We welcome  our  new priest-in-charge, the Rev. Peter Pearson.

Peter works part-time for our landmark Episcopal parish, complementing his work at St. Philip’s with other aspects of their vocations. These include teaching iconography and leading pilgrimages.

Pearson should know. He was rector of St. Philip’s from 2005 to 2012 during another period of intense change. With an initial charge from the diocese in 2005 to help the tiny church “die a graceful death,” he presided over a period of robust growth instead.

In religious life since 1975, he has been a Catholic priest, a Benedictine monk, an Episcopal priest, a leader in the Episcopal Franciscan community, and has led large and small, wealthy and poor parishes, as well as the 17-parish deanery of Bucks. All of these experiences, he says, will help him serve at a time of challenge — not just for St. Philip’s and the institutional church but the country as a whole.

“People who are scared can’t hear. Our job, collectively, is to provide a vision to take the place of the fear that predominates now,” he added. “Our feeling is, ‘Let’s see where this takes us,’” Pearson said of their collaboration. “There’s freedom and fun in that. And, let’s never forget, fun is holy.”