BANGOR – Brenda Crudo was in the fourth grade when her Girl Scout leader asked troop members to mime what they wanted to be when they grew up. The Roman Catholic schoolgirl stood before her peers and consecrated an imaginary Eucharist, a rite practiced by male priests.

The 30-year-old Brewer resident will receive her master of divinity degree from Bangor Theological Seminary during the institution’s 184th commencement at 1 p.m. Friday when 29 students will be awarded degrees in an outdoor ceremony.

Crudo plans to attend Boston University in the fall where she will begin work on her Ph.D. in psychology.

“It was such a joy to have Brenda as a student,” said the Rev. Dr. Cliff Guthrie, professor of homiletics at the seminary. “In the past two years her faith has strengthened and her unique gifts have flourished.

“She has a lively mind and an empathetic soul that will make her an excellent teacher and pastor for others as she leaves here to pursue a Ph.D. in pastoral counseling,” said Guthrie.

The youngest of six children, Crudo grew up in Seaside Park, N.J. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at Boston College, where her interest in social justice was piqued. After graduation, she did mission work in Ecuador and worked as a Jesuit volunteer in Fairbanks, Alaska, at a domestic violence shelter.

“I got burned out after six months of no sunlight and went home to New Jersey,” she said. “I felt called to higher education and wanted to continue my social justice work but was not sure whether I should go to law school or study ethics or continue in psychology.”

While on that hiatus, Crudo met her future husband, Toma Milouchev, 27, a native of Bulgaria. The two met on the Boardwalk that summer while she was working at the candy store and he was scooping ice cream nearby. They were married in 1998.

Crudo went to the Jesuit School of Theology at the General Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., to work on her master’s degree but left before completing her thesis. Then, she found BTS.

“The Holy Spirit led me here, I have no doubt,” she said recently. “I feel so blessed to have had this experience. I’ve grown so much in my faith here and because of the seminary’s emphasis on ecumenism, I’ve come to know other faiths as well.”

She also has come close to fulfilling her childhood fantasy, assisting the Rev. Mary Ann Taylor, rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Old Town, at services and preaching once a month. Crudo, who is still a Roman Catholic, said that working with Taylor has raised an issue the younger woman had never really contemplated before – whether she is called to an ordained ministry.

“Mary Ann knows the struggles I go through and understands the nuances in the differences between the denominations,” said Crudo. “And the St. James community – talk about Christian hospitality – they have totally accepted us into their community and been so supportive of my journey.”

While at BTS, Crudo found an unexpected ministry when she joined Weight Watchers and lost 50 pounds. Now a meeting leader for the organization, she plans to pursue the use of spirituality in treating eating disorders while at BU.

Her husband, an Eastern Orthodox Christian, worked on his master’s degree at the University of Maine, and plans to continue his education in Boston, too. While others often comment on the disparities between their chosen fields of theology and physics, Crudo does not believe the two pursuits are all that different.

“They meet eventually,” she maintained. “Out there in the deepest, darkest places in the cosmos, that’s where they converge and ask the same questions.”