On a wide, sunny stretch of Main Street in Niantic, Connecticut, just a few steps from Long Island Sound, stands Saint John's Episcopal Church. White clapboard and worn stone, the parish has been the spiritual home for a diverse, multi-cultural congregation of Episcopalians since 1873, when the first services were held in the summer home of John McCook at what is now McCook's Point. The congregation outgrew a wooden, green-painted chapel with white trim, gave that building to the Niantic Public Library for twenty years, and today worships in its present church built in 1970. Through all 150 years, the focal point has been the same: community, in Niantic and beyond.

Saint John's is affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and grounds its worship in the Book of Common Prayer. As Episcopalians, members of the parish describe their tradition as part of Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, holding to what Anglicanism has long called the "Via Media" between Roman Catholicism and mainline Protestantism. The central act of worship is the Holy Eucharist, also called the Mass, the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, and the Divine Liturgy. The parish's mission is summed up in a single phrase: "Joyful discipleship gathering people to Christ."

Sunday Morning at Saint John's

The rhythm of the week at Saint John's centers on Sunday morning. Christian Education for children from Pre-Kindergarten through high school begins at 8:45 a.m., with classrooms grouped by age: Pre-K and Kindergarten with Erin Stankiewicz, first through sixth grade led by Evamarie Cooper, and confirmation classes for seventh through twelfth graders led by Mother Jackie Cameron with mentors from the parish. Nursery Care is offered during the 9:00 a.m. service for the youngest children.

At 9:00 a.m., the congregation gathers for the Celebration of Holy Eucharist Rite II, with hymns, choir, homily, and Holy Communion. The liturgy uses the contemporary language rite of the Book of Common Prayer, with Anglican theology that upholds the Doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the consecrated bread and wine. Ushers hand out bulletins, count the congregation, and direct worshippers forward to receive Communion. After the service, at about 10:00 a.m., everyone is welcomed into the Parish Hall for coffee, conversation, and a chance to meet old friends or greet visitors who have come for the first time.

Visitors are likely to be greeted warmly and to hear the words of one recent attendee: "It was my first time here, and the parishioners were all so welcoming and kind. Everyone smiled at me. The church is beautiful and the service was lovely."

The Seven Sacraments

The sanctuary at Saint John's is described as the center for celebrating all of life's passages, and the Holy Eucharist sits at the core of the parish's identity. According to the canons and customs of the Episcopal Church, baptism is normally administered within the Sunday Eucharist and is reserved for major feasts: the Easter Vigil, Pentecost, All Saints' Day or the Sunday following, the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, or at other times during the year. It is not, except in emergencies, administered during Advent or Lent.

Holy Matrimony is celebrated within the Holy Eucharist and is open to regularly attending members. The Episcopal Church requires couples to participate in a series of intentional pre-marital counseling sessions. The parish makes clear that Saint John's is not to be used as a wedding "site of convenience" for those seeking to avoid the marriage standards of their own Christian denomination.

Confirmation, the rite in which Christians express a mature commitment to Christ, is held once a year with the Bishop of Connecticut or his representative presiding. Reconciliation of a Penitent - commonly called Confession - is available by appointment throughout the year, with particular emphasis during Lent. The parish offers the traditional Anglican summary of the practice: "Some may, none must, all should." Unction of the Sick, sometimes called Last Rites, is administered by clergy and Pastoral Care lay ministers, who bring the Reserved Blessed Sacrament to the homebound, hospitalized, and those in care facilities. Funeral services are arranged in consultation with the priest.

Christian Education for All Ages

Christian formation at Saint John's is understood as a lifelong process. The parish runs an active Sunday morning program for children, structured around classroom learning and supplemented with monthly activities that build friendships through bowling nights, cookouts, pumpkin painting, wreath making, hot cocoa bars, and pizza parties.

Confirmation preparation for teens in grades seven through twelve takes place through a program called Confirm Not Conform, designed to let young people think independently about whether and why they wish to be confirmed. The course includes fifteen lessons and discussions, a retreat at the diocesan camp at Mount Washington, and one-on-one mentoring by an adult member of the parish. Mother Jackie, who attended the retreat, has described the young people as impressively dedicated and reflective. Participants are entirely free to decide whether to be confirmed at the Easter Vigil, when the Bishop of Connecticut confirms new members at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford.

For adults, the Women's Bible Study, known affectionately as the "Women Bible Sisters," meets every Tuesday morning from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. in the Guild Room. Each session opens with the daily meditation from Forward Day by Day and works through a different book or Bible study. Past reads have included The Way of Love Bible Challenge edited by Marek Zabriskie, Joan Chittister's We are All One, A Way to the Manger for Advent and Christmas, and selections from God's Good Earth by Anne and Jeffrey Rowthorn. The group occasionally ventures beyond the parish for cultural outings, including a curator-led tour of an exhibition at the New Britain Museum of American Art.

