Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian
The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian, Senior Pastor of the Haydenville Congregational Church, has been active in movements for social and political change since 1970. An anti-racism educator, published poet, and singer/songwriter with three albums and CDs in circulation, Andrea has been living in the Pioneer Valley since 1980. Andrea was, for ten years, the Dean of Religious Life and Protestant Chaplain at Mount Holyoke College where she supervised a team of Chaplains who served the nine active faith communities on the campus. Andrea is the life partner to Michael Klare and mother to Sasha Klare-Ayvazian who is in college. Andrea holds degrees from Oberlin College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, the Graduate School of the Union Institute, and Yale Divinity School. Andrea’s book PSALMS IN ORDINARY VOICES is forthcoming.
Assistant Pastor Matilda Rose Cantwell
Matilda Cantwell, Assistant Pastor and Director of Youth and Family Ministries, is a Candidate for Ordination in the United Church of Christ. Prior to entering the ministry she was a Clinical Social Worker specializing in working with at-risk teens and young adults, and she did street outreach and community organizing in Northampton, Chicopee, and Holyoke. She is interested in Interfaith Dialogue and Religious Pluralism, Active Non-Violence, and Feminist and Pastoral Theologies. Matilda’s poetry has been published in Palimpsest, the Yale University Graduate Journal of Creative Writing, and Becoming Fire, Spiritual Writing for Rising Generations. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon, and Master’s Degrees from Smith College and Yale University.
