Michael Moran, former Sacramento interfaith minister, dies. ‘He was a shining light among us’
The Rev. Michael Terrence Moran, a former Sacramento minister and co-founder of the Spiritual Life Center in Arden Arcade, died in his Idaho home on March 24. He was 75.
Described as a trailblazer and interfaith champion, the congregation welcomed a diversity of faiths from Christianity to Islam to Judaism.
“(Moran) dared to build a trans denominational, interfaith spiritual community long before it was acceptable to do so,” said the Rev. Kevin Kitrell Ross, the CEO of Unity of Sacramento. “His vision for a world without walls and without war is still a guiding light for our time.”
The congregation is described as a spiritual center, where everyone can experience faith practice, regardless of their background. The message of the center was to honor inclusivity and to “respect for all faiths that teach love,” said Gaea Swinford, Moran’s partner.
The Spiritual Life Center, founded in 1998, would have a continuous close relationship with the interfaith community. After 9/11, Moran and his late wife, Rev. Faith Clark Moran, began working with his Muslim colleagues to lend support, a news release stated. The center would hold its Easter services at the Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims’ Islamic Center in North Highlands in 2008.
Moran invited Sikh and Muslim youth from the SALAM Islamic Center to perform in 2012, which was a centerpiece in the congregation’s Sunday service.
Moran was a foundational guide in the interfaith community coming together, using his kindness as a service to others, Swinford added. It was one his greatest gifts.
“If you knew Michael, he was your friend,” Swinford said. “He was absolutely funny and irreverent and wanted to be known as being kind. That was the highest compliment you could have given him.”
Moran was known to be a generous and loving soul. He was charismatic in the best sense of the word, Faith Whitmore the CEO of the Family Justice Center, said in the release.
“(He) brought people of varying faiths together with such ease to share the common good,” Whitmore said. “He was a shining light among us and will be missed beyond measure.”
To many, Moran was a role model on interfaith work, said the Rev. James Trapp, senior minister at the Spiritual Life Center.
“Moran was a beacon of light who served as a reminder that all people, regardless of religious beliefs, are one in spirit,” Trapp said in a news release. “He will forever be a model for how to bring lasting peace and harmony to all humanity. His legacy has left an indelible imprint on everyone fortunate enough to have crossed his path.”
Moran was born May 24, 1948, in McKinney, Texas. His family later moved to Spokane, Washington. Throughout his life, Moran used the gift of his voice. In the 1970s, he worked as a morning radio broadcaster in Washington.
Moran’s career as a unity minister began in the mid-1980s after attending the Unity Institute in Kansas City. He later served at several unity churches.
In 1998, he opened the Spiritual Life Center alongside his late wife. After 12 years of services at Pioneer Congregational United Church of Christ in midtown and several years of sharing spaces with other groups including the SALAM Islamic Center and Sacramento City College, the congregation took up permanent residence at a building on Park Towne Circle and Butano drives in Arden Arcade.
Moran retired in 2014, six years later after the death of his wife. He moved back to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to be near his family.
In addition to Swinford, he is survived by his sister, Patti Moran Cook; daughter, Jennifer Moran Miller; sons Darin Nelson and Talor Moran; and six grandchildren.
Moran’s public memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. May 4 at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 13th and N streets in downtown Sacramento.
