Meet our Clergy

2024 – present
Jill Morrison, Priest-in-Charge

The Rev. Jill Morrison is from New Orleans, LA and Katy, TX. Growing up in a family of church planters, Rev. Jill first experienced God in both the theatre and the Episcopal Church. With an aim to articulate God’s movement in stories on stage as well as in our lives, Rev. Jill earned a B.F.A. in Theatre with a Minor in Religion from Texas Christian University and an M.A. in Art and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. Rev. Jill later moved to Connecticut to complete an M.Div. at Yale Divinity School and a Dip. of Anglican Theology at Berkeley Divinity School. Upon graduation in 2020, Rev. Jill quickly joined the faculty at St. Thomas’s Day School as School Chaplain and continues to serve families and staff throughout the school year. Rev. Jill considers her ministry as an intergenerational call to articulate and celebrate our own stories within the context of God’s abundant love for all of creation. Rev. Jill lives in Hamden Connecticut with her husband, two daughters, and their pet birds.


Past Clergy (going back to 1737!)

2003 – 2010 and 2016 – 2024
Armando Gonzalez, Hispanic Missioner

The Rev. Armando Gonzalez is originally from El Salvador. He grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition. As an adolescent, he became a member of the Assembly of God. He finished two years at the University of El Salvador. He moved to Costa Rica to attended a four-year academic program in Theology at the Latin American Biblical Seminary, in Costa Rica. During that process he became a lay preacher at St. Philips and St. James, Episcopal Mission in San Jose Costa Rica, and continued his studies in Sociology, History, and Comparative Religions at the Universidad de Costa Rica, Universidad de Heredia, Costa Rica.

Fr. Armando was ordained as Deacon on May 2, 1976. In 1978 he married Mary Gonzalez, and is now a retired Episcopal priest. They have one child: Antonio. Armando worked for the Dept. of Public Health and also as a Assistant Priest for Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in San Jose Costa Rica.

He immigrated to the USA in 1982. He studied ESL in Austin, University of Texas and served as missioner at Mark’s Episcopal Church. In 1985 he moved to Newton, MA to attend the Andover-Newton Theological School where he obtained a M. Div. He has served as Hispano-Latino Missioner Priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA., St. James Episcopal Church, New London, St. Mark’s New Britain, and St. John’s Waterbury, CT.


2016 – 2022
Michael Carroll, Priest-in-Charge


2012 – 2016
Amy D. Welin, Interim Rector


2011 – 2012
Rev. Canon Robert Miner, Interim Rector


2010 – 2011
Norman MacLeod, Interim Rector


1989 – 2010
Dr. James G. Bradley, Rector

From St. John’s website archives, 2006:  Jim Bradley became the 19th Rector of St. John’s on June 15, 1989. Three weeks later a violent storm caused over $1 million in damage to St. John’s! Fr. Bradley’s term as Rector began with rebuilding and repairing. While Bradley has been Rector St. John’s has experienced a steady growth in membership and financial support. St. John’s Vision Statement, written by the Vestry in 1992, has been the touchstone and guide for St. John’s ministry in the years since. During these years, St. John’s has become even more open and inclusive to the community.

According to Fr. Bradley, “St. John’s has a remarkable opportunity to be a model of the Future Church. People long for a warm and engaging community of faith where they find and be found by God. St. John’s openness to the transforming power of the Spirit can lead to new paradigms for community and ministry as we move to the next millenium. If we are prayerful and committed, Christ will show us the way.”


1988 – 1989
Jeffrey Dugan, Interim Rector


1979 – 1987
James G. Wilson, Rector

From an online obituary in the Stratford Patch:  Jim’s life was a testament to his faith, and his journey was one of service and dedication to his community. A proud graduate of Massapequa High School, Jim served as Senior Class President in 1958. His thirst for knowledge led him to Rensselaer Polytech Institute for three years before he graduated from Adelphi University. Heeding the call of the divine, Jim furthered his education at Berkeley Divinity School before undertaking a one-year Fellowship at Drew University in Campus Ministry.

Jim’s calling as an Episcopal priest saw him serve in numerous roles with grace and humility. He was a Curate at St. George Episcopal Church in Hempstead, NY, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Bohemia, NY, and St. John Episcopal Church in Oakdale, NY. He led his flock with compassion and wisdom as the Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Waterbury, CT, and as the Summer Minister at St. Andrew Episcopal Church on Fire Island, NY. His dedication to his faith led him to the Episcopal Church Center in Manhattan, NY, where he served first as an Assistant and later as a Director in the Deployment Office. Even in his retirement, Jim continued to serve as the Resident Priest at Christ Church in Stratford, CT.


