Meet the Rev. Carol Chamberlain

November 7, 2016 Uncategorized

Dear friends,

I have been asked to introduce myself and tell you what an Associate Priest is. I am a retired priest. I moved to Newport News in 2015 to live near one of my sons, and chose to worship at St. Andrew’s, so I have been here in the parish for the past 15 months. I moved here from suburban Philadelphia.

I served several small churches, ending with 19 years as Rector of St. Aidan’s in Cheltenham, PA. When I left there, I was Chaplain at the Philadelphia Protestant Home, which is a continuing care retirement community. When I was there, my husband and I had to find a church where we could worship, and settled at St. Anne’s in Abington, PA. I entered into an Associate relationship there, where I assisted into my retirement – I was there 14 years. It gave me great joy there to start what became a very vibrant Prayer Shawl Ministry.

I am a widow with two sons – Matt and his family live in Yorktown with three wonderful small children. John and his family (one son) live in Connecticut. I love being Nana Carolee with these small people. I like gardening, reading, sewing, crocheting, knitting, and being outdoors and savoring the wonder and variety of God’s creation. Each of the four grandchildren has a “special blanket” – a quilt I designed and made just for them.

An Associate Priest is someone who is either retired, in a chaplaincy, or a secular job, who has time to be involved in the ministry of the parish. I have kept a low profile the past year as I settled here and began making connections in a completely new community. David Perkins asked me to assist in the time before the new Rector comes, and I am happy to do that. You have seen me assisting with services, and I am helping with some staff issues. When our new Rector is on board, we will look again at what role makes sense for me, but I do want to make St. Andrew’s my church home.

Carol Chamberlain