Biography

 

Pastor Carol Been is a Lutheran pastor and graduate of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. Before her ordination in 1989, she served as a chaplain to people experiencing homelessness in Berkeley and worked alongside base Christian communities in the Philippines—experiences that shaped her heart for ministry on the margins.

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She began parish ministry as associate pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in Santa Clara. She later became a certified interim minister and spent more than a decade accompanying Bay Area congregations through times of transition. During those years, she also provided pastoral counseling and led Synod workshops in Calling and Caring ministries.

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In 2001, Pastor Carol felt called to focus more deeply on economic and social justice. For 15 years, she served as senior director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), an independently directed ministry recognized and blessed by the Synod as a specialized ministry of the church. Through CLUE, she organized congregations and clergy to support low-wage workers, reduce poverty, and expand access to affordable health care.

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Pastor Carol later returned to interim ministry and served as chaplain at Sunny View Retirement Community. There, she became certified in Love as Listening, an approach to dementia care that helps staff, families, and congregations walk alongside people living with cognitive impairment.

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Pastor Carol now serves as interim pastor of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Salinas. She also continues her work as project director for the Minority Business Consortium, which helps women- and minority-owned businesses gain access to public works contracts, and has written grants for the Bay Area Tutoring Association.

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She is married to Reginald Swilley, owner of the Minority Business Consortium and a former associate minister at Maranatha Christian Center. Together, they have a blended family of six adult children, ten grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.