Meet Our Staff...

Rev. Eleanor Celentani became Spiritual Leader/Minister of Christ Church Unity on January 1, 2005. Prior to that, she was the Minister of Pathfinders Fellowship, an independent New Thought spiritual community, for fifteen years. During that time, she was a guest speaker at this church and helped in other capacities when there was no resident minister here.

After growing up in Catholicism and being a member of a religious order for nine years, Eleanor began a spiritual search in the mid 1970’s. She came to Christ Church Unity in the early 1980’s, eventually teaching classes here and serving on the Board. In this sense, being chosen as Spiritual Leader in 2005 was like “coming home” for Eleanor. She is sensitive to the feelings and needs of people who have come from traditional religious backgrounds. In the study of Truth, Eleanor has been most touched by the early teachers, such as the Fillmores, Florence Scovel Shinn, Emma Curtis Hopkins and later, Catherine Ponder, among others.

In addition to Sunday Services, Eleanor offers spiritual counseling, based on Unity Truth Principles. Eleanor also draws upon her knowledge of rebirthing (breath work) and spiritual psychology to help clients and students. She is also a flower essence practitioner, specializing in the use of the Bach Flower Essences for mental and emotional healing. Eleanor is known for her deep listening skills and for her warm presence in classes. She encourages students to practice meditation, and to this end she keeps meditation opportunities in the church schedule as much as possible. Eleanor is available for weddings, memorials, christenings, and home blessings as part of her ministry. She was ordained a Priest in the Order of Melchizedek in 1989.

Before entering the ministry, Eleanor had a variety of positions in: teaching and educational administration, personnel and labor relations in County government, small business office management, as well as maintaining a private practice in spiritual counseling.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Nazareth College of Rochester and a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. She was born and grew up in nearby East Rochester, New York.

Rev. Sharon Elise Peters is the Christ Church Unity Intern Minister. Sharon has been a student of Unity and metaphysics for 20 years. She received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and studied for one year at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. The call to minister started during her senior year of college when she double majored in Philosophy with her Liberal Arts Degree. For ten years she pursued acting and enjoyed the thrill of the stage. After children, however, the ministerial call became louder. She pursued studies at Colgate, and then transferred to Fillmore College which is where she continues to study for her Masters in Pastoral Counseling. In October '09 she became ordained by the Conference on Practical Christianity as a New Thought Minister. She is thrilled to be interning at Christ Church Unity to gain experience and become more seasoned in ministering to a church.

In her spare time, Sharon enjoys being a wife and proud mother of five children in ages ranging from 12 to 26. She is a dancer, plays piano, and sings.

Jane Faust has been the pianist at Christ Church Unity since 1995. She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied with Lucille Monaghan. Mrs. Faust has been on the faculty of the Hochstein School of Music and Dance since 1973. In 1993 she was the fourth recipient of the Faculty Service Award.

Mrs. Faust has performed locally as well as in New York City, including New York University and CAMI Hall.

Jane is a past president of the Rochester Piano Teachers Guild Inc. and a member of the core committee of judges for the Howard Hanson Awards.

At Christ Church Unity Jane coordinates the prayer team and leads the One Winged Angels Support Group. She is working toward becoming a licensed Unity teacher.

Marna Rossi is our Sunday school lead teacher and director. One of her primary goals is to assist the children in being creative. By applying Unity principles, Marna encourages the children to improve their relationships with each other, and to express feelings about friends. Through storytelling, poetry and drama, Marna helps young people to become more expressive.

Marna has designed and taught programs for organizations such as Writers and Books, Rochester Museum and Science Center, RMSC Gannett School, University of Rochester Girls' Science, Math, and Computer Camp, the Urban League Teen Program, YMCA Teen City, and the Jewish Community Center Camp Seneca Lake. She has performed with the Storytelling Guild of Rochester and has been a Toastmaster. She has also taught Child and Adolescent Development at MCC, Nazareth College, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. She has a Ph.D. in Language and Cognition, and Social Psychology from the University of Rochester.

In her teaching and workshop leadership roles, Marna’s experience has shown that children thrive when they are aware of their feelings and able to communicate well. She has also learned that creative children are more apt to become leaders of and healers in our society. As a storyteller, Marna’s background shows that stories help children connect thoughts and feelings more effectively in that stories help to develop awareness and imagination. In using storytelling to help children with Unity lessons, Marna instills in the students that Unity is a place where they can learn to be peaceful, loving and kind to each other.

Thomas Warfield has performed, from stage to television to film, in more than 100 cities around the world as a singer, dancer, actor, model, composer, choreographer, director, producer, educator, activist and poet. His numerous performances have taken him to a variety of forums, including the Metropolitan Opera, concerts on Martha’s Vineyard, a circus in Japan, and three maximum-security prisons in the USA. He also worked with AIDS patients in Thailand, blind students in Taiwan, and orphans in France, among thousands of others worldwide. He is an assistant professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), teaching in Performing Arts as well as Social Science. Mr. Warfield also directs the RIT National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) Dance Company at RIT. He is the founder of PeaceArt International—a global outreach project, and Associate Director of Kaleidoscope Dance Theatre at the NY Institute of Dance and Education.

Mr. Warfield has been the soloist of Unity Church in Rochester for more than 10 years, as well as performing at Chilmark Community Church on Martha’s Vineyard. As a performing artist, he has been acclaimed by the New York Times, Hong Kong Daily Standard, China News and the British paper, The Morning Star. The Star acclaimed that, his "...sensitive, superbly trained body filled every word and every movement with bitter meaning."

Mr. Warfield earned a BFA degree from SUNY Purchase, winning the President’s Award for Excellence. As an MFA candidate, he received a Research Fellowship from the University of Utah.

Mr. Warfield’s 14 years with the Opera Theatre of Rochester, and performances with the New York City Opera and Metropolitan Opera, allowed him to work with directors Franco Zefferelli and Spike Lee, composers John Adams and Marvin Hamlisch, scientist Carl Sagan, singer Placido Domingo, and others. As a dancer, Mr. Warfield performed works by Balanchine, Graham, Nijinsky, Joffrey, Cunningham, Taylor, Isadora Duncan, Mary Wigman, Bill T. Jones or Arnie Zane, and many others. He worked in companies worldwide, including Jane Dudley in London, and the Dance Company of Macau in China, among others.

Mr. Warfield has also been a facilitator/trainer for the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) in leadership training, welcoming diversity, prejudice reduction and nonviolent conflict resolution.

Mr. Warfield is listed in Most Outstanding Young Men in America and Who’s Who. His numerous awards include: the Volunteer Award from the United Nations Association, Unsung Heroes Award from the City of Rochester, 1999 Dance Award from the Community of Colors, Creative Community Service Award from the University of Utah, Outstanding Leadership and Moral Sensitivity Award from the Rochester Greater Community of Churches, National Dance Association Award, Diversity Trailblazer Award from RIT, Off-Broadway Award for Choreography, and the Jennifer Patterson Koon Peacemaking Award, among others. His Global Poem In Praise of Peace has garnered global recognition in letters from Leonard Bernstein and Mother Teresa. His first CD, Celebrate the Moment has been sold worldwide.

Christ Church Unity Board of Trustees
President - Mary Jo TenEyck
Vice President - Paula Fletcher
Treasurer - Sharon Peters
Secretary - Marie Hedrick
Trustee - Leslie Wright
Trustee - Paulie Gajewski