Upcoming Special Events

A New Way to Keep Christ Church Alive 

Christ Church is a vibrant congregation living our faith together in the present while planning and working hard to stay vibrant into the future. But we also cherish our heritage, as seen in the historic events we hold for parishioners and our neighbors in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, and the entire state. We’re also careful to preserve the written history of the parish as seen, for example, by safeguarding our vestry minutes from the 18th century to the present day. We guard our historic objects, such as our 1717 Vinegar Bible, our 1738 charter from King George II, and the orb that once stood atop our steeple that was used as target practice by Revolutionary War soldiers.

Now we’ll be preserving our past in a different way by capturing the memories and insights of some of our parishioners in their own voices. In November, Monmouth University students—guided by Professor Melissa Ziobro—will begin conducting seven audio interviews with eight parishioners as part of a new oral history project. Oral history is a process in which researchers gather and preserve electronically the voices and memories of individuals who participated or observed first-hand events in the past.

For the first group of interview subjects, we wanted to gather the memories of long-time parishioners such as Bob Zeller, with his mellifluous voice, and Ann and Jim Miller, who were instrumental in so many church events such as the 300th anniversary of the parish.  We decided to include second-generation parishioners like Peggy James who not only has contributed so much to our parish herself but whose parents played key roles in the parish before her.  We wanted to include younger people like Robert Maber who grew up in the parish and would provide a different perspective on the church’s present and future.  Bob Kelly was an obvious choice due to his vestry leadership over the years and his status as Parish Historian.  We asked long-time choir member— and a member of the search committee for Mother Lisa–Barbara Carroll to share her memories.  Finally, we knew we had to include Mother Lisa herself to preserve her insights into Christ Church over her 22 years (and counting!) as our beloved rector.

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YOUTH GROUP PRIME!!

Calling all Middle and High School Students!  And their parents!!!

A new program this September, focusing on Friendship, Fun, and Faith Formation.  Our youth will learn about the Scriptures, about the beliefs of the Christian Faith, and will begin preparation for Confirmation.

Our Kick-Off meeting will be Sunday, September 24th from 5pm to 7pm. We will lay out the program, share a meal together, and start getting to know one another. Beginning in October we will meet twice a month, the second and fourth Sundays. For this initial meeting, we invite our parents/guardians to join their teens in attending and having supper with us. Please RSVP by email (christchurchshrewsbury@verizon.net)or call the Church Office (732-741-2220) so we can plan accordingly.

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Ongoing Special Events

Back to Church

Join us for live, safe services!

Saturday outdoor service at 5 pm, Sunday in the sanctuary at 9 am. Be sure to wear a facemask, and bring your own chair to the outdoor service.

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Moravian Pie Making

The bakers crew for the Moravian Chicken Pies is pictured.  Everyone had a task on the assembly line to create the first 25 pies to sell.  Sales begin now and continue through the Historic Holiday Bazaar, December 6 – 8.

Each pie serves four generously and comes to you at a low cost of $14.00.   Pies come frozen and ready to go straight into your freezer or into your oven. Never had a Moravian Chicken Pie? They are similar to a chicken pot pie – however they do not contain any of those pesky vegetables your mother so wanted you to eat.  Simply dark and light meat chicken with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, butter, and just enough flour to turn its own juices into a light gravy.

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UNUSUAL GRAVESTONE FRAGMENT UNEARTHED

While restoring gravestones, the Jablonski Building Conservation crew dug up a segment of a gravestone while unearthing parts of a broken stone. This discovery is the top portion of an ornately carved Victorian era gravestone. But this marker already had a top segment that had broken off. This newly discovered fragment clearly fit nicely to the bottom of the gravestone. The current explanation is that this piece had originally been intended as the top of the marker but due to some error on it, the marker was turned over and this piece ended up on the bottom and thus buried. Ryan Radice described this for the visitors at the Guided Graveyard Tour on October 5^th.

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GRAVESTONE RESTORATION GRANT ACTIVITY

Jen and Danielle, conservators from Jablonski Building Conservation are working on the next set of 16 gravestones to be restored. Here they are seen working on the base attachment for the gravemarker of Shepard Kollock.

