Ministers & Staff
Reverend Bruce Carey Taylor
Our Minister
Rev. Bruce attended the Andover Newton Theological School, and was ordained in 2009. As part of his pastoral education, Rev. Bruce ministered to the patient and staff population of Fletcher Allen Health Care Center in Burlington, Vermont, where he engaged hospital patients and their families in pastoral conversation and prayer as they faced serious illness, served as an on-call chaplain, and led televised, interfaith Sunday services in the hospital chapel.
Rev. Bruce also developed adult RE curricula on Transcendentalism and Howard Thurman, the African American theologian and philosopher of radical non-violence whose ideas greatly influenced the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.
After his ordination, Rev. Bruce went on to serve as part-time minister for the First Parish Church in Billerica from 2010 to 2015, where, in addition to the traditional duties of ministry, he led a strategic planning effort for church growth. Rev. Bruce has also served as part-time minister for the Ashby First Parish Church, the First Universalist Society of Wakefield, the First Church of Leominster, and most recently the Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford.
Outside the world of ministry, Rev. Bruce enjoys hiking in the White Mountains and nature photography, and has been a member of the Flute Orchestra of Groton Hill since 1988!
Office Hours:
TBD
Telephone:
978.562.9180
Email:
Cynthia Menard
Director of Religious Education
Cynthia has worked in non-formal education for more than 20 years, teaching environmental and experiential education to groups of all ages, experiences, and abilities. During that time, she worked as a Camp Director, Naturalist, River Guide, Ropes Course Manager, and Experiential Educator, among other roles.
She is deeply spiritual, finding her sacred space in the natural world, and has been a practicing Wiccan for many years. She is ordained clergy by the Society of Elder Faiths, a Massachusetts-based Pagan Spiritual community, and serves on their Board of Directors.
Cynthia also serves as a Hospice volunteer, certified Reiki practitioner, and plays and teaches violin and fiddle when not at UCMH. She lives in Lunenburg with her two school-age sons, wonderful husband, and a big, bouncy German Shepherd.
Carolyn McCreary, PhD
Music Director
Carolyn comes to UCMH with many years of experience as a Unitarian Universalist music leader. She served as the music director at UUCM in Milford, NH for 9 years, was the volunteer music director at AUUF in Auburn, Alabama, and founded The Artemis Singers, a woman’s chorus at her home church, FCU in Littleton, MA.
She spent most of her career, however, as a professor of mathematics and computer science, being tenured at Auburn University.
Carolyn’s passion for UU values has led her to become an activist in several ways. She volunteers in her hometown, Ayer, being a former a member of the Select Board and now on the building committee for a new Senior Center. She is also a co-founder of Eco-Nuclear Solutions, an advocacy group supporting nuclear energy as a carbon-free, reliable energy source.
Reverend Alice Anacheka-Nasemann
Reverend Emerita
The Reverend Alice Anacheka-Nasemann is an Honors Graduate of Andover Newton Theological School who served as Minister at UCMH for more than 20 years and co-founded UCMH’s Spiritual Growth and Community Center. She received her call to the ministry from a religious educator’s background and has served this congregation and the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta as a Director of Religious Education.
Rev. Alice is the co-author of four curricula for children published online by the Unitarian Universalist Association as part of their Tapestry of Faith curriculum initiative: Moral Tales, Faithful Journeys, Love Will Guide Us, and World of Wonder.
- Moral Tales: http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/moraltales/index.shtml
- Faithful Journeys: http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/faithfuljourneys/index.shtml
- Love Will Guide Us:
http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/lovewill/index.shtml - World of Wonder:
http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/wonder/index.shtml
In addition, Rev. Alice is proud to be a certified Laughter Yoga instructor, which she considers to be a very apt development of her natural skills. She also is quite proud of the Compostela certificate she received after walking 300 miles on pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago in Spain—which she found to be quite a challenge to her natural skills.
Rev. Alice lives in Hudson with her family. In her spare time, she enjoys walking her dog in the woods, dancing, playing games, and reading.
Sample Sermons:
Lessons from the Web of Life
Lessons from an Elf
Reverend Stephen M. Shick
Minister Emeritus
Rev. Stephen M. Shick, Senior Minister is an honors graduate of Crozer-Colgate Rochester Theological Seminary. Between 2000 and 2003 he was an Urban Fellow at Harvard Divinity School. He has served congregations in Portland, ME and Haverhill, MA. Before entering the parish he practiced a national ministry as U.S. Program Director for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Director of the Unitarian Universalist Peace Network, and founder and host of Consider the Alternatives, a nationally syndicated radio program.
Rev. Stephen is the author of Be the Change: Poems, Prayers and Meditations for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers, Consider the Lilies, a book of meditations, and Just Congregations, a guide to congregational justice making practices. His writings have appeared in numerous national and local publications. Rev. Stephen also leads seminars on “embodied preaching,” the art of preaching and public speaking without notes or manuscript.
He is married to Dr. JoAnn Mulready-Shick, who is a nursing faculty emerita at the University of Massachusetts Boston. They have three grown children: Dora, Michael, and Sarah.
Video:
Momentary Meditations
Office and Communications Administrator
Sexton