Rev. Dr. Paula Owens Parker, a Presbyterian minister, is the program associate for the Katie Geneva Cannon Center of Womanist Leadership at Union Presbyterian Seminary Richmond, VA.

Dr. Parker is a graduate of Union Presbyterian Seminary (M.Div.’94) and San Francisco Theological Seminary (D.Min.’13) San Anselmo, CA. She completed the School of Spiritual Direction at Pecos Benedictine Monastery, Pecos NM, the School of Healing Prayer at Christian Healing Ministries, Jacksonville FL and is a certified facilitator of Emotional Emancipation Circles for Community Healing Network, New Haven, Connecticut.

Dr. Parker was the founder and executive director of the Daughters of Zelophehad, a transitional housing program from mothers and children in crisis from 1998- 2011. She was awarded the Union Presbyterian Seminary Black Alumni Trailblazer Award 2013. Dr. Parker is co-creator of RAPHA: a course in contemplative healing prayer and the senior program developer of Roots Matter LLC, a program that identifies ways to heal generational trauma in families and communities. She is the author of Roots Matter: Healing History, Honoring Heritage, Renewing Hope (2016) and has contributed articles to Richmond Hill Update, The Healing Line, Christian Century, and Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology. She co-authored “Internal Liberation” a forthcoming chapter in Kaleidoscope: Broadening the Palette in the Art of Spiritual Direction.

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