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SELF-GUIDED TOUR BOOKLET FOR THE GRAVEYARD

For some years we have had a self-guided tour brochure for visitors wishing to view the inside of our historic church. Now we are pleased to have a similar guide for the graveyard. This beautifully designed and informative brochure guides the visitor to many of the interesting graves and gravemarkers in our remarkable cemetery. The brochure contains information about some of the notable personages interred in the graveyard and images of some of the artistry exhibited on a number of interesting gravemarkers. These are all located on a map of the graveyard.

This brochure was created by five students in a graduate class in Public Archaeology taught by Dr. Richard Veit at Monmouth University. The students used information from our graveyard records including the Genealogy of the Graveyard, the scripts for the Costumed Graveyard portrayals, and the survey map of the graveyard. They then selected the specific personages and gravemarker artistry and synthesized these into this beautiful booklet.

Some of these brochures are in the narthex. In addition, at the July 1 Independence Day service, this brochure was distributed and described by Bob Kelly in a “virtual” tour in the nave.

For those who wish to take this self-guided tour the graveyard is always open. The brochure is available in the parish office, usually open from 9 am to 2 pm on Tu-Fr. There is also a brochure holder attached to the arbor at the juncture of the parking lot and the brick walkway.

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Queeni Caay Scholarship

Walter Dein is a Christ Church parishioner who has been involved with an outreach program in the Philippines providing financial support for children in need. Queeni Caay, a high school student, is one such student and one with special financial needs. Here is her story.

Queeni grew up in a palm reed weaved shanty with her grandmother and younger brother on the tiny island of Dinagat, Philippines.  Her father left even before she was born, and her mother works as a live-in house maid in the distant City of Davao where she could not include her children.

When Queeni was 13 and her brother, Howard, was 8 their elderly grandmother died. This left young Queeni in charge of Howard and herself. During this time, it was Queeni attending Howard’s parent teacher conferences and concentrating on her own studies.  Undernourished and nearly overwhelmed by her circumstances, Queeni contracted a very serious case of Typhoid fever. The doctor said if she had waited any longer to seek medical help she would have died. Sadly, the disease has left her heart valves scarred and as she grows, this gradually puts an increased strain on her damaged heart.

She is active in Girl Scouts and with her own undertaking, she has organized and leads a growing weekly Bible study for her school. At one point the school authorities had considered stopping the Bible study until the students petitioned to allow it to continue and the teaching staff recognized the good and positive influence it was making on the students.

With no fatherly support what so ever, and an impoverished mother who is barely earning enough to support herself, Queeni saw no possibility of attend college even with her impressive achievements. She tried applying for scholarships, but the possibility of attending college was just an elusive dream.

Queeni graduates this spring. She is an active member of the school yearbook committee. College begins in June.

Through Christ Church, a scholarship fund has been established to help cover her college costs, beginning with an annual tuition of $800.

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NEW VIDEOS OF CHRIST CHURCH

Four videos describing various perspectives of Christ Church have been created. These videos provide information about the Church and feature aerial video of the Church building and surrounding graveyard.

The videos were taken by Jeff Smith, videographer from Atlantic Highlands and composed By Amanda Kontor. Amanda was a student intern from Monmouth University and a Communications major. She has now graduated and is attending graduate school at the University of Vienna.

Introduction to Christ Church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt7AdNj1hk8

Christ Church History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ggFsBpID8g

The Christ Church Graveyard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im51q2bw6sk

Our Spiritual Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM5dlJU6dS4

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Girl’s Friendly Society

 2017 – 2018

 Kind Heart, Fierce Mind and Brave Spirit

GFS is open to all girls ages 5 through 21

The Purpose of the Girl’s Friendly Society is to help girls understand what it means to be a Christian within their own particular life situations; to discover their own relationships with God, family, community and the world to help girls utilize their given talents, to attain physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth through program centering around worship, fellowship, service, study and creative activities. In other words, we hope to be an asset to our girls as they grow into womanhood.

