Our Minister (Interim) Rev. Nancy Bouchard

Nancy returns to The UUCLV where she completed her Student Internship in 2005. She graduated from Bangor Theological Seminary in 2006 after a twenty-fie year career with the Maine Department of Corrections. She was ordained in a cooperative ceremony in Maine by The First Universalist Church of Auburn-Unitarian Universalist and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick.

Nancy completed the Chaplin Residency Program at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 2007 and was hired as an Associate Chaplin with the Department of Children and Families in Connecticut. Although she sees chaplaincy as a critically valuable ministry, a burning desire to pursue her love of parish ministry lead Nancy to a place of serious discernment about her position, her relationship and her life goals.

After a nine month period of self reflection and deeping relationships with her family, her faith and herself, she arrives in Bethlehem with a strong commitment to the members and friends of UUCLV. "To heal the wounds, to celebrate the leadership and history of The UUCLV, to prepare for the future of the church and to grow the presence of liberal faith in the Lehigh Valley…these are my goals."

Nancy has three sisters (all of whom have visited Bethlehem), 3 nephews, 1 niece, 1 grand niece and 1 grand nephew (born in July). "I think we are your average "almost normal," family experiencing occasional conflicts, some sibling rivalry, religious and political differences and lots of laughter, jokes and good cooking, with frequent visits to one another's homes.

Nancy and her sisters were raised in the French-Catholic community of Lewiston, Maine. However, her Spanish is better than her French (neither are great) and it took a while but Nancy eventually found her way to Unitarian Universalism. Based on her strong convictions of justice and dignity voiced in the UU Principles and Purposes and the strong support for the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community, Unitarian Universalism opened her heart to a spiritual life.

Nancy will share her home with her Bichon Frise Ansel Adams, a mischievous and very spoiled pet companion. Nancy enjoys animals and was instrumental in founding a program with the Maine Department of Corrections where inmates trained dogs to be companions for the differently-abled.

Nancy says she is profoundly humbled to be selected as the Interim Minister for The UUCLV and she looks forward to renewing past relationships and meeting the many new members who have found their spiritual home among a great group of people.

E-mail Minister

Associated Minister Rev. Greta Browne

Greta has been a member of the UUCLV since the early  '80s when she attended at the Lechauweki site with her three children, Zeke, Sofia and Victor. This was her first contact with Unitarian Universalism and right away she felt called to the ministry. A circuitous path took Greta to the position (part time) of settled and ordained minister at the UU Fellowship of Pottstown where she has served since January 2000.  She continues to live in Bethlehem, with her husband Guy Gray.

Greta comes from a family of missionaries who served the Presbyterian Church in China , India and Brazil . She accompanied her parents as they served first in China , where her father was born, and then (after the Maoist revolution) in Brazil , where her mother was born. This global connection, along with a taste for the Romance languages, has led Greta to become involved with the ICUU (International Council of Unitarians and Universalists), especially with Brazilian and other Latin American UUs. She is also deeply committed to the Simplicity movement and has initiated a UU Community Ministry, Pirilampo, based on the personal, justice, and environmental values of that movement. Greta is also a Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Bethlehem . She is involved with Peace, Justice, and Environmental issues through Lepoco and the Green Party, and sits on the Steering Committee of the Alliance for Sustainable Communities-LV. 

Non-Ministerial Professional Staff

Director Religious Education (DRE)

Tara M. Altenbach-Zrinski

Graduating summa cum laude in 2005, Tara M. Altenbach-Zrinski received the degree of Master of Theological Studies from Moravian Theological Seminary, where she received the Faculty Academic Achievement Award for her creative and intellectual contribution to the scholarship at MTS for her graduate thesis entitled, “To Touch God: A Thesis Exploring the Nature of God through the Practice of Reiki and the Path of Kabbalah in the Language of Ecstatic Naturalism.”  Tara has been a Reiki Master since 2003 and wanted to integrate the practice within her diverse exploration of the divine nature from an interdisciplinary perspective. 

Since graduation, Tara is pursuing the degree of Master of Pastoral Counseling at Moravian Theological Seminary to provide a means to explore human nature in a social and practical context that will inevitably inform her future scholarship in the field of Intertestamental Theology.  She currently is interning at the New Bethany Ministries where she counsels several residents, helping them to acclimate to shelter life, empowering them to meet their material needs and working to strengthen their spirit so that they may be successful in their post shelter lives. 

Tara places a great deal of importance on spiritual formation and religious education both for her own children and those within the community at large.  Her philosophy is such that the intellectual, moral and spiritual foundations with which we as a community provide for its children will inevitably provide for the overall peace and progress of the human process.  Like Tara’s theology, her philosophy of Religious Education is very process oriented.  Through the gift of her own children’s spiritual inquiries, Tara realized the importance and necessity that religious education plays in the emotional and spiritual growth of children which is why she sought the position of Religious Education Coordinator.

Tara welcomes parents and children to sit and discuss ideas they may have to enhance the religious education of the youth.  She believes that we are not alone in this process and as a community, we will help to shape and inform the future leaders not only of this church but also of the great communities within which we participate.

Church Administrator

Gayle Slivka

I moved to this area from Maryland, via Connecticut and New York State with my two children almost twenty years ago. I came to this job from the medical field, which I worked in for fifteen years; I felt it was time for a change.

I have become computer literate over the last year and am looking to improve on those skills over the next year or so. The computer is not as scary as I once thought.

Reading is a passion of mine which I don’t have much time for. I volunteer for a cat rescue group which keeps me very busy. I foster cats in my home (sometimes to many), take them to the vets, dispense medicine, clean litter boxes, do laundry, do adoption days every Saturday at Petco in Whitehall, field phone calls about our cats on the Petfinder website and in my spare time trap feral cats so they can be sterilized and returned to where they came from. I still have to have time for my own six cats, four are mine and two are my daughters.

My daughter currently lives with me as she made the decision to return to school, while working full time, so not much money left for rent.

My son has lived in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. for 5 years, working down there; it gives me a place to go on vacation. We talk on the phone frequently between visits, though it is always harrowing for me during hurricane season.