Mother Jackie, who also serves as Director of Christian Education, has signaled an interest in expanding adult offerings. Suggestions already gathered from parishioners include classes on scripture, theology, church history, end-of-life questions, and what it means to live as a Christian man in the contemporary world.

Music: The Choir, the Cookie Choir, and the Fisk Organ

Music is one of the great glories of Saint John's. The Senior Choir, under the direction of Organist and Choirmaster Kathy Cooper, rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. between September and early June, with warm-up in the Choir Loft before Sunday services. Their repertoire runs the gamut of sacred music, and they are accompanied by a Charles Fisk tracker organ, financed by the fundraising efforts of parishioners and described as a constant source of pleasure to all who hear it.

Recognizing that children's choirs across the country were decimated by the pandemic, Kathy Cooper launched the Cookie Choir - a junior branch of the choir for younger voices, named after the cookies that fueled its first session. The Cookie Choir rehearses on Sunday mornings during coffee hour, with short sessions of warm-ups, songs, and percussion, and made its debut at the Christmas Pageant singing "O Come Little Children." Plans include having treble voices sing with the adult sopranos on anthems during the offertory.

Instrumentalists add to the music of worship throughout the year. Young musicians on saxophone and violin have accompanied the choir on Youth Sunday. Kathy Cooper has also begun exploring short "Music Reading Basics for 'I Can't Singers'" sessions on Thursday evenings at 6:30 for those who feel they cannot carry a tune but want to try.

Worship Ministries: The Hands Behind the Liturgy

Saint John's worship is supported by a wide group of lay ministries, most working quietly behind the scenes. St. Hilda's Altar Guild prepares the sanctuary for each celebration, laundering sacred linens and vestments, polishing brass altar candles and sterling silver chalices, and keeping a stock of communion breads and wine. Members care for the altar through funerals, baptisms, weddings, and the full sweep of Holy Week leading to the Great Festival of Easter.

Chalice Bearers, or Chalicists, are adult parishioners and young people in the eleventh grade or higher who assist the Celebrant at Communion by administering the consecrated wine. Lectors read from Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament at both Sunday Eucharists. Intercessors lead the Prayers of the People after the Nicene Creed, drawing on one of several prayer forms in the Book of Common Prayer. Greeters and ushers welcome worshippers, distribute bulletins, escort people to pews, and direct worshippers forward at Communion. Acolytes - Crucifers, Torch Bearers, Altar Servers, and Gospel Book Bearers - serve at each Sunday celebration.

Pastoral Care and Parish Life

Pastoral Care at Saint John's is carried out by a team of lay ministers working closely with the priest. Members of the team visit the homebound, hospitalized, and those in care facilities, often serving as Lay Eucharistic Ministers and bringing the consecrated Sacrament of Holy Communion. The team meets regularly to share updates, concerns, and information about parishioners who cannot be present on Sunday morning.

Three smaller groups extend this ministry. The Sisters of Prayer meet weekly to offer intercessory prayer for those whose names have been placed in the Prayer Request box outside the Sacristy; all prayer requests are treated as confidential. The Knitting Guild gathers on the third Wednesday of the month at 9:30 a.m. in the library to create prayer shawls, hats, scarves, and baby blankets, which are given to those battling illness, new mothers, caregivers, and the New London Community Meal Center and Shoreline Soup Kitchens in East Lyme. The Card Ministry sends Thinking of You, Get Well, and Sympathy cards throughout the year; in 2024, the group sent 153 cards.

The St. Francis Gardening Guild tends the church grounds, including the Memorial Garden behind the east window of the sanctuary. Volunteers meet weekly, weather permitting, to weed, mulch, prune, and plant. The work of the guild was instrumental in 2020, when a large Norway spruce that had grown to restrict sunlight over the Memorial Garden was removed and a new screen of red chokeberry, hostas, and transplanted roses was created at the garden's entrance.

The Memorial Garden

Tucked behind the sanctuary is one of the parish's hidden treasures. The Memorial Garden is about a hundred feet long and roughly triangular, bounded by shrubbery, decorated by flowers, and enclosed by buildings on two sides. Founded in February 1987 as a sacred space for the burial of cremated remains, it holds more than eighty burials recorded on two brass plaques outside the slype. At its center is a granite altar at whose base stands the figure of St. Francis.