Click for schedule of events

 

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CHRIST CHURCH RECEIVES HISTORIC PRESERVATION GRANT

Christ Church has been awarded a grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust for preservation of its historic graveyard. The grant award is for $117,413 and includes a 1:1 match by the Parish. Here is a description of the scope and participants in the work that has been funded.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

CHRIST CHURCH SHREWSBURY GRAVESTONE RESTORATION

The graveyard at Christ Episcopal Church in Shrewsbury is an historic one. The land has been used as a graveyard since the acquisition of the property in 1706. The oldest gravestone dates from 1719 and the markers are of every composition and design. The graveyard has been continually active since its inception and forms an historical record of the evolution of the area. The graveyard has about 1500 souls interred and 880 gravemarkers.

The proposed project involves the restoration and preservation of a significant number of deteriorating or fallen gravemarkers. This project can be viewed as a continuation of work begun in 2015-2016 under a Department of the Interior grant related to storm repair and resiliency. The previous project resulted in a comprehensive condition assessment and photography of every gravemarker. This information was added to our existing searchable database containing all those individuals in the graveyard with substantial genealogical information. This earlier project also resulted in the restoration of 14 gravemarkers in critical condition, mostly 18^th century brownstones.

Since we have a complete condition assessment completed, the proposed project can begin with some detailed specifications for the next series of stones and, of course, the associated restoration work itself. The talented firms involved in the earlier project will bring their expertise and knowledge of this graveyard to the project. These are Lorraine Schnabel LLC who performed the condition assessment and Jablonski Building Conservators who executed the restoration work. There will also be one or more workshops for the public for lichen removal led by Ms. Schnabel. Further a self-guided tour of the graveyard will be developed by Dr. Richard Veit, Chair of the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and a leading expert in New Jersey graveyards.

A total of about 75 gravestones will be treated in this new project.

In addition, an element of the project will include expanding our communication of the graveyard and its history with the broader community. This will involve development of a self-guided tour that will address gravestone, genealogical, and historical aspects of the graveyard coordinated by cemetery expert Dr. Richard Veit of Monmouth University who will also consult on the overall project.

The public benefits from the project through the preservation of the gravemarkers that tell us our history and the expanded, informed access to that history through the self-guided tour.

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Past Special Events

Feeding the Soul and Body for Lent 2020

Christ Church marked the beginning of Lent with a pancake breakfast on March 1. Our church school students served up tasty pancakes in three varieties with all the trimmings, plus breakfast sausages and other goodies. The kids did a wonderful job helping to cook, serve, and clean up during coffee hour following the 10:00 am service

What a great way to share something special as we start the Lenten season!

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Christ Church Annual Meeting 2020

The Annual Meeting was held on January 26 in the parish house complete with a wonderful Pot Luck meal. Mother Lisa thanked the vestry members completing their terms: Stephen Craven, Jamie Green, Sue Napoletano, Walter Burrell, Jim O’Connor, and Beverlee Akerblom. Newly elected members are Elaine Feyereisen, Peggy James, Walter Dein, Joanne Montgomery, Mark Roth and Larry Nibbling. Kim Roberts and Allie Cummings were elected to serve as Alternate Deputies to the Diocesan Convention. A full slate of 2019 Vestry members can be seen in the About Us tab of the web site.

 

 

 

 

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Epiphany Pageant at Christ Church

Christ Church celebrated the 12^th Day of Christmas with a play that was written and directed by Donna Devlin

 

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Children’s Service

Christ Church offers two services for Christmas Eve: a Children’s Service and a later service attending mostly by adults. This year during our Children’s Service there was a special visit from St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas shared with the children how his story came to be and gave the children a reminder of his story: a gold coin (chocolate). During the service children read the lessons and rang bells to welcome the Christ child.

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Greening of Christ Church

Each year several volunteers gather after the service closest to Christmas to “green” our church for the coming of our Savior.

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CHRISTMAS EVE 2019

Christ Church held its annual Christmas Eve midnight service preceded by Lessons and Carols. Music was provided by St Gregory’s choir.

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All Saints Service

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Annual Four Corner Historic Lantern Tour

On Friday, December 6th, 2019 the organizations of Christ Church, The Allen House, The Quaker Meeting House and the Presbyterian Church conducted their 27th Annual Historic Lantern Tour of each of the locations.  There were two tour times – 6 pm and 8 pm.  The tour took approximately two hours.  The tour is conducted by costumed actors who retell the historic story of each location.

