Forrest is a native Long Islander and was baptized in the Huntington United Methodist Church. Having joined the Roman Catholic Church in college, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Leaving that ministry he trained first as a social worker at Stony Brook and then as a pastoral counselor and psychoanalyst at the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute. He holds New York State licenses in social work and psychoanalysis and has practiced psychotherapy and pastoral counseling both privately and on clinical staff. Reverend Parkinson has standing in the United Church of Christ as an ordained minister. He represents the International Council of Community Churches on the Board of Governors of Long Island Council of Churches. He is married to Rev. Moira Ahearne and they have two children, Andrew 19, a nursing student, and Hannah, 15 a student at the Wheatley School.
Pastor’s Welcome to our Web Guests
I hope that you are enjoying your exploration of our website. Like most good things, it is a work in progress and we hope our presence on the web will be blessing to you and pray it will increase in God’s good time.
Asking about the pastor is only due diligence when looking at a congregation. While the Community Church of East Williston is much, much more than its pastor, perhaps knowing something about me will help you to know more about the community that called me. So, opening up is all part of our welcome to you!
About my faith perspective
I look to what I call a “local spirituality” to ground our ministry in the community. This begins with my conviction that
- the Holy Spirit is a light in every person’s conscience and that everyone’s life has a sacred purpose,
- our purpose in Creation is unique and that is why we are, each of us, needed and necessary.
- the light within us, the still small voice, the hurricane of living, all teach us about our deep purpose.
- this purpose may, in moments of clarity, frighten us yet it is the sacred end that draws out our best, most loving offering.
In the breadth of human relationships we experientially grasp and express our sacred calling; our unique vocation.
- Our best hope for aware, authentic living is in the midst of a community.
- A community comprised of seekers who are becoming more fully alive will be a potent instrument of God’s love in a world thirsting to experience the Holy.
Local Spirituality suggests a perspective that looks for God and the Holy in the people, systems and opportunities close at hand.
- I question the usefulness of focusing on subtle abstractions about the soul and salvation when real and powerful opportunities to live authentic spirituality are right at had.
- Consider the challenges of kindness, the quandary of an ethical choice, the energy to maintain a good boundary, all of which you have faced in last 24 hours!
- Jesus preached that the Kingdom of heaven is right at hand. I suggest that you’ve faced the gates and they are right in your neighborhood.
My hopes for Community Church
I thank God for the Community Church of East Williston. This is a remarkable community that understands respect for the individual person. As I get to know this congregation I’m coming to deeply appreciate this community’s commitment
- to honoring every individual’s conscience,
- to learning from diversity and respecting intellectual freedom in the pulpit and in the pew, and
- to reflecting on Scriptures, in light of contemporary biblical scholarship, to discover real life applications.
A “Covenant Community” is one that recognizes the relationships that constitute it are sacred because they reflect and reveal the relationship God has with the universal church. And a covenant community is a human one; with strengths and limitations, with a prophetic voice and standing in need of a good prophet! We set out to do our best and our heart’s desire is to be an instrument of God. We covenant with God and with one another
- to illustrate the teachings of Jesus Christ with our lives,
- to create a faithful ministry in our community, celebrating the joys and consolation of our faith and respond to real human needs in our neighborhood and beyond, and
- whether in trials or prosperity, to cooperate with one another to build an inviting community of friendship, fellowship and mutual care.
Something about my history
I’m a native Long Islander, born in Huntington to a family long associated with that area. I was baptized in the Huntington United Methodist Church and relocated with my family Shenandoah Valley where my father and brothers continue farm. In my high school years I was active in the Church of the Brethren (Anabaptist) where I first felt a call ministry. While attending college in Manhattan I felt a distance from my conservative evangelical background because of differing social and Scriptural positions. I found a home among the progressive Roman Catholics I met in college. After college I joined the Catholic Church, attended seminary and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, here on Long Island.
As my pastoral assignment at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Parish in Deer Park came to an end in 1999, I requested a leave of absence from ministry. My movement away from the Catholic Church happened over time and on a number of different levels: personal, spiritual and religious. Like any spiritual journey, I can only say a little and the actions of the Holy Spirit are impossible to confine in words. I began by attending the School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook and then took psychoanalytic training at the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute which has been training multi-faith pastoral counselors as professional psychotherapists since the 1940’s. I continued as a staff psychotherapist and pastoral counselor at the Blanton Peale Counseling Center. Holding New York State licenses in social work and psychoanalysis, I have practiced privately and trained for two years at the C. G. Jung Institute in New York City.
While in training to become a pastoral counselor I met my wife, the Rev. Moira Ahearne, who is a Presbyterian minister, clinical social worker and pastoral counselor. I settled down into married life as a psychotherapist but never stopped seeking opportunities for ministry. While I had left ministry as a priest, I was fortunate to find frequent work as a preaching substitute in Protestant churches in the Metropolitan area and then as an interim pastor, most recently at the Wantagh Memorial Congregational Church. Having been immersed in ministry to Protestant congregations, I was granted full standing as an ordained minister by the Metropolitan Association of the United Church of Christ.
I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the Community Church of East Williston. As an Inter-Denominational congregation with a strong ecumenical commitment, I feel very at home with in this tolerant and welcoming church. Maybe you will, too. May God bless you.