Staff

Abby Stamelman Hocky

Abby Stamelman Hocky Abby Stamelman Hocky has served as Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia since its inception in January 2004. Abby came to the Center after proudly working in intergroup relations and public policy for over two decades for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia, where she last served as Associate Executive Director and Director of Interreligious Relations. This work entailed striving to enhance interfaith understanding, resolve issues among religious groups, and develop numerous models for dialogue -- especially among Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Abby is a professional consultant for the Experiment in Congregational Education, working with synagogues in New York to re-imagine their models of Jewish education. She serves on the Board of the Arts & Spirituality Center and is an active member of her synagogue, Beth Am Israel. Abby received her BA from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and her MSW from Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work in New York City.

 

Marjorie Scharf

Marjorie ScharfMarjorie Scharf is Project Director of Walking the Walk: Values in Action. Marjorie joined the staff of the Interfaith Center in the spring of 2005 to create this Interfaith Youth Service Learning Initiative. She spent a number of years as group facilitator for the Jewish Children and Family Service's Youth Mitzvah Corps, a service learning program for Jewish adolescents.

Marjorie's professional background is in public health education and nutrition. She has 25 years of experience in designing and implementing culturally relevant health education programs targeted to a variety of audiences: young mothers, youth, women diagnosed with breast cancer, public school teachers, and African Americans and Latinos living with HIV/AIDS. She earned her Master's degree in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley and her undergraduate degree from Penn State University.

 

Sister Maria Hornung, MMS

Sister Maria HornungSister Maria Hornung, MMS has served as Coordinator of Interfaith Education for the Interfaith Center since the fall of 2005. In her early years as a Medical Mission Sister, Maria Hornung served as a pharmacist in Africa, then was called to education and administrative work. Her life in Africa spanned twenty five wonderful years. Most recentl,y she completed a six year term as Sector Coordinator of Medical Mission Sisters in North America, a position that connected her both nationally and internationally with pressing needs.

Believing in the great potential of faith groups to influence our world for the better, Maria Hornung undertook studies in interreligious dialogue at Temple University and received her Masters in Religion (Interreligious Dialogue). She works with diverse groups, facilitating an understanding of their commonalities, and an acceptance of their differences. Maria Hornung is author of a book, Deepening Faith Through Interreligious Dialogue, Paulist Press, 2007, as well as an accompanying manual that is available to guide congregations and community groups in a process of adult education and dialogue.

 

Reverend Nicole Diroff

Reverend Nicole DiroffNicole Diroff joined the staff of the Interfaith Center as Program Associate after completing her Master of Divinity degree in 2007 at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Her responsibilities include: assisting with the development and implementation of Walking the Walk, serving as the adult group leader of the Suburban West Walking the Walk group, coordinating the Alternative Spring Break program and assisting with the programming and administrative needs of the Religious Leaders Council. Nicole is ordained in the United Church of Christ.

 

 

Rebecca Rivera

Rebecca Rivera Rebecca Rivera is the office manager of the Interfaith Center and the Arts & Spirituality Center. She has a degree in computer science and extensive working experience with prominent Hispanics in the Philadelphia Latino community, as well as with the Jewish community through her years of employment at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia. Rebecca has two grown children and two grandchildren.

 

Rachel Weiss

Rebecca Rivera Rachel Weiss is a student rabbi, currently in her last year of rabbinical school at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA. During her years in rabbinical school, Rachel has held a number of congregational posts, in New York, Great Barrington, MA, Evanston, IL, and currently in Boca Raton, FL. She also has worked as a hospital chaplain in Philadelphia; with Kolot: the Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies; and with the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in Chicago, where she where she developed a fellowship program and curriculum on social justice, for rabbinical students across denominations. Rachel has been a senior staff member at Camp JRF, where she has overseen the educational curriculum, implemented a program on Hebrew and the Arts, and directed the Arts Center and tefillah (prayer).

Rachel earned her B.A. in Spanish, with an interdisciplinary concentration in Gender and Women’s Studies, from Grinnell College. Her work as the supervisor of the Chicago-area Nuestro Center, a family resource center for Mexican immigrant families, earned her a community leadership award from the local school district and government. As supervisor of Nuestro Center, Rachel provided resources and referrals, counseling, educational and psycho-social programming for children, teens and adults, created a free summer camp, and worked as a community advocate. Rachel is the Group Leader of the West Philadelphia Walking the Group, and is the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Luce Intern at the Interfaith Center.

Sarah Clausen

Sarah Clausen is a second year Masters of Divinity student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Prior to attending seminary, Sarah served for nearly four years with Koinonia/Koinonia NYC as Servant Event Program Coordinator. This program brought high school youth groups to New York City to do service projects in churches and agencies, as well as engage in dialogue about what it means to serve and build community through the context of our faith. In addition, Sarah served as a leader for Faith Walks at Ground Zero — a program started by Koinonia NYC and Lutheran Disaster Response of New York that brought visiting groups to Ground Zero together in conversation about how faith groups responded to September 11 and how faith motivates one to act in all types of disaster.

Sarah will be working with the Green Team — the Walking the Walk alumni group that is planning the Interfaith Youth Day of Service.

Past Interns and Student Workers
Walking the Walk Adult Group Leaders, Past and Present

2008-09

  • Nicole Diroff, Program Associate, Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia
  • Rachel Weiss, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Student Intern

2007-08

  • Nicole Diroff, Program Associate, Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia
  • Stephen Danley, Youth Coordinator, Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM)
  • Marjorie Scharf, Project Director of Walking the Walk, Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia

2006-07

  • Shakira Abdul-Ali, Consultant, Alchemy Consulting
  • Nicole Diroff, Seminarian, Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia
  • Anna Guarneri, Council Coordinator, Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM)
  • Marjorie Scharf, Project Director of Walking the Walk, Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia

2005-06