Living Mosaic
Posted by: Alison Aguilar Lopez Gutierrez McLeod Crotty
“I never knew I was called to be a Director of Religious Education (DRE) until it happened. I fell in love with the members of our fellowship community. I realized that empowering children and youth is my passion. Providing them a safe space to explore their religious ideas is my mission. Encouraging them to think outside social constructs is my responsibility.”
Alison Aguilar Lopez Gutierrez McLeod Crotty was born to a Mexican family, adopted and raised by her Unitarian Universalist parents in San Diego, California and Pullman, Washington where both were University professors.
As a student at Washington State, she was the first Latina to be elected to the City Council of Pullman, Washington. In addition, while working toward her B.A. in English and Women Studies and her Masters of Education, Alison was a teacher at an Alternative High School, a tennis instructor at a local high school, and served as a Board member for a variety of organizations that dealt with civil rights, social justice, and issues faced by women of color.
Following college, Alison traveled across the country undertaking various academic and political pursuits. She has experienced Unitarianism in many venues, including All Souls in Washington D.C., Unitarian Universalist’s of the Palouse in Moscow, Idaho, and First UU Church in San Diego.
Alison worked for several years at the Washington, D.C.-based National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS), a non-profit college honor society for high-achieving freshmen and sophomores across the country. Back in San Diego, Alison chose to volunteer for the first openly gay woman elected to the City Council who was seeking election to the California State Assembly. While working on that successful campaign, she met her husband, Chris Crotty, a Democratic political consultant. Alison joined her husband as a strategist with his political consulting company before finding her calling as the DRE at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito (UUFSD) in Solana Beach, California, just north of San Diego, where she has served for almost three years.
“My Unitarian Universalist upbringing gave me the confidence to find my voice to speak out against oppression and injustice. Beyond that, I know that I have a loving community that encourages my exploration of faith and life and how the two intersect. I carry within my heart and soul all of the support I am provided and the connections I am afforded.”
