At its June 11 meeting, Church Council voted to recognize a Justice, Love and Compassion Team formed by members of the congregation concerned about the nation’s increasingly fractious political climate. 

The team’s written proposal says organizers believe the church “must actively reflect Jesus’s teachings by serving our neighbors, focusing especially on the needy and underserved.” Team members said they intend to do their work without engaging in partisan political advocacy.

Five church members and Pastor Andy Nagy-Benson are initial members of the team. It will function as a working group that operates outside the church’s formal board structure, much like the Green Team, which focuses on environmental issues.

John Emerson, Judy Albright, and Caitlin Myers appeared before the Council to explain the team’s mission. At an after-church meeting in January, about 60 people turned out to discuss the group’s goals, they said. A second session that month drew about 40 people, and a third meeting in February was attended by about 30 people. Organizers have continued communicating with participants via email.

Among the “tangible opportunities” the group has identified:

• Supporting the immigrant community
• Supporting the community of people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, or have other sexual orientations
• Inviting church members to publicly affirm Christian values

The group will inform the congregation of its activities through communications sent out by the church office. It plans to issue a report for the Annual Meeting.

Also at its June meeting, Council members endorsed an “Art in Unity” program proposed by Judy Albright and Deb Farnham and agreed to provide it with a budget of $3,000 from the New Initiatives Special Fund. The program seeks to enhance the church’s spiritual life through church-hosted art shows, performances and exhibits, arts instruction, and other activities. Council members declined to give the program an additional $3,000 for technology and equipment, encouraging organizers instead to meet with the church’s technology team to find out if the church already has equipment the new ministry might require. If not, money for new purchases could come from a church fund for technology. 

The council also discussed declining participation in the annual CROP Walk, which raises money to fight poverty and hunger. Other local churches that have participated in the past are no longer doing so, and last year’s walk in Middlebury raised less than half of its $20,000 goal. This year the event is scheduled to take place on the first Sunday in October. Council members discussed reaching out to the Middlebury Area Clergy Association to assess interest in continuing the fundraiser.

Matthew Cox, Church Clerk

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Caitlin is an economics professor at Middlebury College, where she teaches courses on statistics, regression analysis, and causal inference. Her scholarship applies these tools to identify and measure the causal effects of abortion policies and abortion access on people’s lives. She led the economists’ amicus brief in the Dobbs case and recently testified before the U.S. Senate on its economic consequences.

A native of rural West Virginia and Georgia, Caitlin attended college in New Orleans and earned her doctorate in Austin, Texas—never living north of the Mason‑Dixon Line until she joined Middlebury’s faculty in 2005. When her first husband, Adam, was killed in a car accident in 2011, she remained in Vermont with their two young sons, drawn by the state’s beauty and the community’s support. She is now married to Andy Hooper, and their blended family includes four children ages 16–23 and a border collie mix named Ferris. In summer you’ll find her gardening or tending her flock of chickens; in winter she is happily fireside with a book, having yet to discover any affinity for snow sports.

Having spent most of her life outside organized religion, Caitlin is both surprised and delighted to have discovered a spiritual home at the Congregational Church. She looks forward to deepening connections within this welcoming community.

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Andy is a native Vermonter, born to Back-to-the-Land Midwesterners in Newport, Vermont and he did most of his growing up in Northfield, Vermont - just a couple gap roads away. He tried mightily to leave the Green Mountains, first attending college at UC Berkeley, then living in very rural Alaska, downtown Washington DC, and trying a year of law school in NYC. But try as he might to deny it, Andy is very much of Vermont, and at his best when living here. 

His first two kids, Zeke and Bea, joined him while he was living and working in Montpelier. When his first marriage failed [spectacularly, in retrospect], after some self-improvement he found love again in Middlebury - and quickly brought himself and the kids to cohabitate with, and shortly thereafter marry, Caitlin Myers. Andy adopted Caitlin's sons, Finn and Cullen, a few years later. As the kids are beginning to launch, Andy and Caitlin look forward to discovering who they are together beyond being custodial parents. 

Andy's primary hobby is local politics, where he reads books and listens to hours of weekly podcasts on subjects like development finance and road safety. He is currently the vice-chair of the Middlebury Select Board and has previously served on the Ilsley Library Board, the Addison County Solid Waste District and the Addison County Regional Planning Commission. If you have questions about any of these things, he's almost always excited to discuss them.