Staff
Rev. Patricia Pearce, Pastor
Rev. Patricia Pearce, pastor at Tabernacle, is a native of Denver, Colorado.
She served with the Peace Corps in Ecuador,
and was the founding chair of the Board of Directors of a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Missouri.
She was co-founder of the Arts & Spirituality Center in Philadelphia.
Patricia has worked as a volunteer with Central American refugees,
as a rape crisis counselor and with a battered women’s shelter.
Her interests include nonviolence, the environment, music, collage, and quantum physics.
Rev. Pearce is a graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Rev. Pearce's work days are Monday through Thursday. You can contact her by calling the church, or by sending email to "patricia" at this domain.
Holly Phares, Music Director
Miss Phares has directed choirs of young people in schools and churches in the tri-state area.
She has been the Director of Music at Tabernacle United Church in University City, Philadelphia, for the past fourteen years.
Holly is a skilled composer, arranger and pianist.
She has numerous conducting credits including preparing the Voices of Liberty opera chorus for Welcome America’s highly successful Opera
on the Square.
A professional soprano soloist, she has appeared extensively as a concert artist in the tri-state area, as well as in Italy.
Her solo engagements have included Messiah with Singing City Chorus as well as The Philadelphia Singers,
J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Mozart's Mass in C Minor also with The Philadelphia Singers,
Strauss lieder at The Philadelphia Art Museum with members of The Philadelphia Orchestra,
and both The Creation of Haydn and Bruckner's Te Deum with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Spoleto, Italy.
She recently performed the role of The Queen of Sheba in Handel’s Solomon at Verizon Hall with
The Philadelphia Singers and Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra.
She contributed her solo voice to the soundtrack for the Thomas Eakins documentary for PBS TV in 2001.
She is a member of the female trio Angel Spirit.
Miss Phares teaches Solfeggio and Theory at the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts, where she also acts as Coordinator of the Opera Outreach Program, bringing workshops into the Philadelphia area school systems to introduce young people to opera. As a core member of The Philadelphia Singers, she holds the post of Education and Outreach Manager, in which she not only serves as the Voice Builder for The Philadelphia Singers Chorale, the choir in residence of The Philadelphia Orchestra - but also designs workshops for local schools to introduce the students to the art of choral singing. When Holly is not singing or conducting, she continues to maintain an active private voice studio, training singers of many diverse styles.
Barbara Purdom, Office Manager
The church office is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 11:30-4:30 pm. General email for the church can be sent to "tabernacle" at this domain.