Reverend Grant Stuckless,
Minister of Worship and Pastoral Care
Rev. Grant joined our congregation in September 2022. He grew up and went to school in Botwood, NF. He received a Bachelor of Science (Nutrition) from Acadia University in Wolfville, NS and a Masters of Divinity from the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, NS. Rev. Grant completed his internship at Zion United Church in Moose Jaw, SK. He then returned to Newfoundland and Labrador where he served at Fortune United on the Burin peninsula (near the location of the ferry to St. Pierre and Miquelon), the Happy Valley-Goose Bay Pastoral Charge in Labrador from 2002-2008, the Gambo Pastoral Charge (a two-point charge in Central Newfoundland) serving the congregations of Gambo and Hare Bay from 2008-2010, and the Pouch Cove-Bauline Pastoral Charge near St. John’s from 2010-2022. Grant enjoys baking and cooking. Since he moved to Ottawa, Grant has been exploring downtown Ottawa and the NCC trails have been calling to him; he looks forward to exploring more of them in the spring. Playing golf is a favourite past time too.
Reverend Stewart Hewlett,
Voluntary Associate Minister
Rev. Stu has been a Voluntary Associate Minister at Emmanuel since 2000. Our congregation and the Ottawa Presbytery call on his help throughout the year for his skills in leading worship, preaching and pastoral care. Stewart often covers ministry needs when the Minister is away for continuing education or vacation.
Theresa Clarke,
Leader of Music Ministry
Theresa holds Baccalaureate of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees from the University of Ottawa and has served Ottawa’s musical community for over forty years as a Musical Director, Pianist, Organist, and Collaborative Pianist. Theresa served as Pianist (2002-2022) for the Ottawa Bach Choir and was awarded a JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral (2020). Selected playing and directing credits include serving the Atlantic Voices Choir, Ottawa Gay Men’s Chorus, Canadian Centennial Choir, School of Dance, Ottawa School of Speech and Drama, Savoy Society of Ottawa, GOYA Theatre Productions, and Maple Leaf Theatre Productions amongst many other Ottawa ensembles. Theresa teaches Music at Sacred Heart Catholic High School, Ottawa where she is the Curriculum Leader for Arts/Religion and the founding Artistic Director of the Sacred Arts Performance Program focusing on choral and instrumental development for young artists. Theresa has served Emmanuel United Church as Organist/Pianist since 2004 adding her current role of Leader of Music Ministry in 2012.
Abigail Sánchez-Rojas,
Collaborative Pianist
Abigail was born and raised in Mexico City. She holds a BMus in Piano Performance (2015) from The National Autonomous University of Mexico where she studied with Mauricio Ramos and Edith Ruiz. In 2017, she moved to Ottawa to continue her studies and received her MMus in Piano Performance from the University of Ottawa (2019) under the guidance of Leopoldo Erice and Andrew Tunis. She was awarded the Mitchell Sharp Commemorative Bursary (2018) and the Barbara Newbegin Award in Music (2018- 2019) from the Canadian Federation of University Women. Since 2017, Abigail has been working regularly as the collaborative pianist for the Senior Choir of Emmanuel United Church and as a piano teacher at Allegro Schools of Music. Abigail believes in sharing the passion for music to students of all ages and musical backgrounds. She teaches with energy and kindness encouraging students to go further in everything they do. As a performer, Abigail enjoys collaborating with instrumentalists and singers as well as performing solo repertoire. Besides music, Abigail holds a Bachelor Degree in Visual Arts and works, when time allows, on miniature prints and watercolours. Photo credit: Sara Hubberstey.
Emma Dowd,
Office Administrator
Emma has been active member at Emmanuel for most of her life. Emma has worked previously as the Summer Program Coordinator and as office supply at Emmanuel. More recently, Emma has been secretary of Council, she prepared the artwork for our new logo as part of the New Logo Design Team, and she was a major contributor to the Website ReDesign Team, offering her artistic talent to the project. She held all of the leadership roles for Camp Awesome, she has participated in service-learning projects in El Salvador and New Orleans, and she has participated in two Camp Chipembi summer camps. Emma earned her Bachelor of Arts (English and Art History) from Carleton University in 2022. In her spare time, Emma enjoys painting (oil, acrylic, and watercolour), knitting, outdoor pursuits (hiking, running, snowboarding), cottaging, photography and travelling.
Amelia Brohman,
Leader of Children, Youth and Young Adult Ministry
Amelia is excited to bring her energy and organizational support to Emmanuel’s children, youth and young adult programs. Amelia joined our staff team in October 2023, but she has been a member of Emmanuel for many years. She has had leadership roles at Camp Awesome and Camp Chipembi. She was a member of the United Church of Canada’s ‘Young Black Scholarship Program’ in 2021/2022 in which six black youth and young adults explored racism and how to create safe places in the United Church. Outside of Emmanuel, she also works with teens in her capacity as a track and field mentor and coach. She has strong people skills developed in her previous work as a corrections officer and as a restaurant server.
Ron MacDonald,
Pastoral Care Provider
Ron supports the people of Emmanuel by augmenting the Pastoral Care support provided by the Pastoral Care team and Rev Grant. Ron grew up active in the Presbyterian church. He is not ordained; however, he has a Masters of Divinity (1989) from University of St. Michael’s College and a Doctor of Ministry (2006), from the Toronto School of Theology, University of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto. Before retiring and moving to Ottawa in 2020, Ron held a dual role as Pastoral Minister/Elementary Catholic School Liaison and Director of Liturgical Music at St. Joseph/ Immaculate Conception Stratford Catholic Community in Stratford. He was in that position for 22 years. Before working in the church, Ron was a secondary school teacher for 16 years in Papua New Guinea, Toronto and Stratford. He is married, with four grown daughters.
