Pastor
Rev. Richard Fournier
pastor@marylyonchurch.org
We are pleased to welcome the Reverend
Richard T. Fournier as our new settled pastor. Rev.
Fournier’s first Sunday worship service at the church was
August 5th at 10:30am.
Fournier went to Boston Latin High School and earned his
B.A. at
Colby College in
Waterville ME. He was ordained in 1982 after
graduating magna cum laude from the Boston University School
of Theology with a Masters of Divinity Degree. In the
twenty five years that have followed his ordination, Rich
has been the faith leader of small and large churches in
both rural and city settings.
In Cummington he was Pastor of Village Church and West
Cummington Congregational and he was Senior Pastor at Old
First Church in Springfield, MA. Reverend Fournier has
served as Protestant Chaplain at Mount Holyoke College and
was the Founder and Director of Taproot Center in
Northampton where he worked to establish a Spiritual
Life Resource and Education Center, led retreats, and hosted
interfaith dialogues. For the past three years Rich
has been the Interim Senior Pastor at United Congregational
Church of
Holyoke.
Before entering seminary, Rich worked in several programs to
help troubled youth in the eastern part of the state and in
Springfield. Youth ministry has remained a particular
interest and strength. Rich said he has recently played
basketball with Holyoke teens and didn’t get
laughed off the court. Rich stays interested in sports having coached his
daughter’s soccer team for several seasons. Over thirty
years ago (and he adds, over thirty pounds ago) Rich ran the
Boston Marathon.
In
1997, Rich got involved with international programming to
help people with disabilities through the Polus Center for
Social and Economic Development. He has traveled to Central
America over twenty times, as well as to
Ethiopia and
Zambia in Africa. He continues to be involved in this
ongoing mission work.
Rev. Fournier led this year’s (2007)
remembrance ceremonies at the cemeteries in Buckland Center
as part of the annual Hat ‘n Sock Memorial Day Parade.
A resident of
Northampton, Fournier said he hopes to move closer to
the
Buckland area in the near future. He says when he’s
not involved with his pastoral work for the church, he’ll be
looking for opportunities to lead and teach small groups on
a variety of secular and spiritual subjects.
Organist/Choir
Director
organist@marylyonchurch.org
Our
adult choir of 6-8 voices sings every Sunday and rehearses
on Sunday mornings beginning at 9:30am. Interim organists
Beverly Wall and Sandy Carter are currently leading our
music ministry.
