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We are very happy to announce that we will have a Pastoral Intern for the coming academic year! At the end of August we will welcome Noël Grisanti, who will be with us 15 hours per week and will be involved in a few areas of ministry: worship, pastoral care, stewardship and finance, communications, and street outreach. Noël introduces herself below, and we look forward to her ministry and learning among us, beginning on August 26.

And just to be clear, we also look forward to Emma Mitchell being back with us as our Pastoral Associate when her parental leave is complete, likely in the October/November timeframe!

Hi, everyone! My name is Noël Grisanti (she/her). I am a third-year Master of Divinity student at Harvard Divinity School, where I study social justice ministry with a particular focus on the role of the church at the intersection of racial, economic, and climate justice. During the 2024-2025 school year, I worked as a chaplain intern in the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life at Brown University, and this summer I have been serving as an interfaith chaplain at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital.

I grew up in New York City as the oldest of four sisters (yes, I love Little Women.) Growing up, I attended a Southern Baptist church in midtown Manhattan: an incongruous mix of a warm, diverse church community with homogenous, conservative values. During my time at Amherst College, I discovered the United Church of Christ. Within the UCC, I have found a church home where my political life could be fostered and fed by my spiritual life, and vice versa. After several years teaching middle and high school Latin, I followed a call to divinity school and am now pursuing ordination as a Member in Discernment in the UCC.

This year I am eager to join the community at First Church in Cambridge. I am excited to learn about the ins and outs of church life and leadership, to participate in worship, and to support the needs of the community through various forms of ministry. I love iced coffee, astrology, red pandas, and crosswords; and I live in Cambridge with my husband Max.