Welcome to Holy Spirit Church

Welcome to Holy Spirit Church

Combinig authentic Christian spiritualitywith progressive beliefs to build community       
 At Holy Spirit Episcopal Church we:

• practice  authentic forms of spirituality combining our worship life and service to this community;
• gather in traditional worship that has its roots in Christian practices dating from the first century; and
• live our progressive beliefs based on loving our neighbor as they are (not as others think they should be).

You are welcome to join our diverse parish family. Some of us are recovering from addiction. Some are single. Some are married. Some – like our Vicar - are members of the LGBT+ community. What matters to us is gathering to form one body by sharing one bread, one cup, and one mission of serving this community. 

Book Club Meets after Church on 1st, 3rd, & 5th Sundays

IThe Book Club will meet after church on teh first, third, and fifth Sundays. They are reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, then on May 31st – we generally meet on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of a month.

The Underground Railroad follows Cora, an enslaved outcast on a Georgia plantation, who escapes with Caesar via a literal subterranean train network. Pursued by the relentless Ridgeway, her flight north becomes a perilous odyssey through violently different states, each with its own brand of menace.

 This book received the Pulitzer Prize.  It was a number 1 New York Times bestseller. It has received rave reviews from Barack Obama, The Washington Post, NPR, and the New York Times Book Review.  All are welcome. 

The Feast of Pentecost May 26, 2026

 Help us raise money without costing you a cent with RaiseRight

Thanks to those of our members who have started using RaiseRight to raise money for our church. If you haven’t started yet, please consider joining this easy way to help Holy Spirit Church. The way RaiseRight works is simple: you buy gift cards from them, they send you the card, and they send a percentage to Holy Spirit.  Full Details here.

 May is PB&J  Month!

WEST HAVEN, CT - - - During May, we're asking folks to bring Peanut Butter and Jelly to the Church of the Holy Spirit-West Haven as part of our monthly food drive to benefit WHEAT, our local food pantry. Donations for WHEAT may be dropped off Tuesday thru Friday from 9 a.m. to noon or brought to a 9 a.m. Sunday service. Holy Spirit Church is the stone church at 268 Church Street on the edge of West Haven’s Green.

 

Few foods carry the quiet comfort and familiarity of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Tucked into lunchboxes, served at kitchen tables, and even enjoyed as a late-night snack, the PB&J has become a small but enduring symbol of nourishment and simplicity. Its history, however, tells a broader story—one of ingenuity, accessibility, and changing tastes.

 

Peanut butter itself has roots stretching back centuries, with ancient cultures in South America grinding peanuts into paste. But modern peanut butter, as we know it, began to take shape in the late 19th century. By the early 1900s, it was being promoted as a protein-rich food, especially valuable for those who could not easily chew meat. Around the same time, advances in food preservation made fruit jams and jellies more widely available. It did not take long for someone to combine the two. (more)

 Our 12-Step Healing & Recovery Service starts at 7 p.m. this Thursday

We will offer a 12-Step Healing & Recovery Service  Thursday, May 14, at 7 p.m. The service will also be offered on Thursday, June 11, and July 9 in the stone church facing the Green.

“Each of the 12 Steps is included in our worship along with a prayer by St. Frances of Assisi,” Holy Spirit Vicar The Rev. Tom Jackson said. “Our time together also offers the ancient rites of laying on of hands for healing and anointing with holy oil.” Grape juice is used for those who wish to receive communion.

“This is an expectation-free event. Each of us is free to decide which spiritual practices they wish to join. Some choose to sit silently while others participate in many aspects of the evening,” Fr. Tom added.

“In the Anglican Church we say: “All may. Some should. None must,” he added. “Our worship service is a gift offered to those in recovery or seeking healing. We do not pass a collection plate nor recruit people to join our parish.” 

 Monthly Midday Healing Service set for May 29 at 12:15 p.m.

Midday Healing Eucharist honoring Frances Perkins, Wednesday,12:15 p.m. Please join us for our monthly noontime healing service in the Lady Chapel. Fr. Tom presides at Holy Eucharist. 

When we worship together, we use prayers and rituals dating from the earliest days of the Christian church. Each of our services includes four readings from scripture selected based in a schedule that repeats every three years. Our theology – in words and action – tends to reflect progressive values.

All are welcome to attend. We welcome Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual people. We welcome people in recovery and those seeking other forms of healing.

Holy Spirit Church hosts 12-Step recovery groups on an almost daily basis. Some are part of Alcoholics Anonymous while others are affiliated with Narcotics Anonymous.

Started in 1723, Holy Spirit is part of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. It builds community by combining authentic Christian spirituality with progressive theolog and community action. The congregation collects food for WHEAT – West Haven’s local food bank. Church members also spend warm weather months growing vegetables for WHEAT in a garden next to the parish hall.

2026 Worwship Schedule

SECOND SUNDAY FORUM CONTINUES June 14 

About our Worshhip

 We also build community – and fight loneliness – by offering an array of fellowship programs. Ranging from our growing food to feed hungry people to cooking breakfast for Columbus House to our Book Club and the Retiree’s Brigade that helps clean up our act, these activities help people get to know each other and reduce isolation.

Church Calendar thru 2026

Now online 24/7/365  at this link 
 

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