Late last month, we announced a pleasant surprise at WellSprings: Yvette McDonnell, who serves on staff as Congregational Life Coordinator at the nearby Main Line Unitarian Church (MLUC), will be joining us this year for a part-time “joint” Ministerial Internship!
In our denomination, an internship in a UU congregation is among the last steps required before ordination – when a ministry student finally becomes a “Rev.” WellSprings has a long history as a UU Teaching Congregation, and Yvette will be our fifth Ministerial Intern in just eighteen years of life as a gathered community. For this partnership arrangement between our two congregations, Yvette will be compensated by MLUC for her internship hours and will spend some of those hours here at WellSprings, as her “joint” site.
We will see Yvette primarily on Sundays. She will preach from Bell Hall once or twice each month, provide backup pastoral care when I’m away, and engage with a joint Intern Team that will be comprised of a mix of WellSpringers, members of MLUC, and a few other local UUs from our area. You can read more about the plans for this arrangement in our original announcement, here.
Yvette will be with us in Bell Hall for the first time on Sunday, September 14th! She’s written a letter to introduce herself to our community – and to provide some information to volunteers interested in serving on her Intern Team – which I will share below.
We’re so thrilled to be able to support another minister in training for the 2025-2026 congregational year – and to grow and learn from the many gifts Yvette will share with us, during her time with our community. Please join me in offering a warm, WellSprings welcome to Yvette as she joins us this Fall!
Take care,
Rev. Lee
Greetings, WellSprings Community!
My name is Yvette McDonnell, and it is a joy to introduce myself and share a bit of my journey with you. I look forward to meeting many of you on Sunday, September 14th, at your service. Having called the Main Line home for a year now after relocating from Maine—where I spent over 15 years immersed in K-12 and Higher Education as a homeschool educator, Dean of a small college, and community activist—I am excited to bring my experiences to this vibrant spiritual community.
I am deeply connected to the land, listening for its wisdom and moving with the rhythms of the seasons. As a Root Woman, I conjure up prayers, life manifestations, herbal remedies, and have nurtured my soul, by keeping my hands in the soil-growing my own food. My love for music spans genres: old skool hip hop, classical, Americana, Celtic, classic rock, R&B, and beyond. Cooking and dancing—often at the same time—are joys that nourish my spirit (and the food always tastes better!). Andrea Gibson’s poetry speaks deeply to my soul.
My ministry is rooted in liberation, inviting others to explore and confront their biases with courage and compassion. The many lives I have lived, in community and in service, have all led to this sacred threshold of becoming a Unitarian Universalist Minister.
If you feel called to join me on this journey, I am seeking two WellSprings members to serve on my internship committee. Please feel free to reach out—I would be honored to meander this path together.
If you are interested in serving as a WellSprings representative on Yvette’s Intern Team, you can reach out to her directly, at yvettejoymcdonnell@gmail.com.