The garden's atmosphere is tranquil and churchyard-like. A large stone donated by Lombardi's of Montville and engraved with a blessing marks the entrance from the parking lot. Each burial lies in an unmarked spot, but for those who walk through, it offers what the parish describes as a serene space to pray and remember loved ones.

Men's Group, Hospitality, and the Wider Parish Life

The Men's Group, revived under the leadership of seminarian Jacob Russell, meets on the second Friday of every month at 10:00 a.m. for fellowship, formation, and service. Its gatherings include short readings drawn from scripture, Episcopal Church liturgical resources, and contemporary theological writers, with discussions that have ranged from end-of-life questions to the meaning of prophetic witness in confusing times. The men have also taken on cooking duties, including a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper prepared on griddles in the parish kitchen.

The Adult Forum brings speakers from the wider community into Saint John's throughout the program year. Recent sessions have addressed the opioid crisis, Alzheimer's Disease, suicide prevention, racism, and homelessness. Hospitality Ministers organize the coffee hour each Sunday in the Parish Hall, contributing to a relaxed atmosphere for fellowship.

Outreach: Feeding, Comforting, and Walking Alongside

Saint John's has a long tradition of community outreach. Since 2013, the parish has hosted a Thursday food pantry in partnership with Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries (SSKP), a faith-based organization that helps people in towns from East Lyme west to Madison. The East Lyme Food Pantry at Saint John's is open from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Thursday afternoon in the church hall. In 2024, SSKP served an average of seventy-three families each week and provided 84,879 meals over the year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the partnership distributed almost 167,000 meals. Donations of non-perishable food are accepted every Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the parking lot behind the church.

Each month, four to twelve Saint John's volunteers purchase food at Costco, prepare dinner at the church, and serve 120 to 150 meals at the New London Community Meal Center on the third Sunday of the month. A team of four prepares the meal from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., and another team of ten serves from 4:30 to 6:15 p.m.

The parish building also hosts weekly Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the Parish Hall and Guild Room. Safe Futures, which supports families in crisis in New London, receives donations of new clothing and household items at Christmas and throughout the year. Bags of Hope-CT, an organization that provides monogrammed duffel bags to children in foster care, received seventy-two bags sponsored by Saint John's in a recent year, with fifty-five going to the Waterford Country School and seventeen to the Lighthouse School in Niantic.

At Thanksgiving, Care and Share of East Lyme, a local charity providing food, financial, and emergency support to families in East Lyme, Niantic, and Salem, is supported through baskets donated by the parish. The parish has worked with international partners as well, including a continuing relationship with Kateri Medical Clinics, a mission outreach originally founded as a project of Trinity Episcopal Church in Tariffville, Connecticut, to provide affordable medical care in Anglican dioceses in Nigeria. The Vestry has approved a recent grant of $3,000 to support the building of clinics in three Nigerian dioceses, with a fourth expected in the Diocese of Gusau.

The Brian T. Dagle Foundation, established by Ann and Paul Dagle in the aftermath of their son's suicide, provides grief counseling and support services in East Lyme schools. Saint John's donates the use of its spacious property for parking at the foundation's annual 5K run on the morning of the Niantic Light Parade. The parish also partners with the Miracle League of Southeastern Connecticut, an organization dedicated to providing recreational facilities to children with physical and cognitive challenges, by hosting its Oyster Festival fundraiser on Rogers Field.

The Year's Calendar: From Carnival to Crèche

Beyond Sunday morning, the rhythms of the church year give Saint John's its shape. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and the blessing of palms, continues through the Maundy Thursday supper that recalls the Last Supper (with the priest washing the feet of parishioners), and reaches its climax at the Easter Vigil, when new members are baptized and confirmed. The Solemn Requiem Eucharist on All Souls' Day (November 2) is celebrated with black vestments, incense, and a sung setting of "Requiem aeternam." A necrology is recited by Christie Hayes and Chris Cooper, and the names of loved ones entrusted to God's care are remembered. The choir has sung an anthem by Henry Walford Davies and a setting of the Magnificat, with the service closing on Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C Minor.

The Christmas Pageant, presented by the Christian Education program on the Fourth Sunday in Advent, brings the Nativity to life with a cast of angels, shepherds, and wise men, with the Cookie Choir making its debut. The Advent Wreath is lit, with four colored candles representing hope, peace, love, and joy, and the white Christmas candle at its center awaits the Christmas Eve service at 7:00 p.m.