Holiday Bazaar

The Holiday Bazaar was on Friday, December 6th as part of the Lantern Tour and then a full day on Saturday, December 7th. There was baskets auctioned, sales of jewelry, handmade textiles, baked goods, specialty objects and sundries along with refreshments.

 

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Halloween Party and Scavenger Hunt

The last of our 300th anniversary events in October included a Scavenger Hunt in the graveyard followed by a Halloween Party in the Parish Hall.  While our interred friends might not have anticipated hosting such visitors, many of them have stories of their own to tell, as the hunters wandering from one grave to another they learned, following clues devised by organizers Andrew Brown and Lauren Birkmire.

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GRAVESTONE CLEANING/RUBBING WORKSHOP

The second of three events celebrating October is Graveyard Month was held in the graveyard on Saturday Oct 12. The effort was led by Friend of Christ Church Jennifer Shamrock and parishioner Jenn Lovekin. There were about 12 participants most of whom are members of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Some husbands came as well. Many granite gravemarkers were spruced up.

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CROES FAMILY DESCENDANTS VISIT

The Reverend John Croes was our Rector from 1809 to 1824. He with his wife and two daughters are buried in a family grave plot in our graveyard. In conjunction with our gravestone restoration grant, we have restored these four gravemarkers, the perimeter stone post and steel rod border and have removed vines from then the plot and planted vinca. Descendants of Reverend Croes still live in New Jersey and many of them came to the graveyard tour. Ryan Radice and Bob Kelly told them of the plot and what we know about the family.

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OCTOBER 5^TH GRAVEYARD GUIDED TOUR

On October 5^th Christ Church held another graveyard 300^th anniversary event. The day was crisp and sunny. Ryan Radice led about 25 visitors through the graveyard telling about Notable Figures, Gravestone Artistry, and Special Features. Judi Buncher came as Louise Jost and Stuart Buncher as a WWI private. Judi also took some beautiful photographs. This was our third and last Guided Graveyard Tour of 2019.

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300^th GRAVEYARD ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

On September 7^th the parish and about 60 friends of Christ Church celebrated the graveyard’s 300^th anniversary. There were numerous elements of this special event. First there were multiple sequential tours in the graveyard on a gorgeous late summer day. These included a discussion of Notable Figures led by Ryan Radice, Graveyard Artistry described by Dr. Richard Veit of Monmouth University, the role of gravestone condition assessment and restoration specifications elucidated by Lorraine Schnabel, our graveyard conservator, descriptions of specific gravemarker restorations by Stephanie Hoagland of Jablonski Building Conservation, special gravestone restorations by Peter Woolley of Peaceable Kingdom, and a description of the Heritage Rose Meditation Garden by Terese Blake.

During these tours Mother Lisa dedicated a special gravemarker for Judge John Faucheraud Grimke’. This was unveiled by Ms. Benay Lipstein who as a friend of Christ Church took a special interest in the Grimke’s and contributed to the marker.

After the outside activities the visitors repaired to the parish house for a reception hosted by Dianne and Dave Regiec. After the meal Dr. Veit gave his classic presentation about New Jersey graveyards.

Also in the parish house the church recognized the contributions of several individuals to our historic graveyard, The parish gave a set of HRMG notecards to each of the members of Edith’s Angels who have been faithfully tending that award winning garden: Terese Blake, Sue Berdahl, Robin Blair, Ellen Preissler, and Nancy Stewart. For his long term partnership with Christ Church, the parish gave Dr, Veit a lithograph of the church and graveyard drawn by Sanford Ross.

At the event we also announced the release of the Video version of the graveyard Self-Guided Tour that is available through our web site.

