Union AME Church welcomes new pastor

WARWICK — The Union African Methodist Episcopal Church on McEwen St. in the Village of Warwick recently welcomed its new pastor, the Rev. Ann Marie Bentsi-Addison Posey.
Union A.M.E. was founded in 1905 and has been in existence for more than half of the two hundred-year history of the A.M.E. denomination.
Rev. Bentsi-Addison Posey is a certified nurse midwife, CNS, MSN and currently serves as Regional Director of Patient Services and Operations at Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic.
The new pastor, who is a resident of the Village of Florida, was a parishioner at the Union A.M.E. Church in 1999 when services were held in the original historic building that was moved to Forester Avenue to be renovated as a museum.
She also served as the minister to youth at Union AME and she was instrumental in the continuation of the Rights of Passage Program and the initiation of Diakonos de Theos "Servants of God" Liturgical Dance Ministry.
In 2000 Rev. Bentsi-Addison Posey attended the AME Ministerial Training Institute and then attained both bachelors' and masters' degrees in nursing. She also has a Masters of Divinity from New Brunswick Theological Seminary.
Rev. Bentsi-Addison Posey is presently matriculated at Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta in pursuit of her Doctorate in Ministry with a focus on The Black Church, Social and Environmental Justice and Public Policy.
She has also served at St. Luke AME Church in Harlem, Mount Carmel AME church in New Rochelle and, most recently, New Covenant AME Church in Tobyhanna, Pa.
- Roger Gavan