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The Rev. Galen Guengerich to preach at Union Chapel

AMBROSE CLANCY PHOTO The interior of Shelter Island’s Union Chapel.
AMBROSE CLANCY PHOTO The interior of Shelter Island’s Union Chapel.

The Rev. Galen Guengerich will preach at the Union Chapel in the Grove on Sunday, July 16 at 10:30 a.m. His sermon title is “A Language Not Our Own.”

Rev. Guengerich is senior minister of All Souls Unitarian Church, an historic congregation located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He is the 10th person to hold this position in the congregation’s 198-year history. 

He was educated at Franklin and Marshall College (BA, 1982), Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv, 1985) and the University of Chicago (PhD, 2004). He is author of “God Revised: How Religion Must Evolve in a Scientific Age” (Palgrave Macmillan) and writes a column on “The Search for Meaning” for psychologytoday.com, as well as occasionally for Huffington Post and for FaithStreet, and other national media.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Rev. Guengerich focuses on the impact of religious beliefs and practices on public policy, both in the U.S. and abroad. In addition, he chairs the Multifaith Clergy Advisory Council at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, and the “Humanities in a Conflict Zone” initiative at the Minerva Center for the Humanities at Tel Aviv University.

Rev. Guengerich also serves as a lecturer in preaching and worship at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. His sermon at All Souls on the Sunday after 9/11/01, titled “The Shaking of Foundations,” was selected as one of seven responses to 9/11, along with speeches by President Bush, Governor Pataki, and Mayor Giuliani, for Representative American Speeches 2001 – 2002.

In the past, he served 12 years on the board of directors of Interfaith Alliance, the national non-partisan advocacy voice for religious pluralism; he served as chair of the Interfaith Alliance board from 2008-2012. He has also served on the boards of Dads and Daughters, the national advocacy nonprofit for fathers and daughters; the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, a human rights organization; and the New York City Audubon Society.

He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Holly G. Atkinson, M.D., who is distinguished medical lecturer and medical student adviser at the CUNY School of Medicine and adjunct clinical professor, Department of Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The couple have very strong connections to the Island. Both began coming to the Island in the early 1990s, although they were not together at the time. Dr. Atkinson purchased a home here in 1998. She and Rev. Guengerich were married in 2000, following an engagement party at the Ram’s Head Inn. They sold their Shelter Island home in 2008, which they came to regret, and they purchased another home here on Shelter Island last fall.

Music will be performed by chapel organist Linda Betjemann, with Colin Van Tuyl playing the trumpet. Mr. Van Tuyl is a lifelong resident of Greenport and is director of the Greenport Band. He performs throughout the East End and is also a member of the Orient Congregational Church choir and bell choir.

Submitted by Union Chapel