AUBURN – The First Universalist Church, Unitarian Universalist, of Auburn has announced that Nancy Bouchard, a former board president of the church, will be ordained into the Unitarian Universalist ministry at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. The ordination will take place at the Auburn church, located on the corner of Pleasant and Elm streets.

After a 25-year career with the Maine Department of Corrections, Bouchard earned her master’s of divinity degree from Bangor Theological Seminary in May. During her years in seminary, she worked as an assistant chaplain at Central Maine Medical Center and as lay chaplain for the First Parish Church of Portland, Unitarian Universalist.

More recently, she served as intern and summer minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley in Bethlehem, Pa., and is working in the Department of Religious Ministries in the Chaplain Residency Program at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn.

Reflecting upon her transition from the field of corrections to ministry, Bouchard quoted the words of the Rev. Richard Gilbert: “‘Prayer, ritual and religious expression are tangible connecting points to the divine mystery that lies at the heart of human experience.’ With my transition to ministry, I am able to add the dimensions of spiritual ritual and expression to the human experience and connection that was at the heart of my work in corrections.”

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick is joining with the Auburn church to celebrate Bouchard’s ordination. Service participants will include the Rev. Ron Baard of Bangor Theological Seminary along with numerous Unitarian Universalist ministers, and members and friends of the Brunswick and Auburn congregations.

The public is invited to share in the celebration. For more information, call the First Universalist Church at 783-0461.