Parish Life - Bringing Us Together

We have a Supper Group that meets monthly at area restaurants and organizes other activities such as baseball games, picnics and occasional theatre and field trips. We also have a Book Club that meets monthly and a Writers Group  that comes together online twice a month. The parish volunteers for spring and fall campus clean-ups and a summer tag sale. We have supported a music ministry for the community, known as “Music on Whale Oil Row,” offering concerts and classic movies each year. For dates and times of these events, click on our calendar site here.

The St. James Supper Group is a gathering of parishioners who dine together on a Friday evening, usually once a month to break bread and enjoy one another's company. We choose a different restaurant in the New London area each time, so that we are able to support many of the local restaurants in the nearby community. The Supper Group is also a way of getting to know our parishioners who attend either the 8:00 am service or the 10:00 am service who we do not normally see on a regular basis. Twelve to fifteen people normally come for our Supper Group outings and the numbers continue to grow each month! Rides are available and encouraged for those who do not have transportation.

The St. James Book Group usually gathers on the third Wednesday of each month to discuss the "Book of the Month" and enjoy food and fellowship at a local restaurant or at a member's home. It is another way to get to know your fellow parishioners a little bit better!

Our online presence continues to be a powerful way for us to connect with parishioners, the community and Episcopalians near and far. Currently, Sunday 8:00 am services are celebrated solely in person, while the 10:00 am services are offered on Zoom and YouTube as well as in-person. These services are also recorded on YouTube and posted on the St. James YouTube website for later viewing, usually by 20-30 viewers a week. Our Saturday "reminder" emails go out to about 195 parishioners and friends and are also posted on the St. James Facebook page. The regular Tuesday church emails go out to those same parishioners and friends, plus our SE Region contacts, for a total of 220 weekly. The website is in the process of a serious update this year, and it received 364 visits a week last year, an increase of 70 over prior year. We continue to be well-represented on social media on Facebook and Instagram. Our Facebook page has 933 followers and 835 friends. Our Instagram page continues to grow; currently with 962 followers.

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With the 300th anniversary of St. James' founding  coming in 2025, our Tercentennial Committee  has been planning meaningful activities and commemorations to celebrate the history and accomplishments that are the story of our church in New London. We earned a grant to join the Witness Stones Project, (see below) which "seeks to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities." We had a celebratory choral Evensong service in November commemorating the 240th anniversary of the consecration of Samuel Seabury as our country's first American Episcopal Bishop in 1784. While serving as bishop, Seabury was also the pastor of St. James from 1785 until his death in 1796. Singing for that service was the St. James Choir, the Anglican Singers and additional choir members from St. John's Episcopal Church in Niantic and Calvary Church in Stonington. A celebratory Eucharist and dinner event will be held on Saturday, June 7th.

Witness Stones Project: Student presentations and dedication of memorial tablets at St. James

This event, held on Monday, May 5th, honored the lives and humanity of the two slaves recorded in Bishop Samuel Seabury's 1796 estate inventory: Nell, 38, and her daughter Rose, 9. The event was the capstone of a history class project at the Williams School in New London. Students studied archival documents newly researched by the Witness Stones Project staff, and they gave their presentations in the church at this event. The 60-voice Killingly High School choir also performed, under the direction of our choirmaster and organist, Jason Largent.. The memorial Witness Stones for Nell and Rose will be placed outside on the church grounds after the 9 AM service on June 8.

A YouTube recording of the May 5th event can be seen here. A front page article and pictures of the event were in the New London Day newspaper of May 6 and can be seen by clicking here.

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Live in Concert: "Made in Italy" - The Anglican Singers  presented Peppino D'Agostino - "one of 50 transcendent heroes of the acoustic guitar" according to Guitar Player Magazine - in concert at St. James on Thursday, May 22nd. See the picture above.