Dear Friends,

Welcome to Christ Church.  This website contains a great deal of

information about the life of this parish, and it is offered for at least two

reasons. First, if you are curious about Christ Church and considering worshipping with us, we hope that what you find here will encourage you to join us for a Sunday or a weekday. Second, for the many friends and “alums” who have worshipped here in the past and now live and work in other places, we hope you will enjoy keeping in touch with the life of the parish.

Christ Church is a place of great beauty: in its architecture, music and ritual. It is a place which proudly continues a tradition of recognizing and celebrating the Catholic witness and authenticity of Anglicanism. It is also a place where people from many backgrounds and perspectives find their lives enhanced by knowing one another. From this place, people go out to serve God in the world in many ways. Most of all, it is a place where God is sought; by God's own grace, it is a place where God finds us. We warmly welcome and incorporate all who seek to join our parish family.

When someone comes into Christ Church on a weekday, to say prayers, to find a place of quiet, or for whatever reason, there is likely to be at least a couple of candles burning beside the Shrine to Our Lady. These signs of prayer offered a few moments ago are amplified by the signs of the prayers of the decades—brass plaques with names carefully inscribed, a worn place on a kneeling cushion by the seats. The images in the windows, at the pulpit, and on the reredos point to the wider fellowship of prayer and witness that always surrounds and upholds us. Our lives intertwine and we affect each other in ways that are not always obvious. Standing in Christ Church, though, it becomes a bit clearer how broad and far-reaching the bonds between us really are.

Christ Church stands with its doors open-that is the way of this parish and has been since its beginning.  We were founded so that the doors would be open-open daily to offer prayer so that intercession and praise flows unceasingly.  We were founded without pew rents so that this place was open to all.  Over the years we have always found new ways of keeping doors open-various efforts to serve the city and the immediate community and an unwavering commitment to daily prayer and an ever deepening spirituality. We currently open our parish house to the Community Soup Kitchen five days a week, to Twelve Step Programs and a Life-skills program offered by Columbus House.  The Center for the Arts opens our undercroft to children and adults developing musical skills.

And the internet offers us yet another way to open our doors-some of our liturgies are being offered on-line-in a way our forebears could not have imagined. Something that the three women who founded this parish is being accomplished: the voice of prayer and thanksgiving is that much more continuous as the sounds of worship are heard in places and at times far beyond this place and our schedule.  

We are glad you are here and hope that learning about this parish's life inspires your own life of prayer, faith, and service.  If you are in the New Haven area, we hope you'll worship with us. If you are a former member or friend of the parish, we would love to hear how Christ Church touched your life in the past or help you find a parish with similar values and commitments where you are.  Drop us an email or call.  

Finally, if you'd like to hear more from Christ Church , there are three things you could do-explore this web site and find sermons, newsletters, pod-casts and the like-there is much food for thought and reflection here. IF you'd like to hear the music from this place-do order one of our cds-we have two choral cds, a new organ cd and a wonderful cd of hymns in jazz settings for piano. 

We would love to include you on either the mailing list or the email update list-drop us an email with your address and you will be added to either or both mailing lists.    Welcome-the doors are open and your prayers and witness are what ours needs to reach towards the completion and fullness that God intends for us.  We're glad you're here. 

Faithfully,

David Cobb +