The Reverend
Kent Charles Matthies
Title: MinisterE-mail: kmatthies@verizon.net
On September 1, 2002, the beginning of its 137th church year, the Unitarian Society of Germantown welcomed the Reverend Kent C. Matthies as its fifteenth senior minister.
During his time with our congregation Reverend Kent Matthies (pronounced Matthias) helped to begin and lead our small group ministry program. Each month he preaches on the SGM topic. Each of our nine groups (as of Jan. 2008) also engage the same spiritual theme in their smaller gatherings. The USG Small Group Ministry Program is open for members and friends to join.
In his dedication to reduce the violence in our city, Rev. Matthies serves on The Philadelphia Mayor’s Religious Leader’s Task Force on Community Safety. Kent also works closely with our congregation’s Just Neighbors, all-church homeless ministry.
Out of his passion for vibrant liberal religion from 2004-2007 Kent was co-chair of the Philadelphia/Wilmington Unitarian Universalist Growth Team. Kent also serves on the National Ministerial Advisory Group to the Dr. Charlie Clements, the Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. (create link to UUSC here)
A life-long Unitarian Universalist, Reverend.Matthies is a graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School. Before coming to USG, he served UU congregations in El Paso, Texas, and Mt. Kisco, New York. From 1997-2000 Kent was the founding director of the Joseph Priestly District Campus Ministry Program in Washington, DC. He completed his intern ministry at the UU Church of Annapolis, Maryland, where he was ordained.
Before his ordination Kent worked for social justice through Bread for the World, a faith-based organization fighting hunger and poverty. He also served with Witness for Peace in Chiapas, Mexico. During seminary he worked with the Gang Violence Reduction Project of the University of Chicago, providing crisis intervention, pastoral care, and supportive counseling to Latino gang members. He is fluent in Spanish. He also served as chaplain in a maximum-security prison.
Kent’s vision of ministry includes working for positive social change as well as giving pastoral care and meeting spiritual needs. He has said, “If we are to do religion well, we must connect philosophy, theology, arts, politics, science, and spirituality.”
Several of Kent's sermons can be found on our web site.
Kent and his wife, Kristin Shipler, were married at USG on
May 27, 2006. They live in the Fairmont area of Philadelphia.
Office Hours
Tuesdays, 9:30 - 11.30 a.m. & 1:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Wednesdays, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Fridays, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. & 1:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Jude Henzy
Title: Director of Religious EducationE-mail: usgre@verizon.net
Jude Henzy has been working as a Unitarian Universalist Director of Religious Education since 1998. She served the UU Fellowship of Newark, Delaware from 1992-1998; the Unitarian Society of Wilmington, Delaware from 1998-2004; and joined the USG staff in September, 2005.
Jude is committed to helping children deepen their spiritual connections through worship, religious exploration social action projects, and a caring religious community. Her hope for children at USG is that they find here a place where they feel welcome, needed and cared for, and their identity as Unitarian Universalists nourished.
In addition to her position at USG, Jude teaches English at Delaware Technical and Community College. She is also a candidate for the ministry. She lives in Newark, Delaware with her daughter, Anna, and has a grown son, Sam.
Mark Daugherty
Title: Director of MusicE-Mail: FMDLeamy@aol.com
Mark has been USG's Director of Music since 1983. He has built the choir into an outstanding ensemble that sings at most Sunday services during the year and presents two major chorale programs annually.
Mark also teaches music at Chestnut Hill Academy and is the Music Director at Old York Road Temple Beth Am where he was honored in 2002 for eighteen "chai" years of service. For twenty-one years, he has been the Artistic Director of the Ambler Chorale Society, a community chorus in Montgomery County. He also serves as the concert accompanist for the Orpheus Club of Philadelphia, the oldest men's singing society in the US.
Mark earned his Master of Music in Chorale Conducting at Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music. While at Temple, he received the Elaine Brown Tribute Award as well as membership in Pi Kappa Lambda. He has participated in master classes at the Oregon Bach Festival with Helmuth Rilling, a Chorus America summer conducting workshop, and the annual Robert Shaw Chorale Workshops at Carnegie Hall. An honors graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Mark has also taken courses at Westminster Choir College and the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College. He is listed in the 2006 editions of Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Education.
Violet Hay
Title: Office and Church VolunteerViolet joined the church in 1976 and began to volunteer in the office, and on committees, as many members do. After an 18 year career in immunology research at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, she retired in 1992 and began to volunteer more of her time at the church. Her service on Membership, Social Action, and Property Committees has made her one of the more knowledgeable church members. "Ask Violet" is often heard around the church.
Anthony Craddock
Title: Church SextonAnthony has been the church sexton at USG since 2003. He has been a part of the community since 1993. Additionally, he is an experienced renovation and landscaping contractor. He has worked for various institutions doing maintenance, janitorial and landscaping for over 20 years throughout the Philadelphia area.
