Diane Olenick Rollert came to Montreal in 2006 to serve as our 11th settled minister -- and first woman -- since our founding in 1842. Diane graduated from Harvard Divinity School. She served as Intern Minister at First Parish Unitarian Church in Framingham, Massachusetts, and was ordained on May 7th, 2006 at First Parish Unitarian Church in Concord, Mass.
Diane was born in Cleveland, Ohio, grew up in Chicago and graduated from New York University in political science. She studied economics for a year at the Masters level then went to work in the online information industry, before there was an Internet. She spent eight years in that field, part of it on Wall Street. After her second child was born, Diane left her corporate career and trained to become a Montessori teacher.
She taught for four years before becoming a Unitarian Universalist religious educator. She became the director of religious education in 1996 at First Parish Unitarian Church in Concord, Mass. The program grew from 250 children to 450 in 2003 when Diane left to complete her studies at Harvard.
The Unitarian Church of Montreal’s congregation launched an international search for a minister in 2005 and Diane intuitively felt the diversity of the congregation would be a good match. Diane's parents were secular Jews who distrusted religion, even though they enrolled her in Hebrew school and took her to temple when she was very young. In spite of his secular orientation, Diane's father was the organist for a UU church in Chicago for many years.
Diane says she has always enjoyed learning languages. She studied in Mexico and Spain, and speaks both Spanish and Italian. When she arrived in Montreal in 2006, she immersed herself in learning French. "Montreal is such a bilingual city, that I had to spend time in Northern Quebec to find real immersion opportunities where I couldn't 'cheat' and speak any English. J'adorais mes expériences en Gaspésie et à Chicoutimi. C’était super fun là. Les gens y sont très ouverts et chaleureuses. Ma compétence en italien et en espagnol ont soufferts, mais je suis fière du progrès que j’ai fait avec mes études en français pendant ces années."
Diane and her partner, David Rollert, have two grown children. The family lives in Montreal.
