Minister
minister@fpwatertown.org
Mark has been minister at First Parish since 1996, when he was settled as part of a co-ministry with his wife, Andrea Greenwood, who had been settled in Watertown in 1992. Andrea left the co-ministry after two years to be at home with their three sons, and Mark has remained as sole minister since.
His educational background is:
B.A., Bates College
M.A., University of New Hampshire
M.Div., Starr King School for the Ministry (California)
He was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts in 1951, and grew up in the nearby towns of Orange and New Salem. After graduating from Bates in 1973, he entered graduate school in history at the University of New Hampshire. He attended seminary at the Starr King School for the Ministry (California), and received an M.Div. in 1978. He has primarily been a parish minister during his career. His first pastorate was at St. Paul’s Universalist Church in Palmer, Massachusetts (1979-1985). Harris became the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Director of Information, the denominational historian and archivist in 1985. After that he served the First Parish in Milton, Massachusetts from 1989-1996, and then came to Watertown. Harris has also served brief ministries in Sheffield and London, England. He is an Adjunct Professor at Andover Newton Theological School and Starr King School for the Ministry (CA).
The author of many denominational pamphlets, including “Unitarian Universalist Origins: Our Historic Faith,” he has also published Among the Dry Bones (1983), a history of rural Unitarianism, co-edited Celebrating Easter: An Anthology of Unitarian Universalist Readings, with Carl Seaburg, and Historical Dictionary of Unitarian Universalism (2004). He and Andrea have recently signed a contract to write Introducing the Unitarian and Universalist Traditions for Cambridge University Press.
Charlyn Bethell
Music Director
You may have seen Charlyn Bethell directing the youth and children’s choirs at First Parish, and now she will serve as interim Music Director during the search for a permanent Music Director.
Charlyn’s professional training has followed two paths: as a professional oboist and as a music teacher and conductor.
As an undergraduate at Western Washington State University, she received two Bachelor degrees: one in oboe performance and one in music education. Further studies at the state conservatory in Aarhus, Denmark (where she received a diploma) led her to a busy life as a professional freelance musician when she returned to the Boston area. She has played in Carnegie Recital Hall with the award-winning New Art Winds and is currently an active member in both the Solar Winds wind quintet and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Ensemble.
While her performing career flourished, she continued advanced studies in music education. She received a certificate in Kodály studies from the Kodály Center of America. (Zoltan Kodály was a Hungarian composer who founded a unique way of teaching music that has gained adherents around the world.) For the past eleven summers, Charlyn has taught Kodály pedagogy, materials, and conducting to postgraduate music teachers at New England Conservatory. She is also an endorsed trainer for Education Through Movement: Building the Foundation, and she has taught elementary general music and chorus for the past twenty years in the Concord Public Schools.
Charlyn feels that one of the best things about becoming the interim Music Director at First Parish is that she can join these two paths in her musical life in a fulfilling way.
Duffy Peet
Intern MInister
Duffy will be serving as the Intern Minister through mid-June 2011. He will graduate from Andover Newton Theological School with a Master of Divinity degree in May 2010. Previously Duffy was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Kalispell, MT where he had an independent psychotherapy practice working with youth, adults and families. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University and a Master of Social Work degree from Western Michigan University. Since shortly after getting his Bachelor’s degree, he has worked and studied in the field of Social Work in an effort to assist people in dealing with the difficulties in their lives.
Duffy grew up in Ithaca, Michigan, a small town in the center of the lower peninsula of Michigan. As a youth he enjoyed spending time in the out-of-doors. His enjoyment of nature and activities that allowed him to be in nature motivate his efforts to work on improving how we relate to and treat the earth and the environment we live in.
He has spent many years leading and teaching cooperative games and he believes that if we can begin to shift our focus away from competition and towards cooperation in all activities in our life humanity and the earth would benefit greatly.
Duffy was introduced to Unitarian Universalism in 1974 when he lived in Rockford, Illinois. He regularly attended worship there until returning to Michigan to continue his education. He also has significant experience with one particular Earth-centered spiritual tradition. In 1983 he was offered the opportunity to learn the spiritual teachings and rituals of the Sioux. His experiences with the Sioux teachings and rituals inform his efforts to live in harmony with others and with the earth.