The Rev'd Stephen C. Holton - Rector

Fr Stephen Holton is the XIII rector of Christ Church. A native of middle Georgia, Fr Holton earned his BA at Emory University and prepared for the priesthood at Yale Divinity School (MDiv). During seminary Fr Holton served as intern at Christ Church and subsequently was appointed curate. He was ordained to the priesthood in the parish on the Feast of St Ambrose. Immediately prior to returning to Christ Church, he served as associate rector of Grace Church in New York, where his portfolio included outreach and service as lower school chaplain and adjunct religion faculty in the high school division of Grace Church School. Prior to ordination, Fr Holton worked in fundraising and nonprofit management in the arts, education, and human services sectors. He is a past convener of the Society of Catholic Priests for the greater New York region and is a past board member of The Society for the Increase of Ministry and The Episcopal Network for Stewardship. He presently serves on the board of the Community Soup Kitchen at Christ Church and is an associate fellow of Branford College.

The Rev’d L. Jett McAlister - Curate

Fr Jett McAlister was raised outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, and studied English and creative writing (BA, Rice University; MFA, University of Virginia; MA, University of Chicago) before discerning a call to Holy Orders. Fr Jett graduated from Yale Divinity School (MDiv) and Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He was ordained to the priesthood in the parish on the Feast of Ss. Timothy and Titus. He trained in hospital chaplaincy at Bridgeport and Danbury Hospitals, completing four units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). He also served for two years as the chaplain to St Hilda’s House. In addition to his ministry at Christ Church, Fr Jett works in graduate medical education at Norwalk Hospital. His interests include incarnational theology, the history of liturgical traditions, and spirituality and medicine. In his spare time, he enjoys practicing piano, long- distance running, and viewing contemporary art.

The Rev’d Armando Ghinaglia - Priest Affiliate

Fr Armando Ghinaglia (BA Yale College - Political Science, MDiv Yale Divinity School, JD Yale Law School) was ordained a priest in 2018 and served as curate at St. John's, Bristol, and Church of Our Savior, Plainville, before coming to Christ Church. He is a native of Venezuela and was raised in Texas. At Yale Law School he engaged in litigation and advocacy on behalf of fellow immigrants and workers. Presently he clerks for the Honorable Alvin W. Thompson, US District Judge for Connecticut. Informally, Fr Armando studies and teaches about how patristic interpretation of the psalms might inform Christian spirituality and living in the modern day. He is married to Abigail (Abbie) Storch, whom he met in divinity school and who serves on the vestry at St. John's, New Haven.

The Rev’d Teresa Morgan - Priest Affiliate

Mtr Teresa Morgan (BA., M.A., Ph.D. Cambridge; B.A., M.A. Oxford; LRAM, Dip.RAM) is the inaugural McDonald-Agape Professor in New Testament and Early Christianity at Yale Divinity School and Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. Immediately prior to Yale she served as Professor of Graeco-Roman History and Nancy Bissell Turpin Fellow and Tutor at Oriel College, Oxford. She ministered at Ss Mary & Nicholas, Littlemore, and St Andrew, Sandford-on-Thames, both in the Diocese of Oxford. Former Chair of Oxford’s Faculty of Classics, Mtr Teresa focuses her work on ancient history, biblical studies, patristics, and theology. Among her books are Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds (1998), Popular Morality in the Early Roman Empire (2007), and Roman Faith and Christian Faith (2015). Her most recent work, The New Testament and the Theology of Trust: “This Rich Trust,” was published in summer 2002. In addition to her priestly and scholarly work, Mtr Teresa is a musician and published poet.

The Rev’d Andrew G. Osmun - Priest Affiliate

The Rev. Andrew G. Osmun graduated from Lenox School and then Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1971. Baptized as a child, he experienced a personal conversion to faith as a young adult and subsequently received his call to ordination while at St. Columba’s, Inverness, California. He graduated in 1975 from Wycliffe Hall, Oxford (UK), and was ordained in the Diocese of Pittsburgh the same year. He served St. Stephen’s, Mckeesport; Transfiguration, Clairton; St. Luke’s in Chester, Vermont; St. Peter’s, Milford, Connecticut; Christ and the Epiphany, East Haven; and St. Mark’s, Bridgeport. He is a trained Spiritual Director, Member of the Fellowship of St. John (SSJE), Trustee of the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, and active in criminal justice reform and advocacy.

The Rev'd Kent C. Smith - Priest Affiliate

Fr Kent C. Smith, a retired priest of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, has served as a priest affiliate since 2004. He was confirmed at Christ Church during the 1960s while working towards his doctorate in Chinese history. Grateful back then that Christ Church offered daily masses, he now finds great joy in celebrating the midday low masses most Wednesdays of the year in the Lady Chapel. He offers spiritual direction and counsel, assists with pastoral duties, and from time to time serves as a supply priest at other area parishes.

A native of New Jersey, he earned an A.B. from Princeton and also an M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale. After many years as a history professor at Connecticut College, he left for study at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., to pursue his vocation to the priesthood. In 1985 he was ordained a priest at Trinity Church, Newtown, during his two years as curate there and then served seventeen years as rector of Christ Church, Redding.

