Hosted by Rev. Kären Rasmussen

To be held at a private location

This Death Cafe has taken place

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About this Death Cafe

UUCC is hosting its first Death Cafe. UUCC wants to offer the space and time to speak about death openly and honestly.  To have a conversation that isn't steeped in the sadness of immediate loss, the anquish of having to make tough life decisions, nor the guilt of dealing with such a taboo topic allows for growth and development of self and of our organization.  We are opening our first Death Cafe to members of our congration where we will be sitting at table-clothed round tables in groups of 7.  Light refreshments will be offered and our facilitator, Raquel Braithwaite.  We will be joined by Kären Rasumssen,  Assistant Minister, and Paige Getty, Senior Minister.

About Rev. Kären Rasmussen

Kären Rasmussen, Host:

Kären is the part-time assistant minister at Columbia. A native of Racine, Wisconsin, she served in the United States Navy for twenty years. After retiring from the Navy in 2000 and then working for a defense contractor for two years, she heard a different calling. After the timeless struggle of discernment she released her heart to the call and entered seminary, receiving her Masters of Divinity from Wesleyan Theological Seminary in 2010. She was joyously ordained in September 2011.

She completed her internship at the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church in Alexandria, Virginia, and served in several ministerial positions at the UU Congregation of Fairfax, Virginia. She also served as the interim assistant minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring, Maryland.

To round life out, she is also the part-time social justice minister at the UU Congregation in Fairfax and works in community outreach at Our Daily Bread, a non-profit providing temporary food subsidies to people in need in Fairfax, Virginia.

Kären and her partner Barb, live in Annandale, Virginia with the light of their hearts, a black lab named Zoe.

Raquel Braithwaite, Facilitator:

Raquel Braithwaite, RN, MA consults with hospice programs throughout the country. She speaks on the topics of business development and leadership, as well as dying, death and loss, and believes in the transformative power of dying (and living) healed. In 2013 she planned and hosted Columbia Maryland's first Death Cafe. Raquel holds bachelor degrees in the Humanities and Nursing, and earned an MA in Applied Healing Arts from Maryland University of Integrative Health. She is a budding student of plant medicine, and enjoys making her own beauty, cleaning and medicinal products and sharing her creations with friends and family.