Unitarian Universalist minister Galen Guengerich named 2020 OTTY honoree

On a rainy Monday night in February, about 100 hungry men and women gathered in the courtyard of the Unitarian Church of All Souls, waiting for the church’s weekly free dinner to begin. A tall man in a green apron embroidered with “Rev. Galen” worked his way down the line, offering hot chocolate and a smile. Galen Guengerich, senior minister of All Souls, said the evening lifts his own burdens: “Any problems I think I have in my life just disappear after I’ve been here for about five minutes.” Feeding hungry neighbors at the door of the church is an act of hospitality to the stranger (Matthew 25:35).

All Souls is a 200-year-old Unitarian Universalist congregation on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Guengerich’s week includes preparing a Sunday sermon, meeting prospective members and writing a column titled “The Search for Meaning” for psychologytoday.com. Some weeks he attends programs at the Council on Foreign Relations or meets with the Partnership for Faith in New York City, a group of clergy from several traditions who work to ease tensions among the city’s religious and ethnic communities.

Several times a year, Guengerich travels to Israel to lead the “Humanities in Conflict Zones” initiative at Tel Aviv University. The program brings future Jewish and Palestinian leaders together to study the region’s history and culture, in hopes of developing new perspectives. He is also preparing for the May publication of his second book, “The Way of Gratitude: A New Spirituality for Today.” His earlier book, “God Revised: How Religion Must Evolve in a Scientific Age,” addressed the gap between traditional religious teaching and a modern, secular approach to life based on science and reason.

Both books are part of Guengerich’s effort to develop a distinct theological identity for Unitarian Universalism, which the article says embraces people of all beliefs, including atheism, and encourages “deeds not creeds.” “Some people think we’re the place in the center of the Venn diagram of religions where everything overlaps,” he said. “But I think we are ready to move beyond being all things to all people and develop a distinctive identity.” That effort has made him one of the leading voices in the Unitarian Universalist Association and a popular speaker at its annual convention.

Guengerich’s path to the ministry was unusual. He was born on a dairy farm in central Delaware into a community of Conservative Mennonites, who are somewhat more mainstream than traditional Amish. His father, six uncles and a dozen of his first or second cousins or their spouses were Mennonite ministers, and he was expected to follow them. He struggled to fit that mold, and while studying for a PhD at the University of Chicago he found Unitarian Universalism and embraced the chance to forge his own spiritual path.

After serving at a small Unitarian Universalist congregation in Lincroft, New Jersey, Guengerich was hired as an assistant minister at All Souls in 1993 and became associate minister two years later. He met his wife, Dr. Holly Atkinson, a physician, journalist and human rights advocate who works at the City University of New York, training young doctors to practice in underserved areas. He served alongside the Rev. Forrest Church and succeeded him as senior minister in 2007, after Church was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

The church was already known for its social-service programs, including a Monday Night Hospitality meal and a Friday Soup Kitchen that have served 300 to 400 community members a week since the 1980s. Under Guengerich’s ministry, All Souls has also taken up social-justice work, advocating for immigration and LGBTQA rights and against racism, economic injustice and sex trafficking. Associate Minister Audette Fulbright now leads those programs, though Guengerich occasionally joins picket lines himself. In 2012 he took part in a protest against a classified ad site owned by the Village Voice that was being used to facilitate sex trafficking. Betty McCollum, a longtime All Souls member and former trustee, said, “Seeing Galen out there was one of my proudest moments as a Unitarian Universalist.” The site later closed under pressure from law enforcement agencies.

Peter Rubinstein, Rabbi Emeritus of Central Synagogue, now director of Jewish community at the 92nd Street Y and a past co-chair of the Partnership of Faith in New York City, described Guengerich’s influence. “When Galen speaks, people listen,” Rubinstein said. “He’s a thinker who uses his intelligence to prompt activities that make this community and this world better.”

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