David Carl Olson

David Carl Olson

Template:TOCnestleft David Carl Olson is Minister The First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, Maryland.

Preparation/Degree

• AB, Brown University, 1977

• MDiv, Andover Newton Theological School, 1998

• Date of Fellowship 2003

• Ordained 1998

Ministry

• 2005-2009 Minister UU Congregation of Flint , Flint, MI

• 1998-2005 Minister The Community Church of Boston Boston, MA

• 1997-1999 Church Administrator The Community Church of Boston Boston, MA

Background

I was once asked if I believe in God, and I had to say with all honesty, “Of course I believe in Poetry.” Still, when Mother Teresa encouraged me to “do something good for God,” I promised that I would. And I haven’t stopped.

Rev. David Carl Olson is the Lead Minister of First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, having previously served the UU Congregation of Flint, MI, and Community Church of Boston.

He is a singer, actor and director who toured with Little Flags Theater, earned his Equity union card at Wheelock Family Theater, maintained a singing studio at Steinert Hall, and served as artist in residence to underserved communities throughout Massachusetts in the 1980s and 90s. He is currently developing a non-profit development company in Baltimore to address that city’s crises of homelessness and hopelessness.

Communist Party reformer

In 1991 David Olson, Massachusetts, was one of several hundred Communist Party USA members to sign the a paper "An initiative to Unite and Renew the Party" - most signatories left the Party after the December 1991 conference to found Committees of Correspondence.

NCC candidate

At the Committees of Correspondence Conference, July 19,1992, David Carl Olson was a candidate for the CoC NCC.

CoC member

In 1993 Olson was a member of Committees of Correspondence

Massachusetts May Day

In May 1995 the Communist Party USA newspaper Peoples Weekly World published a May Day supplement. Included was a page offering May Day greetings to Massachusetts Communists Lew Johnson, Laura Ross, and Ann Timpson. Endorsers of the greeting included David Carl Olson.

Anne Burlak Timpson Labor Forum

The Anne Burlak Timpson Labor Forum is a creation of the Massachusetts Communist Party USA. It was established in honor of party member Anne Burlak Timpson, who died in 2002.

Founding Committee members were;

• Gary Dotterman
• Tess Ewing
• Sara Sue Koritz
• Judith LeBlanc
• Scott Molloy
• Kathleen Banks Nutter
• Rev. David Carl Olson
• Pat Reeve
• Laura Ross
• Tillyruth Teixeira
• William Timpson
• Kathryn Timpson Wright

Political Affairs article

In 2004, Olson wrote an article for the Communist Party USA's Political Affairs, on the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts.

Communist Party religious conference

“The word of God and communism are hand in hand,” said Diana Sowry, a school bus driver from Ashtabula County, Ohio. She was one of a group of clergy and lay people participating in a conference on religion sponsored by the Communist Party USA in Des Moines Iowa April 15-16, 2005.

The spirit of enthusiasm and comradeship was stoked by home-cooked meals and singing led by the Rev. David Carl Olson, minister of the Community Church of Boston and also a musical theater artist.

Working with Elijah Cummings

In November 2011, members of First Unitarian had been organizing Saturday’s Pilgrimage for Jobs and Justice. According to Olson;

First, registration begins at 8:00 a.m. at the parking lot of St. William of York Roman Catholic Parish on Cook’s Lane, near the corner of Edmondson. FREE T-SHIRTS for the first 200 attendees (courtesy of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1300–Thank you!). We are encouraging everyone to wear red (a liturgical color indicating a movement of the spirit–and the color of the Red Line light rail transit line.

Third, we’ll walk together to our first “site,” the Westside Skill Center. We’ll actually convene in the Edmondson Village Shopping Center across the street (4530 Edmondson) and hear from Rep. Elijah Cummings, who has promised to be our “Jobs Champion” in the United States Congress. I met with Rep. Cummings this week with a group of our team from the ATU, the Jobs Opportunities Task Force, CASA de Maryland, Building ONE America and our own organization BRIDGE Maryland. Our half hour together stretched on and on until his staff dragged him from the room to his next appointments! Clearly, we hit a sympathetic nerve; and Saturday’s event will be energy packed!

Minimum wage activist

Catonsville, Maryland, Rev. David Carl Olson, First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, spoke during a rally near the Catonsville Walmart organized by Raise Maryland, a group supporting a rise in the minimum wage.

Trans Equality

In 2014, Rev. David Carl Olson represents UULM-MD on the Steering Committee of the Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality.

DSA Boston Public Facebook Group

Members of Boston Democratic Socialists of America Public Facebook Group, in June 12 2018 included David Carl Olson.

References

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