Miami Minister Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Ordination

The Rev. Dr. Ward A. Knights, Jr., minister emeritus of the First Unitarian Church of Miami is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the ministry. He was ordained in 1950 by the American Evangelical Christian Churches while serving the Community Church of Pownal Center, Vermont. He subsequently held ordination as a Congregational minister before becoming a Unitarian Universalist in 1970.

His education took him to John Brown University, Hartford Theological Seminary, Harvard, Boston University, Oberlin, and Western Reserve University. He earned a doctorate in pastoral theology and counseling from Vanderbilt University.

He has served churches in several states including Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, as well as in Florida. He also served as a Chaplain in the United States Army, retiring after 24 years of service. Much of his ministe-rial career was spent as a hospital chaplain and as a Supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education.

Since retiring from the First Unitarian Church in Miami in 1993 he has continued to serve as a Supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and is on the adjunct faculty of the South Florida Center for Theological Studies.