The Rev. Clare Robert

Our faith teaches us many ideals and provides many ethical challenges. But easier said than done! So I enjoy helping people think through how to respond to God’s love and how to love each other in the day-to-day life of the church, helping to connect theory and practice.

Clare was born in Brooklyn, grew up on Long Island and attended Kirkland College in Clinton, New York. In 1973, as a young Roman Catholic woman, she felt a call to priesthood and began theologically studies with the Jesuits in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She finished her Master of Divinity degree in 1978 at Interfaith Metropolitan Theological Education, an experimental seminary in Washington D.C. This degree was later accredited by Lancaster Theological Seminary.  In 2001, she was granted the degree of Master of Sacred Theology from Yale University Divinity School.

Early in her career Clare worked as the assistant director of the Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy in Washington, focusing on issues of ethics and health care policy. In 1979, she moved to Geneva, Switzerland. In Geneva, Clare taught at the Ecumenical Theology program of the local Swiss churches and attended graduate school in Lyon, France and also at the University of Geneva.

Returning to the United States in 1984, she worked in educational and corporate consulting. Her clients included school districts, state and local boards of education, and the pharmaceutical industry. Her focus was on ethics and character education, and staff development

In the late 1980’s Clare joined the Orange Congregational Church and within a few years felt a renewed call to ordained ministry.  Clare was ordained by the New Haven Association in 2003. She has served as Associate Minister of the Congregational Church of Naugatuck and Interim Associate Minister at the First Congregational Church of Guilford. 

Clare lives in Orange with her husband Patrick, who works in biopharmaceutical market research. They have a son and daughter in law who live in Massachusetts, and a granddaughter.