Both before and after his retirement from full-time parish ministry, he has devoted much of his energy to assisting in the work of Christian formation. He was academic coordinator of the diocesan deacon training program for seven years, a member of the diocesan committee for oversight and examination of those preparing for ordination, and later a reader for the national church’s General Ordination Examinations.

He lives in Guilford, CT.

The Rev’d E. Bevan Stanley, priest affiliate

Fr Bevan Stanley came to New Haven as an undergraduate at Yale. He and his wife Alinda ran a bookstore for ten years. They joined Christ Church in 1976, where their daughters were among the first “boat girls.” The parish sponsored Bevan for ordination, and following graduation from Yale Divinity School / Berkeley Divinity School at Yale in 1983 he was ordained to the priesthood at Christ Church and served as Curate in the parish. The bishop appointed him Vicar of St. Peter’s on the Hill in Hamden, and in 1990 he led the merger of St. Peter’s on the Hill with Grace Church. After fifteen years in Hamden, Fr Bevan served several other parishes, ending with almost ten years at St. Michael’s Church in Litchfield. He has served as a spiritual director, consulted in parishes, and coached parish leaders. Trained in community organizing by the Industrial Areas Foundation, he worked for change in New Haven with Elm City Congregations Organized in the 1990’s. He earned a Doctor of Ministry from Hartford Seminary in 2003. A deputy to four General Conventions, he served on its Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee three times. For five years he served as a Reader of the General Ordination Exams for the national church. Currently Fr Bevan is Chaplain to the retired clergy of the South Central Region of the diocese.

He and Alinda share interests in pre-Norman Britain, reading, the Adirondacks, theater, and travel. In 2005 he and a friend paddled the Hudson River 313 miles from its source at Lake Henderson in the Adirondacks to New York City. Fr Bevan and Alinda’s two grown daughters live in Anchorage and Minneapolis.

Alex Whittington - Choirmaster

Alex Whittington is a second-year M.M. candidate in Choral Conducting at Yale University, where they also received their M.A. in Music History and B.A. in Music. A New York native, Alex’s musical background was primarily shaped by their upbringing as a ballet dancer, pivoting later to voice, conducting, and composition. Their main area of study is Puerto Rican choral music, focusing on edition-making and reconstructions of works by Felipe Gutiérrez y Espinosa and Esther Alejandro de León. For the 2023–2024 academic year, they served as the director of the Marquand Chapel Choir and the interim director of music at Christ and Holy Trinity Episcopal in Westport, CT. They will be working as the graduate Assistant Conductor of the Yale Glee Club in the 2024-2025 season. Alex's professional ensemble credits include the Yale Schola Cantorum and Puerto Rico-based ensemble Orfeón San Juan Bautista.

Prof. Thomas M. Murray - Artist in Residence & Principal Organist

Thomas Murray, the Principal Organist & Artist in Residence at Christ Church, is also former University Organist and Professor Emeritus of Music at Yale University, where he taught and performed on the renowned Skinner organ in Woolsey Hall. Widely known for his interpretations of Romantic repertoire and orchestral transcriptions, his recordings are highly acclaimed. Professor Murray has appeared in recitals and lectures at six national conventions of the AGO, which named him International Artist of the Year for 1986. In 2003 he was named an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Organists in England, and in 2005 he was awarded the Gustave Stoeckel Award for excellence in teaching from the Yale University School of Music. He has made numerous recordings on the AFKA, Gothic, and JAV Labels.

Clayton Farmer - Assistant Organist

Clayton Farmer serves as the Assistant Organist at Christ Church, where he assists with all duties related to organ-playing and liturgical accompaniment for the parish. Alongside his work at Christ Church, Clayton is a Master's student at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, studying organ under James O'Donnell. Before coming to New Haven in 2024, Clayton completed his undergraduate studies in organ performance and sacred music at the University of Michigan, studying under Kola Owolabi, James Kibbie, and Todd Wilson. He then went on to serve as the Assistant Director of Music and Organist from 2022-2024 at Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, MI, where he accompanied the choir and congregation in weekly worship, assisted with all administrative functions of the music department, and occasionally served as the covering music director when needed. Clayton is passionate about music in the church as a means of building ministry and community and is especially interested in chorister programs for children and youth. In his free time Clayton enjoys reading, playing card games, following baseball and football, and staying physically active.

Luke Plein - Assistant to the Rector

Luke Plein is an undergraduate student in Yale College, where he studies End-of-Life Medicine and Pastoral Care, focusing on the intersection between theology and medicine.

Luke believes Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est — that where there is charity and love, so is the presence of God. He researches The Rule of Saint Benedict and has previously spent time with a monastic community. He is currently writing on how we can apply Benedictine principles to daily life to serve our Blessed Lord and our communities better. 

God love you!

Ben Schober - Sexton

Ben has worked at Christ Church since October, 2012, and lives in New Haven with his daughter Roxy and their two kittens Reba and Daisy. He is very active in local sober communities. Ben is a 1993 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. He may be seen running the streets of New Haven and surrounding towns while training for the New Haven road race or the Hartford marathon.