Parkinson brings change to Church of East Williston

Richard Tedesco

Forrest Parkinson has been a force of change since becoming pastor of the Community Church of East Williston three years ago, fostering a ‘big tent’ perspective of diverse Christian viewpoints among his congregants.

He helped develop a working relationship between the church’s youth group and Habitat for Humanity, started an informal weekly screening of “Films of Faith,” planted the idea of selling pumpkins around Halloween as a fundraiser and recently initiated a late Saturday afternoon half-hour service focusing on the teachings of Jesus.

“He’s really a joy to work with,” said Cathy Frischmann, office manager at the church.

Parkinson’s open approach reflects an unusual spiritual journey that led him to his ministry in East Williston.

A Long Island native born in Huntington, Parkinson was active during high school in the Church of the Brethren, also known as Anabaptist. After being graduated from college, he joined the Catholic Church, attended seminary and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

After his pastoral assignment at Saints Cyril & Methodius Parish in Deer Park ended in 1999, he requested a leave of absence from ministry in what he says was a “complex” decision.

“I wasn’t happy with rectory living and I took a leave of absence to explore my options,” Parkinson said.

Parkinson attended the School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook and then took psychoanalytic training at the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute, which had long been training multi-faith pastoral counselors as professional psychotherapists. He continued as a staff psychotherapist and pastoral counselor at the Blanton Peale Counseling Center, and later practiced privately and trained for two years at the C. G. Jung Institute in New York City.

While training to become a pastoral counselor, he met his wife, the Rev. Moira Ahearne, a Presbyterian minister, clinical social worker and pastoral counselor.

Parkinson, 50, found frequent work as a preaching substitute in Protestant churches on Long Island metropolitan area and then as an interim pastor, most recently at the Wantagh Memorial Congregational Church. While serving at Wantagh, he was granted full standing as an ordained minister by the Metropolitan Association of the United Church of Christ.

He was already familiar with Protestant churches. He was baptized as a Methodist and his grandmother was a Presbyterian.

The primary difference between the Catholic tradition and Protestant denominations is the rigorous doctrinal beliefs and creed that characterize the Catholic Church, Parkinson said.

“I went from a faith tradition that was very much steeped in a rich, authoritative doctrine to having myself called to a church that is extremely broad-minded. We believe that the Holy Spirit will bring to us the people we need to teach us,” he said.

Parkinson said he never expected to serve as a full-time pastor again. But he responded when he was called to his current ministry in East Williston, which he has found to be a gratifying experience.

“It’s been inspiring and challenging. I’m so grateful to be in such a diverse ‘big tent’ in terms of the church,” Parkinson said. “It’s really part of the life of the community.”

High school students of the parish have been involved in the Habitat for Humanity’s Collegiate Challenge for the past two years, helping to build homes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in the greater Miami area. It’s a project he started in collaboration with Doris Marcisak, who was then youth ministry director.

“We needed to cook up something for our youth,” Parkinson said. “It’s worked out very well.”

He said he sees the annual participation of four or five students in the Habitat program as a kind of “pilgrimage” to help those in need of housing in very different social settings.

“We separate ourselves from home and set out to have a life-changing experience. They know they’re going to see poverty. They’re going to help,” Parkinson said.

Parkinson notes that part of the experience is the students raising the money – through car washes and baby-sitting this year the week before Valentine’s Day – to be able to make the week-long trip to work for another family’s welfare.

“Our youth group has truly grown in spirit and has shown our church community how a small group of teenagers, dedicated to a mission project, can really make a difference in people’s lives. The experience has left them with an appreciation of what it means to help people in need,” said Marcisak, who now directs the church school.

Parkinson noted that three of the students recognized for various achievements at The Wheatley School graduation ceremonies earlier this year had participated in the Habitat project.

“I think one of the things the Community Church seeks to do is to support its members in determining who is their neighbor. Jesus taught us the neighbor is the one who needs us, the other,” he said, noting that his congregants are concerned about one another’s well-being, “about priorities in an overbusy world”

This year the church held its second consecutive annual Christmas concert, and produces two plays as fundraisers in the fall and spring. Parkinson brought the idea of the church’s Halloween “Pumpkin Patch fundraiser with him from his Wantagh ministry, raising approximately $4,000 in each of the past two years.

On Wednesday nights, the church presents “Films in Faith” at 7 p.m.

The latest new aspect of Parkinson’s ministry is a half-hour 5 p.m. service on Saturdays, in the Christian tradition of Vespers, which he hopes will grow as a counterpoint to the church’s primary 10 a.m. Sunday service.

“We are focusing on the early sayings of Jesus,” he said of the new Saturday service. “Looking at these early sayings of Jesus examines the code for living that Jesus espoused at the time.”

Parkinson said the idea of offering a service in a time frame that could attract new families to the church seems to be working so far, in the spirit of that “big tent” concept.

“It’s a matter of convenience and Christian outreach,” Parkinson said.

A member of the community, Parkinson and his wife live next to the church with their daughter, Hannah, who is attending high school. Parkinson’s son Andrew, was graduated from The Wheatley School two years ago and is currently completing his first year of study in the nursing program at Nassau Community College.

Share this Article