking.”
Parker attended Creekside while a student at UF. After seminary, he returned there. He was associate pastor for seven years (1976-83) before moving to Tampa where he was founding pastor of Trinity Evangelical Free Church. He returned to Gainesville in 1986 as senior pastor at Creekside. Parker has seen the church grow in membership from 300 to 650, build a new sanctuary and add youth and education facilities.
He is looking forward to June, when he will graduate with a doctor of ministry degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando.
He and his wife, Priscilla, have two sons—Jonathan, 24, a UF grad,
and Joel, 21, a UF junior.
Lisa Morrison on call
Lisa Morrison seeks $50 million for United Jewish Appeal
Lisa Morrison, PR 1980, leads a staff of 20 and a team of 1,000 volunteers whose goal is to raise $50 million in one year for the United Jewish Appeal in Toronto.
A daunting goal? Not really.
Last year, Morrison raised $43.5 million for Toronto's social, cultural and educational agencies, as well as organizations in Israel and elsewhere to help Jews immigrate to Israel.
But monetary goals are not what inspire her. It's commitment to her faith and her belief in the value of what she's doing. "Fundraising is a lot more than just the money," says Morrison, who has served as director of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto for three years. "It's about the cause."
Believing in the UJA cause is something that has made her stay with that organization for nearly 20 years.
In November 1982, a few months out of graduate school with two master's degrees - in social work and Jewish history - Morrison joined the UJA as a planning associate.
Today she leads the organization and is just as enthusiastic as ever about its mission and supporters.
"Relationships with our donors is a large part of our work, and I've worked side by side with those volunteers," she said. "It takes many years to capture that kind of relationship. I've been fortunate to stay in the same community and agency, and expand my career in the same place. I'm thrilled to put down roots."
Her future unfolded her junior year when she was active in the UJA campaign through her sorority, Alpha Epsilon Phi. Her sorority sister who headed up a campaign had a modest solicitation plan of putting up a sign to ask for donations.
"I told her, 'You can't do that! You have to go to each woman and ask for a donation,'" she said. Her friend graciously passed those duties over to Morrison.
"We asked everyone for $10 and we hit our goal of $1,000," Morrison said. "In the end, she became a rabbi and I became a fundraiser. It all worked out."
And that experience opened her eyes to her life's passion.
"My philosophy is that people want to do good, and I'm the change agent," she said. "You touch their soul, you touch their passion. In the end, you've enhanced their lives by giving them the opportunity to do something good in the world."
Morrison is married to Zindel Segal, a psychologist, and they have three
children: Ariel, 10; Shira, 8; Solomon, 5.