Clergy & Rabbi

Emmanuel Church in the City of Boston has become increasingly like an interfaith family with our resident Classical Reform synagogue, Central Reform Temple of Boston. As a result, our clergy are supplemented by our Rabbi-in-Residence, Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire.  

The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz, Rector

Image of The Rev. Pam Werntz

The Very Rev. Pam Werntz (photo by Ana Hernandez)

Pam is Emmanuel’s 12th rector and first woman rector, and the first openly-queer woman rector of an Episcopal parish in Boston. Throughout her career, Pam has worked diligently for social justice and support of the arts, particularly among and on behalf of people who are most marginalized in our society.  See our diocese’s article celebrating her longtime service of prison ministry (now at 25+ years): The steadiness of showing up.

Pam received her A.B. in English from Franklin and Marshall College. She spent the following 15 years in the private sector, rising to Vice President of Human Resources in a large consulting firm in northern Virginia. In 1996, she migrated north with her family to attend Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. She received her MDiv in 2000, and was awarded Lockhart Scholar for contributions to community life and the Dietrich Prize for best paper on the urban mission of the church.

Pam was ordained as deacon on June 15, 2002, and priest on May 31, 2003, in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. She served as Associate Rector at St. Paul’s Church in Brookline, MA, from July 2002 to January 2008. Emmanuel Church called Pam to serve as Priest-in-Charge in February 2008, and as Rector in January 2010. In September 2022, she was appointed dean of our diocese’s Boston Harbor Deanery.

Pam and her wife Joy Howard have three adult children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, and four grandchildren.

The Rt. Rev. J. Clark Grew, Senior Pastoral Assistant

Bishop Grew

The Rt. Rev. J. Clark Grew

Bishop Grew was born in New York City. He graduated from Harvard College and then served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy for five years. Following active duty, he taught in two independent schools outside of Boston before entering Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge MA, from which he has received both a M.Div. and a Doctor of Divinity degree. Bishop Grew served as Rector of two parish churches, the first in Westwood, MA, and then in Lake Forest, IL until he was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio in 1993. He retired from the active ministry in 2004, after over ten years of diocesan, national, and international Church involvement as Bishop. He has served on many non-profit and educational boards throughout his career, and currently serves as trustee of St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA, The Epiphany School in Dorchester, MA, the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard, and The Maine Sea Coast Mission. He and his wife Wendy have three married children and eight grandchildren.

The Rev. Susan Ackley, Priest Associate

headshot of The Rev. S. Ackley

The Rev. Susan Ackley

The Rev. Susan Ackley served as interim priest during our rector’s sabbaticals in 2013 and 2018. Under her pastoral leadership, we began a Friday-afternoon worship service based on 12-step spirituality and Episcopal Church prayers. Each week reflections and healing prayers are offered in Lindsey Chapel or the Parish Hall.

Susan is chaplain at Plymouth House in Plymouth NH and co-chair of the NH Episcopal Recovery Ministry.

The Rev. Dr. John Golenski, Priest Associate

The Rev. Dr. John Golenski

After a full career in health care and health policy in the West Coast, The Rev. Dr. John Golenski recently returned home to New England. Trained as a developmental psychologist, following ordination as a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest in 1980, he began working at Children’s Hospital in Oakland. In 1982, he founded a children’s home care and hospice agency serving Northern California. Following a postdoc in medical ethics in 1985, he served for 14 years as an Ethicist for Kaiser Permanente nationally. In 1995, he “swam to Canterbury” and joined the Episcopal Church. He assisted on Sundays at St. Gregory of Nyssa Church in San Francisco after receiving a license to preside in the Diocese of California in 2003. In 2005 he came full circle and took the position of Executive Director of the first residential end-of-life facility for children, the George Mark Children’s House. He retired to Boston in 2015 and became a member of Emmanuel Church in 2016. To keep busy in retirement, he is founding CEO of a small healthcare informatics start-up.

The Rev. Isaac Everett, CRECHE Executive Director

The Rev. Isaac Everett

Isaac (he/him) is a passionate believer in intentional community; he co-founded one such community with five collaborators in 2011 and has lived there with his partner ever since, and was a part of the founding team that conceived and created CRECHE (the Charles River Episcopal Co-Housing Endeavor). Before joining the CRECHE staff, Isaac served as the Minister of Liturgical Arts at The Crossing, a Boston-based church plant, and had a ten-year career as a session musician in New York City prior to that.

Isaac has professional certificates in nonprofit management and fundraising from Boston University, a Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, and a dual degree in Mathematics and Music Composition from NYU.

As a musician, author, and liturgist, he has written The Emergent Psalter, a contemporary setting of the psalms, and released Rotation and Transmission, two electronic pop albums inspired by liturgical texts.

Isaac spends his spare time making music, coaching weightlifters, and playing nerdy board games. The Emmanuel House is affiliated with Emmanuel Church and through CRECHE. Learn more about The Emmanuel House and CRECHE. Contact Isaac at isaac@creche.community.

The Rev. Robert Greiner, Deacon

The Rev. Robert Greiner preaching

The Rev. Robert Charles Greiner joined us shortly after his ordination in June of 2016. He retired from being a full-time receptionist at the offices of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 2019.

After graduating from Hunter College in 1979, he worked in New York City as project editor mostly in college publishing.  In 2000, he moved to Boston to work in the college division of Houghton Mifflin Company.

In August 2013, he married his longtime partner Bao-xin Zhang at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul with Bishop Gayle Harris presiding. In 2015, they purchased a home in Malden. Bao works as a night manager at an inn near Davis Square. They enjoy long walks with conversation and silence.

Bob wants to meet everyone in the parish, so please introduce yourself if you haven’t met him yet.  He can be reached at deacon@emmanuelboston.org.

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire, Rabbi-in-Residence

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire

On 1 July 2022, Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire became the settled rabbi of Central Reform Temple and Emmanuel’s Rabbi-in-Residence. He also serves as Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew College, Boston. Having grownup in the UK in the Liberal Jewish Movement, he earned an honors BA in Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College, London; a Master’s in Religious Education from Hebrew Union College, New York; and then a PhD in Jewish Education at HUC and University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Concurrently he served as Director of Education at Temple Beth Hillel, a large Reform Temple in the San Fernando Valley. When he returned to the UK, he became Director of the newly established Centre for Jewish Education and studied for rabbinic ordination at Leo Baeck College, London.

Rabbi Shire is married to Rabbi Marcia Plumb, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Brookline. They have two adult children. Temple President Richard A. Daynard said, “The arrival of Rabbi Shire is a dream come true. He brings an extraordinary depth and breadth of knowledge, which he wears lightly, and has great personal warmth and kindness. With Rabbi Shire on board, we can bring new activities and new members to our thriving progressive Newbury Street congregation.” We look forward to getting to know Rabbi Shire and to learning from such an accomplished religious educator.