Partner with St. Peter’s – and Help Us Build for Our Future.
Our 2025 Stewardship campaign has begun! And we are so grateful to those parishioners who have chosen to partner with St. Peter’s to help us keep the lights on, in our hearts and in our buildings!
The following are just a few profiles of parishioners who have recognized St. Peter’s as their spiritual home and have chosen to pledge to support our ministries and in turn, our communities.
Know that whatever you can pledge, we know God will multiply it and provide for St. Peter’s in abundance. So, thank you, for whatever you can contribute, and however you choose to partner with St. Peter’s, now and for its future.
Our deadline for 2025 pledges is Sunday, November 10th, so please send in your pledge card ASAP.
Stewardship Profile: Claudia and Gerry Reynolds
How long have you been a member at St. Peter’s by-the-Sea?
We started coming here, full time, in 2002, when we moved to Rhode Island permanently.
And we just celebrated 63 years of marriage this July!
Why did you choose St. Peter’s?
I’ve been a long time Episcopalian - not always a good one! Claudia grew up Congregationalist and then changed to the Episcopal faith. It was a good compromise for us.
What does ‘being a partner at St Peter’s’ mean to you?
To us, the church is partner with us in providing spiritual guidance and also a strong social outlet. We have made many friends through St. Peter’s, and we like that combination.
And of course, we partner with involvement in our various volunteer activities here – working in groups together.
What activities do you participate in here?
Claudia: I have been a long-time member of the altar guild and have coordinated many church coffee hours and special events.
Gerry: I have served on The Building and Grounds Committee for over 15 years and was co-chair of the complete inside renovation of the Church, including a new heating system & restoring multiple stained-glass windows during the 2013 time period. Also assisted in coordinating adult educational programs, and held the position of Clerk twice on Vestry, and have also been a Vestry member twice.
Why do you pledge?
We pledge to support the church and its activities. We’ve also gone beyond our yearly pledge to support various individual projects. For example, the recent refurbishment of one of the stained-glass windows, an upgrade to the acoustics in the guild hall, and mostly building and grounds improvements.
What do you hope for the future of the church?
We are concerned that church attendance – worldwide – seems to be falling off.
We like the middle ground and openness of the Episcopal church and hope others who want the same will find us.
We really like the new programs that focus on our senior church members – offering advice and ideas to age in place, and to learn about funeral and estate planning. Those programs fill a void in our community by connecting seniors with needed services and bringing the representatives of those services into our community to give a talk on their expertise.
At the same time, as we meet the needs of our seniors, we hope that St. Peter’s restarts a Sunday School for the younger generation, as they are our future.
Stewardship Profile: Mary and Tom Clarity
Mary and Tom Clarity are some of the newest members of St. Peter’s; they have three children: Isla, Mae, and Sam.
How long have you been members at St. Peter’s by-the-Sea?
We moved to Rhode Island in 2020 for my husband’s job- he is in the Navy - and joined
sometime in 2021.
Why did you choose St. Peter’s?
My husband and I were both raised Catholic and knew enough about ourselves that we were
happy to look at something different. St. Peter’s was welcoming and inclusive but also included
many of the same rituals that we were used to. It was a great choice for us.
What does ‘being a partner at St Peter’s’ mean to you?
For our family, finding a way to be genuinely helpful is very important to us and so service has become really important in our lives.
We like the commitment that St. Peter’s makes to its community through the Community
Market and enjoy participating most weeks. I enjoy an active faith and do best when there is action. We want the kids to be helpful in our community; they love helping at
the Market and they have also been mentored as acolytes. They like that they don’t have to sit still on a hard pew and instead can be active participants in the service. Especially for my son! God bless Fr. Craig and Drake for helping him get interested and active in being an acolyte.
What other activities do you and your family participate in here?
In addition to the volunteering at the Community Market and the kids being acolytes – Tom and
I sometimes serve as ushers and we sign up to host the coffee hour once a month.
