On Sunday 1/22/06, the first pulpit exchange occurred between St. Teresa's Catholic Church and North Congregational Church. The Rev. Dr. Craig McClellan, and Fr. Bob Kwiatkowski spoke from the pulpits. Attached are several pictures of the day taken at North Church and the Republican American article.
Vince & Liz Kennedy w/Fr. Bob, Charlie Rutledge, & Rev. Craig
North Church Parishoners w/Fr. Bob, Charlie Rutledge, & Rev. Craig
Fr. Bob, Charlie Rutledge, & Vince Kennedy
Woodbury pastors trade places
Monday, January 23, 2006
BY MARRECCA FIORE
Copyright © 2006 Republican-AmericanUnity.
The two pastors participated in the Woodbury People of Faith's first pulpit exchange of the new year. As part of the exchange, McClellan delivered the sermon at St. Teresa's 9 a.m. Mass and Kwiatkowski shared the gospel with members of North Congregational Church at its 10:30 a.m. service.
"It's exciting that in a world that can be so tragically divided by religion and prejudice that we can be here together in the unity of Christ," said McClellan, during the morning service at his church.
Not only did the two pastors celebrate Sunday services at each other's church, but a handful of parishioners also marked the exchange by attending services at one another's churches.
Charles Rutledge, a member of St. Teresa and Woodbury People of Faith, joked that standing before a Congregationalist congregation was a daunting task for a Roman Catholic."
"I went to Catholic school with the nuns who would tell us that Catholicism was the one true religion," Rutledge said. "I remember going home and asking my mother if that meant that my dad, who's Episcopalian, was not going to heaven. And mother said no. It meant that we all worship God, we just do it differently. And yes, we are all going to heaven."
Woodbury People of Faith was formed in 1999 to unite churches throughout Greater Woodbury, Rutledge said. Eight parishes belong to the group. In addition to pulpit exchanges, the group organizes ecumenical events throughout the region.
Long before People of Faith, as Rutledge and Kwiatkowski pointed out, Woodbury had a long ecumenical history. After all, It was North Congregational Church that raised the seed money to start St. Teresa of Avila Church.
"More than 100 years ago, Michael Skelly came to Woodbury to work as an apprentice blacksmith," Kwiatkowski said. "And the blacksmith said he would train him, but he would have to attend North Congregational Church while he was an apprentice. He agreed."
As soon as he became a blacksmith in his own right, Skelly began walking 12 miles every Sunday to Waterbury to attend a Catholic Mass.
"And they really felt bad for him," Kwiatkowski said. "Finally, they said enough, we will help you build a Catholic Church in Woodbury. And they contributed substantially. They put their money where their mouth was."
That was in 1903. In 2003, St. Teresa parishioners paid forward the gift North Congregational once gave them, by donating $17,000 to help Christ the Savior Orthodox Church of Woodbury build a church of its own.
"The more we work together, the more our hearts will begin to change," Kwiatkowski said. "Jesus prayed we'd all be one some day. We've come a long way. But we still have a long way to go."
