Barbara Cates, Vestry Class of 2013

Barbara Cates came to Memorial Church in 1981 after a seventh-month sojourn at the Taizé Community in France, and has been an active member ever since. She and her husband, storyteller Matthew-Daniel Stremba, were married at Memorial in 1986. In 1989 she joined the U.S. Foreign Service as an economics officer, and has been posted to Moscow, USSR; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and Yekaterinburg, Russia. Barbara recently completed a three-year assignment at the State Department as Deputy Director of the Office of International Religious Freedom. Currently she is assigned to the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, coordinating environmental policy with the Middle East and South and Central Asia.

A trained Listening Hearts discerner, Barbara served on Memorial Church’s Vestry in the late 1990s and again from 2006-2009, and as junior warden this past year. Barbara worships primarily at the early service, which she loves for its creativity, shared reflection time, and supportive community. She also leads the singing at our weekly Taizé prayer service. Barbara and Matthew live with their friend Hadicha in Bolton Hill, a few blocks from church, and an eight-minute walk from the train station. Barbara also maintains an ecumenical connection with Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church across the street, where she is a deacon and sings in the choir.