Pastor Dan Schwick (1987 - 1989)
I began my ministry at Holy Trinity in May of 1987. I was very fortunate to follow Dean Bard who had instituted significant liturgical reforms and had begun moving newer and younger members of the congregation into leadership roles. I was also fortunate to have been mentored in my first call on the far Northwest side by Pastor Sherman Hicks, who at that time was an assistant to the bishop of the Illinois Synod in the last days of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) before the merger that created the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). One of the principals of ministry that Sherman instilled in me was that location matters. No two congregations should be the same because every congregation must be engaged with its own local community. That included the notion of cooperative ministries, where possible as well as ecumenical and interfaith relationships.
Early in my tenure at Holy Trinity, I and a number of other clergy and lay leaders in Lake View attended a series of trainings in community organizing. Out of those encounters grew Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC) which eventually became an important organization in the neighborhood. Lake View at the time was experiencing rapid gentrification. Our congregation and many others experienced the displacement of numerous long-time members who could no longer afford to live in their homes. Almost monthly, we were bidding Farewell and Godspeed to long-time members retreating to a life elsewhere. From the beginning, LAC advocated for affordable housing in Lake View even in the midst of gentrification. We worked to preserve affordable housing and we even developed—with partners in the non-profit housing field and the City of Chicago—the Ruth Shriman House, an 83-unit affordable senior housing development. (The Shriman House was completed after my time at Holy Trinity; I was President or Vice President of LAC during development of and contracting for the Ruth Shriman House.)
At the beginning of my tenure at Holy Trinity, AIDS was just emerging around the world and around our community. Early on, of course, there was very little known about HIV infection—not treatments, no prevention. In our on-going conversations with other local clergy, we became aware of a need for pastoral care for people living with AIDS. Members of Holy Trinity, Resurrection (led by Assistant Pastor Craig Mueller!) and Lake View Lutheran churches connected with the AIDS Pastoral Care Network and began visits with patients at Bonaventure House, a hospice for persons dying of AIDS.
Fairly early in my ministry at Holy Trinity, I was contacted by a lesbian couple who were interested in “getting married.” I agreed to meet with them. One member of the couple was an active member of an ELCA congregation in the suburbs. Her pastor referred her to Holy Trinity. At the time I had not performed “blessed unions” as they were called before civil reunions or same sex marriage was legal. I consulted with my colleague and friend, Pastor Craig Mueller, at Resurrection where they were already celebrating same sex unions. He advised me to inform our bishop, Sherman Hicks, and he offered me some models for a meaningful celebration. After meeting with the couple several more times, I agreed to celebrate their union at Holy Trinity. Only the organist and church administrative assistant were “in on” the celebration. After the Saturday evening service, we made sure there was no “evidence” left for Sunday worshipers to find. Over time, and especially when we became a Reconciling in Christ congregation in 1990, we received more requests for unions and we became more open about them. Eventually it was routine to note the Sunday flowers were in honor of the blessed union of a same sex couple.
Late in my tenure, we entered into negotiations with Lake View Lutheran Church about the possible merger of our congregations. Those negotiations produced a proposal which, in the end, I felt obliged to oppose. It was defeated by both congregations.
In the early 1990s, with an increasing number of single professionals and couples without children, our Sunday School dwindled to two very small classes. At that time, the Night Ministry, one of the leading social service organizations in our community, was in need of affordable space for their administrative office. Holy Trinity invited the Night Ministry to make its home here.
Holy Trinity was also instrumental in creating and sustaining the Lutheran Youth Organization—NorthSide (LYONS), which combined many youth activities among as many as 10 NorthSide ELCA congregations. LYONS lasted for a generation!
In 1992 and 1993, my marriage began breaking down and ended in divorce. I was left with primary residential custody of my two sons, Peter, age six, and Andy age three. With the support of so many in the congregation—and especially of Dorothy Klefstad—I emerged from that time of difficulty. In May of 1994, I married Pastor Kathie Bender who served as an associate to Bishop Hicks. Sherman presided at our wedding and your own Pastor Mueller played trumpet! The following year, Sherman returned to serve as baptismal sponsor of our son, Jerome.
Early in 1998 I received a call from Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) to serve as their Director of Government Relations and Advocacy. I served therein various capacities for more than 18 years before returning to parish ministry.
A year after leaving Holy Trinity, when I heard that the congregation had called Pastor Craig Mueller to be its pastor, I could not have been more delighted.