Priest in Charge

The Reverend Pamela L. Werntz comes to Emmanuel Church as Priest-in-Charge, after spending more than five years at St. Paul’s Church in Brookline MA, where she was the Associate Rector.

After leaving behind her home in Northern Virginia, her extended family, many of her belongings, and a prestigious career as a Vice President of Human Resources in 1996, Pam attended the Episcopal Divinity School, received an M.Div. degree in 2000, and was ordained in 2002.  She made her church home at Christ Church in Cambridge MA.  While there, she co-chaired the adult education commission and, after finishing seminary, worked as the full-time financial administrator for two years.

Many Episcopalians are familiar with the term “cradle Episcopalian.”  As the daughter of two ordained UCC ministers, Pam is a “cradle clergy person.”  She has been doing liturgical, exegetical, and hermeneutical push-ups since she was three, which includes knowing what the word “hermeneutical” means.  She is also a “cradle community organizer and social justice activist.”  Her volunteer work for the past ten years has been with and on behalf of incarcerated women.

Pam’s ministry is guided by the charge that Bishop Chilton Knudsen of Maine gives her priests:  “love your people, say your prayers, have fun.”  As Priest-in-Charge, Pam has a two year contract with the people of Emmanuel Church and the Bishop of Massachusetts’ office, during which she is called to work with the vestry to prepare for healthy transition into the next phase of the parish’s mission. Specific tasks to be addressed include:

1. Congregational discernment of the role, and attendant goals, of Emmanuel Church in serving the people of downtown Boston.  This discernment is grounded in our mindfulness of the mission and activities of our sister neighborhood congregations, as well as the goals of the Emmanuel Center and our relationship with Emmanuel Music, Boston Jewish Spirit and our other tenants.
2. Developing and implementing a strategic plan to re-vitalize Emmanuel Church.
3. Self-study as preparation for search of settled Priest.
4. Nurturing the spiritual health of the congregation in this period of loss, change and challenge.

Pam, her wife Joy Howard (who occasionally moonlights as a ghost writer of clergy biographies), and their three children--Sarah Simons, Laura Simons, and Grace McElroy-Howard, live in Watertown MA, in a cozy perpetual renovation project that they have been known to call “The Hen House,” or, on more trying days, “the girls’ dorm.”  Their two cats and golden retriever are responsible for any pet hair that is found on Pam’s clergy shirts or vestments.

Rabbi in Residence

In 2005 Rabbi Howard A. Berman joined us in a groundbreaking experiment. With a charge to enrich the spiritual life of our church by offering a Jewish perspective in preaching and teaching, he forged a special relationship between our parish and his congregation, Boston Jewish Spirit. Our congregations are now in the process of creating the Emmanuel Center, a non-profit organization which will facilitate the cooperation of our congregations. Please see also his biography and selected sermons.

Staff

Mission

History