 

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CHURCH BUILDING HISTORY PRESENTATION

As a key event in the celebration of the 25^th Anniversary of our church building, Joseph W. Hammond presented a comprehensive lecture on the architectural history of this iconic building. Mr. Hammond was instrumental in the 1995 listing of the church on the National Register of Historic Places. He was also the Clerk of the Works for the 1996-97 re-stabilization of the building due to the failure of multiple truss beams. The presentation was attended by about 40 history buff who also came to a reception afterwards where there was a display of images of the church throughout its history. The lecture was also attended by Diana Stevenson who is the 4^th great-granddaughter of the Reverend Samuel Cooke who was the priest who was the driving force in the erection of this church building.

Joe Hammond’s presentation can be viewed here:

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CHRIST CHURCH CELEBRATES A BAPTISM

On September 15^th Jackson Lawrence Downs was welcomed into our Christian family. Jackson’s parents are Kristen and Stephen Downs. Kristen, who is the daughter of parishioner Elaine Feyereisen, grew up in this parish community.

CHRIST CHURCH CELEBRATES A BAPTISM ANNIVERSARY

Also on September 15^th , Emma Downs was blessed on the second anniversary of her Baptism. Emma is the first child of Kristen and Stephen Downs.

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Christ Church Donates Backpacks to local school

Pictured above is Elaine Feyereisen with Sean Brophy, the Vice Principal of the Joseph C. Caruso School in Keansburg.

As it does annually Christ Church has donated numerous backpacks full of school supplies to children in need. This year there were a record 48 such backpacks. These all went to the grade school in Keansburg. Once again Elaine Feyereisen coordinated this parish Outreach program and delivered the backpacks to the school.

 

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THE CHURCH CEILING RESTORATION IS COMPLETE!

On August 30^th the painters working on the church ceiling completed their work. They had been working since July 8^th and we have held services in the parish house during that time. Our first service in the church with the restored ceiling will be September 8^th. The workmanship was superb. Luis, the foreman, had a strong commitment to quality and thoroughness. This huge undertaking included removing many layers of lead infused paint, correcting damage and rust to the metal ceiling, and repainting with three coats of new paint. During the painting every inch of the nave was protected by plastic covering. This paint job should last for many decades since we treated the underlying paint peeling condition. Further the new paint reveals the details of the decorations on the metal ceiling as can be seen in these accompanying pictures.

Thanks to Guy Hembling, Luis and his son Kevin, Alan Binger for protection of the organ during the ceiling work, and Stephanie Hoagland for her invaluable consultation.

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AUGUST 18 COSTUMED GRAVEYARD TOUR

The parish held the fourth event of the year celebrating the 300^th anniversary of our historic graveyard. This was our famous Costumed Graveyard Tour and involved six thespians from our Dead Actors Guild portraying Notable Figures interred in the graveyard while standing next to their gravemarkers.

There were about 45 attendees on a humid summer morning.

Here is the cast

William Leeds portrayed by Jamie Green

E C Hazard portrayed by Gordon Brown

Judge John F. Grimke’ portrayed by Bob Kelly

Graham Kearney Cooke portrayed by Patrice Thornton

Mary Finch portrayed by Magdalena Aders

Louise Jost portrayed by Judi Buncher

The Guide performed by Stuart Buncher as Sargent Stuart of the WWI American Expeditionary Force.

 

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AUGUST 3^RD GRAVEYARD GUIDED TOUR

Another event in our series to celebrate the 300^th Anniversary of the Christ Church graveyard was held on Saturday August 3^rd. This event was a Guided Tour of the graveyard conducted by our expert tour guide, Ryan Radice. The tour included information about Notable Figures in the graveyard, information about the wide variety of gravestone materials found in this cemetery, elucidations of the meaning of the gravestone carvings, and some of the special features of the graveyard. Twenty-Nine visitors took the tour on a warm but beautiful Saturday morning.

 

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250^th CHURCH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

BISHOP STOKES VISITS

On June 30^th Bishop William (Chip) Stokes visited Christ Church to celebrate our dual anniversaries of the graveyard (300) and the church building (250). The Bishop was the celebrant at our morning service and also confirmed and received several members into their life in Christ. The service was enhanced by the performance of several anthems by Madregalia, our a cappella artists in residence. The Bishop also had a wonderful segment of his sermon interacting with the children. Before the service the Bishop toured the graveyard and afterwards joined the parish for a reception. He was given a book by the parish children as well as a mid-19^th century biography of Bishop John Croes, the first Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey, whose son served as Rector here from 1809-1824. A wonderful gallery of images of Christ Church was provided by Jamie Green.

