Minister of Community Care & Engagement
Reverend T. J. FitzGerald is our Minister of Community Care and Community Engagement. He focuses on developing engagement within the church and beyond, preaching and helping the ministerial team plan and conduct worship.
Prior to arriving at First Unitarian Church of Dallas, T. J. served First Unitarian Church of Honolulu as their minister for five years. In that time he guided the church’s participation in initiatives around voting rights, wealth inequality, and reform of the state’s incarceration system. He was humbled to serve annually as the minister to the community that gathers for the statewide Transgender Day of Remembrance, and he works closely with persons seeking asylum in the migration process. His recent book, Together Again: Reconstructing a Life of Meaning, focuses on what the time of the pandemic might help to show us about our values and was an “Amazon #1 Best Seller” in Faith and Spirituality.
T.J. grew up in Plano, TX and attended Schimelpfenig Middle School and Shepton High (for a short period). He holds a degree in theater from SUNY Stony Brook and a law degree from SUNY Buffalo School of Law. He practiced intellectual property law in New York City before answering the call to ministry. He received his Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and served at The Riverside Church in the City of New York and First Unitarian Church of Portland before serving in Honolulu.
T. J. is passionate about helping people connect their values to the actions they take in the world. He is humbled by the opportunity to serve First Unitarian of Dallas, a congregation so widely known for living out its values so publicly in a time of increasing hostility to those values. He is dedicated to supporting the emotional and spiritual life of the congregation while also helping to strengthen its powerful voice in the wider community.
T. J. enjoys live theater, film, science fiction, and detective stories of all kinds. He is a lifelong New York Mets fan and enjoys jogging.
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