Why is the Clerk of The Mother Church (The First Church of Christ, Scientist) important? And what does this role tell us about the church’s history? In this episode, we speak to Martha Moffett, the current Clerk. She explains the unique relationship of this office to the worldwide membership of the Christian Science church, and tells how that informs her responsibilities in overseeing use of the church buildings at the Boston, Massachusetts headquarters. We’ll also hear from Judy Huenneke, Senior Research Archivist at The Mary Baker Eddy Library. She goes into the church’s archives, to look at the history of the first Clerks of The Mother Church, who were assigned—in the words of an 1879 archival document—to “keep account of the doings of the Church.” We’ll discover an extraordinary legacy that connects the Clerk of today with the early history of the Church.
Access more on this topic:
- From the Collections: Images of the Mother Church Extension
- Podcast: Community and memory in The Mary Baker Eddy Library archives
- “The Annual Church Meeting,” The Christian Science Journal, November 1896, 365–373
Martha R. Moffet is Clerk of The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, serving its worldwide membership in this role since 2023. She spent her early career as a federal prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice and as a special Assistant United States Attorney. After her husband was transferred to the Middle East to report for The Christian Science Monitor, she worked for a human rights nonprofit in the region. This expanded her awareness of the world’s yearning for justice and for a greater understanding of God’s love. It prompted her to begin a more systematic study of the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings. This study led her to devote her full time to the healing practice of Christian Science and, later, to become a teacher of Christian Science healing. She is glad to serve the Church as Clerk, and she continues her work as a Christian Science practitioner and teacher of Christian Science.
Judy Huenneke is the Library’s Senior Research Archivist. She graduated from the School of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University. She also completed a second master’s in history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, with a thesis on Louisiana slave owner, colonizationist, and reformer John McDonogh. Her work currently focuses on researching the history of the Christian Science movement, from its nineteenth-century beginnings to the present day.
Collage images: William B. Johnson, undated. Unknown photographer. P00993; Photo of Martha Moffet, used by permission of TFCCS; Excerpt from church minutes, 1879. EOR13.