 

Samples of 250-Year-old Christ Church in Art and Photography

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PENTECOST 2019

Christ Church celebrated Pentecost and Youth Sunday. Kate Apostolacus and Brandon Shin delivered sermons on the meaning of Christ Church in their lives as they graduate high school and move on to college. They both received scholarships to be used toward their college expenses. All of the children in the Sunday School were recognized and read the Prayers of the People.

 

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MEMORIAL SERVICE 2019

The parish held its annual Churchyard Memorial Service, including the Reading of the Names. The names of all veterans interred in the graveyard were read on Sunday, May 26^th after the 10 a.m. service.  These veterans span the eras from the French and Indian War to Vietnam. Due to inclement weather, for the first time in memory the event was held inside the church instead of in the graveyard.

The veterans’ names were read by Judi and Stuart Buncher in costumes made by Judi.

Marine Corporal Andrew Tomlin – Portrayed by Stuart Buncher  – One of two NJ Marines to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He was awarded for heroism in the Second Battle of Ft Fisher, January 15th, 1865.

Woman of the Civil War Era attired in formal period dress – portrayed by Judith Buncher

 

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MAY 18 COSTUMED GRAVEYARD TOUR

The parish held the second event of the year celebrating the 300^th anniversary of our historic graveyard. This was our famous Costumed Graveyard Tour and involved eight thespians from our Dead Actors Guild portraying Notable Figures interred in the graveyard while standing next to their gravemarkers.

There were about 40 attendees on a gorgeous spring morning.

Here is the cast

 

William Leeds portrayed by Jamie Green

E C Hazard portrayed by Gordon Brown

Benjamin Lippincott portrayed by Bob Honecker

Graham Kearney Cooke portrayed by Patrice Thornton

William McDonald portrayed by Ryan Radice

Mary Finch portrayed by Cassandra Reagan

Louis deCoppet portrayed by Robert Maber

Louise Jost portrayed by Judi Buncher

The Guide performed by Stuart Buncher

A second costumed graveyard tour will take place on Saturday August 17^th at 10 am.

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COVENANT HOUSE SLEEPOUT

Do you want to help the homeless in our area?  Then come join Mother Lisa, Jim O’Connor and dozens of others for the Second Annual Covenant House Sleep Out on Friday, May 17^th at Trinity Church in Asbury Park! (8pm-7am) We have formed a “Christ Church & Friends” Sleeper Team! No training required! You simply join us for the evening, meeting the young people being served at the Covenant House Asbury Park facility, as well as the caring staff members. Learn about the great work being done and for one night “experience” what it is like to sleep outside with only a sleeping bag and piece of cardboard for a mattress! Comfortable? No! Incredibly rewarding? Yes!

Each Sleeper is asked to raise $1,000. You will have a fundraising page on the website and you ask your friends and family to go on and make whatever donation they can…$5, $10, $50…whatever they can afford. We are hoping to get ten (10) Sleepers on our Christ Church Team so we can raise at least $10,000 for Covenant House!   Here is the link to the page to sign up (just copy and paste it into a new tab:  https://www.sleepout.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.team&teamID=7768

Please let us know if you and maybe other family members or friends will be able to join us!  If you can’t join us we are also grateful for any donations you may be able to make to our team!

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Weekend in Old Monmouth at Christ Church

 On May 4 and 5, more than 100 people (and one dog) visited Christ Church and its graveyard as part of the Monmouth County Historical Commission’s annual celebration of Weekend in Old Monmouth.

 Highlights shown in the below photos included a guided tour of our 300-year-old graveyard conducted by Ryan Radice (the dog was on the tour).

 Visitors also perused our curated collection of historical artifacts and depictions in art and photography of the exterior and interior of our 250-year-old church building.

 Fifteen parishioners served as docents, including several in period garb.

 Next up on our double anniversary celebration: the appearance of our Dead Actors Guild society on May 18 starting at 10:00 AM, in which notable personages buried in our graveyard will tell their stories, dressed for the occasion.

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