I love making sugary things, but don’t want a lot of them in the house, so the coffee hours are a good place to distribute the goods!
Why do you pledge?
To be honest this is the first church we have ever pledged with – we have only been lurkers in
other churches before, not full community members.
We have decided to stay in Rhode Island so we want that level of commitment. We are not just
wandering in for a few years, we are here and want to be a full part of it. We know that
pledging is important. We get a lot out of the church and we want to support it both with our
time and also our monthly pledge.
We love paying our pledge online automatically, though we also still put a few dollars in the
plate so the kids physically see us giving regularly.
What is your hope for the future?
I am still working on names, there are lots of familiar faces but I haven’t got to the point where
I know people well. My goal is to know the people I am sitting near and know a little bit about them. And as someone fairly new, we think name tags would be really useful.
As to the future: Our girls have already decided that they want to get married here in this
church – just so you know!
Stewardship Profile: Joe Fargnoli
How long have you been a member at St. Peter’s by-the-Sea?
Three years now. I joined in 2021 – after we all got vaccinated.
Why did you choose St. Peter’s?
I have a long-standing relationship with the Episcopal Church. I was raised as a Roman Catholic but my first wife was Protestant, so we compromised with The Episcopal church since we were URI grads and had been married at St. Augustine’s.
My other long-term partner, Dorothy Jacobs, was raised as a Lutheran. We traveled in England a lot and I became very enamored with the English culture. And while I was a lifelong Christian and a strong believer in Christ, I had no intention to be connected to a church per se, but I had built up those inclinations to the English culture so I knew that if I had wanted to affiliate with a church – it would be one that was part of the Anglican community.
Our house was on Central Street and we could see both St. Thomas More and St. Peter’s. We went to concerts at St. Peter’s and also the tag sale.
In 2020 after Dorothy had passed, I went through the pandemic without her and realized it was time for me to enter the Episcopal Church. After I received my two COVID vaccinations, in the spring of 2021, I decided to go to St. Peter’s.
What does ‘being a partner at St Peter’s’ mean to you?
To me, it means giving back, participating, and engaging with others in a real community. You have an ideal community here, in that you are living and working with others.
And to me, being in partnership means putting one’s love, affection and energy into the church’s activities to build a stronger community.
What activities do you participate in here?
I volunteer as an usher and am part of the gardening committee. In fact, right at the beginning that was my entry into the life of the church here at St. Peter’s.
In early 2021, after everyone was vaccinated, everything had been dormant at the church.
When I first went to a Sunday service Susan Hines had put a notice at the bulletin board that there would be a tour of Wickford gardens. I signed up and there were 10 going – all of them part of the church’s gardening group. John Hines was senior warden at the time; we talked a lot about gardens and English culture that day. And so, I got involved with the church gardens. At the time I was living just a few blocks away so I just walked over on Wednesdays and helped out. And I have been part of that community ever since.
Why do you pledge?
Once school starts (Joe teaches writing courses at Bryant University) I don’t have as much time to volunteer as I do in the summer, and so because I can’t always offer my personal energy and time, I have my pocketbook work for me.
I’ve been giving a pledge each year I have been here and have increased it every year and plan to pledge and increase again this year.
What do you hope for the future of the church?
I have a strong faith and I believe that individuals like us, at St. Peter’s, we do what we can, put the right foot forward for the community of the church. That is what we want to do and we do it.
It’s God that’s doing the heavy lifting and because I believe in God, I believe everything will come out right: the church will thrive and survive because that’s what God’s will is.
I’ve been told that in surprising ways by individuals – in conversations about various troubles- and they tell me, I believe it’s all going to come out right - and because I know that the person, I know it is because they had faith in God. All the particular challenges and issues, it will come out right because of the will of Jesus Christ.
We, as individual Christians, put our love and trust in action. That’s what we do. The big picture is God’s.