Each spring brings the parish's Men's Group Shrove Tuesday pancake supper. Each summer brings the Niantic Bay Triathlon in August, with Saint John's hosting relay teams and offering parking on Rogers Field and St John's Green (more than 400 cars in one recent year, raising over $1,600 for SSKP). Each summer Sunday at 7:00 p.m. through August brings a simple service of Evening Prayer, using the traditional language of the 1662 Prayer Book, with the Magnificat, the Nunc Dimittis, collects, and a creed recited as the dusk gathers over Niantic. The service has been described by Junior Warden Chris Cooper, who leads it, as a transition from the busyness of the day to a calmer time before nightfall.

The annual Carnival, held the third weekend in July as part of East Lyme Day, is the parish's largest fundraiser and one of its biggest volunteer events. Fairground rides and food stalls fill St John's Green. In a record-breaking year, the Carnival raised just short of $14,000 for Saint John's outreach programs. The June Picnic brings the parish together on the green for burgers, hot dogs, salads, and desserts, and the inaugural Croquet Championship Tournament saw the Men's Group's Sons of Thunder defeat the Holy Rollers from the vestry for the coveted Champion's Sash.

Twice each year, the parish joins with sister congregations across East Lyme for an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Concert. Saint John's hosts the gathering, which brings together choirs and singers from Christ Lutheran, Flanders Baptist and Community Church, Niantic Baptist Church, Niantic Community Church, the Roman Catholic parishes of St Agnes and St Matthias, and St Paul, all under the direction of Kathy Cooper and her co-organizers. Donations of money and non-perishable food at the concert support Care and Share and SSKP. A recent concert raised about $750 and 300 pounds of food.

On the Sunday nearest October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, Saint John's holds its Pet Blessing outside the church, where dogs, cats, and the occasional mule (Ferris Mueller of October Dream Animal Sanctuary in Voluntown was a recent star) are sprinkled with holy water and offered a prayer. The occasion also marks Creationtide, the season of prayer for the natural world.

Mother Jackie Cameron: Priest-in-Charge

Saint John's welcomed Mother Jackie Cameron as its new Priest-in-Charge in April. Raised in Illinois, Mother Jackie attended Wheaton College as an undergraduate and Northwestern University for medical school and residency, subsequently working in hospice and palliative care at Northwestern and at Rush University Medical Center. She completed a fellowship in Preventive Medicine at Cook County Health before moving to Connecticut in 2022.

While at Northwestern, Mother Jackie studied theology and medical ethics at King's College University of London during her medical studies and in 2004 received an MDiv from the General Theological Seminary in New York City. In Chicago she was an associate for outreach and education at Bishop Anderson House and an assisting priest at the Church of Atonement. She continues to be a member of the ethics consultation service in the Department of Religion, Health and Human Values at Rush University Medical Center, and serves on the boards of two global health organizations with projects in Africa and South America.

Mother Jackie is married to Robert Pigott, a former BBC Religious Affairs and Health Correspondent who now teaches courses on nutrition and health in academic and community settings. They share their home with Mr. Gus Dog, who hails from Oklahoma. In her free time, Mother Jackie enjoys running and kayaking, and she has served the parish with energy, including competing in the Niantic Bay Triathlon in 2026 and presiding at Solemn Requiem Eucharists, Pet Blessings, Confirmations, and Bishop's Visitations.

Mother Jackie serves the parish on a quarter-time basis while continuing her work as a physician with Hartford Health Care. She has called her ministry at Saint John's an opportunity for the parish to live into its mission and reach beyond itself, and she has encouraged the parish to "throw the net out of the other side of the boat."

An Inclusive Community of Faithful People

Saint John's describes itself as an inclusive and diverse community of faithful people. Its doors, members say, have been and always will be open to people of all walks of life. Members come from every background. Some are life-long Episcopalians; some are new to worship; and many were raised in other denominations and have found a religious and spiritual home here.

The parish strives to strengthen its sense of Christian community, create Christian education for all members, provide pastoral care and counseling, investigate new opportunities for spiritual and personal growth, maintain excellence in liturgy and sacred music, and continue to reach out to brothers and sisters in need. The parish's motto could be summed up by the words that close many of its programs: God loves you. No exceptions.

On a recent Sunday after services, the parish hall fills with coffee and conversation. In the choir loft, the Senior Choir runs through its anthem for the week. Outside, the Memorial Garden is being weeded by a small group of dedicated volunteers, and somewhere in the building, the Sisters of Prayer are sliding a name onto a card for the prayer box, and the next generation of acolytes is learning to carry the Gospel Book. On Main Street in Niantic, a parish that began in a summer cottage 150 years ago continues to do what it has always done: gather people to Christ, in the beauty of ancient traditions, in the work of caring community, in the friendship of saints gone before, and in the simple joy of breaking bread together.