Reverend Gary Shapiro

Rev. Gary Shapiro has been on a path of spiritual exploration and development all his life, seeking the purpose and expression of his inquisitive and energetic soul. Growing up Jewish in Brooklyn, New York, amidst the fear and uncertainty of the post-Holocaust years of the 1950s and 1960s, he was acutely aware of the intricate dynamics of alienation, conflict, safety, hope, possibility, along with complex family and tribal bonds, and the struggle for connection with God, self, and others.

Since his teenage and young adult years, in the true spirit of an Israelite (which literally means, “One who wrestles with God”), Rev. Gary has studied and practiced a range of faith traditions and personal growth paths. These include Hinduism, Native American earth-based spirituality, Ken Keyes’ “The Science of Happiness,” and mystical Christianity. But his strongest orientation over the years has been toward Buddhism and meditation, especially after attending Naropa University in Colorado in the early 1980s.

Professional Life Before Becoming a Reverend

In his professional life, after some unusual jobs such as a medicinal plant collector in Mexico for the national university there, and a bus tour guide in the U.S. and Canada, Rev. Gary worked for many years in the field of peacebuilding and conflict resolution (both interpersonal and community level), in advisory, management, and consultant positions, mainly outside the U.S.

He has a master’s degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University and worked for several international non-governmental organizations, including Catholic Relief Services and Mercy Corps. He also founded a U.S.-based NGO, Conflict Resolution Catalysts, and was its director for several years. His work has focused on community and organizational development, social/ethnic trust-building and reconciliation, citizen empowerment, trauma healing, good governance, strengthening and integrating indigenous peacebuilding approaches, and mainstreaming peacebuilding into development sectors such as through the framework of conflict sensitivity.

His main job responsibilities have been project development, implementation, and evaluation; conflict analysis and needs assessments, and the design and facilitation of trainings and dialogues. His international assignments have included conflict environments in East and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, Russia, Ukraine, and Bosnia. In his most recent assignment, in 2014, he was a peacebuilding advisor in Nigeria, West Africa. In 2017, he facilitated structured dialogues known as Conversation Circles, with people across political and cultural divides.

Path of Spiritual Service

Reflecting on his peacebuilding experience, Rev. Gary became very interested in the integration of spirituality, personal development, and peacebuilding. This, together with his strong desire to be of spiritual service and his affinity for the wisdom and beauty of diverse spiritual paths, led him to enter the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary two-year program (based in New York), from which he was ordained as an interfaith and inter-spiritual minister in 2011. Then in 2015, he completed a certificate program in Spiritual Counseling, also from One Spirit.

After working as a volunteer chaplain at a local hospital in Vermont, Rev. Gary became a hospice chaplain (spiritual care counselor) in 2017 with the Visiting Nurse and Hospice agency of Vermont and New Hampshire. In his 7 years with them, he companioned people at end of life, mainly at their homes, officiated celebration of life services, and provided bereavement support to loved ones, including facilitating grief support groups. He also designed and led bereavement training for volunteers.

Currently

Rev. Gary continues to work as a spiritual counselor, wedding officiant, life transitions celebrant, worship/ritual leader, and grief group facilitator. In terms of peacebuilding work, he will once again be facilitating Conversation Circles in 2025, in response to the extremely divisive political environment in the US.

Growth and fulfillment in life and relationships is at the heart of Rev. Gary’s work. Together with his wife, Rev. Gaya Erlandson (who has a PhD in clinical psychology and specializes in couples counseling and group facilitation), they offer growth and fulfillment support for individuals and couples. Their services include 1:1 and group counseling and coaching, along with co-creating and co-leading workshops, retreats, curriculum, and educational materials. While working with adults of all ages, their focus is those in the later stages of life, around creating and living new stories that embrace change and loss, discover new purpose and soul yearning, shift from a mentality of “alone” to “us”, heal old wounds, open to reconciliation, redefine roles, connect to community, and leave an impactful legacy.

While his ministry service is not based in a particular church or denomination, Rev. Gary has attended churches whose embracing of all faith paths and traditions anchored in love resonates most closely with his beliefs and work. For many years he belonged to a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Currently, he and Rev. Gaya attend Unity Church, whose tenets include “commitment to Love; upholding sacred oneness…and working together to be a presence for good in our world.”

Rev. Gary called Vermont his home since 1985 and for many years lived on a homestead farm in the Upper Valley area, on a rural homestead. He retains a deep connection with Vermont and continues to offer ministry there. He and Rev. Gaya now spend a majority of the year in western North Carolina, in a beautiful, peaceful sustainably-based community that supports people, nature, and spirit to thrive and grow together. They are passionate about living and growing in community.

Of the many people who have had a huge influence on his life, Rev. Gary draws tremendous inspiration from his mother, Ruth Shapiro, and the loving generosity and caring by which she lived.

Reverend Gary Shapiro’s  offers a range of services designed to support and enrich your life’s journey.