Across from the shelf where the cookbooks sit in Heloísa Gelber Rivas's Boston kitchen, are a set of the real "cook" books—Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy, the Bible, concordances, and a Christian Science Hymnal. In fact, they're in every room of her condominium, an old habit from when Heloísa's late husband, Horacio, was First Reader at The Mother Church, and the couple lived in the First Reader's residence on Commonweath Avenue. "It was a big house," she laughs. "So I had a set of books by every phone. That way, if someone called, the books were right there where I was."
Right out of college Heloísa left her homeland of Brazil and quickly made Boston her adopted home-town. Beginning as a translator for The Mother Church, she's held a string of posts over the years, from associate editor and managing editor of The Heralds of Christian Science to President of The Mother Church—to her current position as co-manager of the Board of Lectureship. Fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and German, her recent lecture travels include trips to Germany, Angola, and all over Asia—as well as throughout the United States.
Heloísa recently found time to sit down with me at her Beacon Street home, with its bird's-eye view of the Charles River. We talked about what comes so naturally to this dedicated practitioner and teacher of Christian Science—her love of spreading the Word.