1978 – 1979
Peter Holroyd, Priest-in-Charge

From an online memorial:  Rev. Peter Holroyd was born in Stockport, England, son of the late Stanley and Elizabeth (Ratcliffe) Holroyd. He received honor degrees in botany in 1955 from the University of Manchester, England, and came to the United States in the late 1950s. He worked as a research microbiologist for the Shearing Co. in new Jersey before entering Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven, where he received his master of divinity degree, graduating magna cum laude. Ordained in 1964 at St. John’s Episcopal Church of Waterbury, where he has been curate, interim, and priest associate, and was organizer of the Earth Ministry. In 1990 he was invited to the Global Forum Conference on the Environments Moscow. He also was chair of the Environmental Task Force of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, and was a co-founder of the Episcopal Environmental Coalition. The Rev. Mr. Holroyd retired in 1992 as head of the Philosophy and Religion Department at The Taft School, where he served for 23 years. He also was the chaplain at Taft. Part of his instructions included studies regarding the Holocaust. He was deeply devoted to making his students aware of its atrocities.


1970 – 1978
Michael S. Kendall, Rector


1960 – 1970
DeWolf Perry, Rector


1958 – 1960
David O. Cowles, Priest-in-Charge


1951 – 1958
John R. Yungblut, Rector

From the online site of Touchstone, Inc: John was a lifelong student of the mystical approach to religious experience and of the ideas of C. G. Jung and Teilhard de Chardin. He aspired to be an advocate for the mystical heritage in Christianity, up-dated by Jung’s myth of the psyche and Teilhard’s myth of cosmogenesis, a universe still being born.

John served in the Episcopal ministry for 20 years before becoming a member of the Religious Society of Friends. He then served successively as Program Director of Quaker House, Atlanta; Director of International Student House, Washington, DC; Director of Studies at Pendle Hill, Wallingford, PA; and Director of the Guild for Spiritual Guidance, Rye, NY.
In 1978, John founded Touchstone, Inc., as a non-profit with the vision of quickening the aspiration and longings in individuals who pursue the inward journey to the Self, God within. Touchstone seeks to accompany those on a transformative journey of becoming more alive, attuned, and responsive to serving that which lies deepest within. Penelope Yungblut, a Zurich trained Jungian analyst, became the director of Touchstone, Inc. following John’s death in 1995.

John is remembered for the warmth and wisdom he offered, the retreats he led, and the many lives he touched as a spiritual guide, counselor, and beloved mentor. He leaves a lasting legacy in the five books and seven pamphlets he published. In his writings, John integrates the Judeo-Christian tradition with two revolutionary schools of thought, Jungian depth psychology and Teilhard’s concept of ongoing evolution. He was persuaded that the Christian tradition needs to assimilate new information and evolve or it will wither and die.

 


1951
Joseph Koci, Jr., Priest-in-Charge


1948 – 1951
Robert M. Hatch, Rector

For seven years, Hatch served as Suffragan Bishop of Connecticut. He was elected on January 30, 1951, at a special diocesan convention which took place in Hartford, Connecticut. He was consecrated by the Presiding Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill on April 17, 1951, in St John’s Church in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1957 he was elected Bishop of Western Massachusetts where he remained until 1970. After retirement he served as an Interim in Berlin, New Hampshire.


1941 – 1948
Francis O. Ayres, Rector


1940
Samuel A. Budde, Priest-in-Charge


1901 – 1940
Dr. John N. Lewis, Jr., Rector

Biography from the Waterbury Hall of Fame


1884 – 1901
Edmund Rowland, D.D., Rector

From St. John’s History Book: Under Dr. Rowland, It was decided to Introduce an entire male choir, the soprano and alto being carried by boys’voices and all the choir to be uniformly dressed In cassocks and cottas. The changes were reported to the Vestry on January 18, 1893.


1880 – 1883
Rob Roy M. (McNulty) Converse, D.D., Rector


1877 – 1880
Joel Foote Bingham, D.D., Rector

Valedictorian of his class at Yale in 1852 and studied at the Union Theological Seminary. He was head master of the Classical Schook, Bible House, New York from 1852-1858 and then entered the Congregational ministry.  He was pastor of churches at Cleveland, Buffalo, and Augusta, Maine. In 1871 he was ordained a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church and was a rector in New Haven, Portsmouth, NH and Waterbury. From 1879-1888 he was engaged in literary work.  For ten years Dr. Bingham was a lecturer on Italian literature at Trinity College.


1837 – 1877
Jacob L. Clark, D.D., Rector

From St. John’s History Book:  Jacob L Clark, D.D. became rector of St. John’s in 1837. Since Dr. Clark’s day the Sunday School became a prominent part of the Church’s work. Dr. Clark arranged for the Anniversary of the Church School to be held at the same time as the Archdeaconry meeting. The whole afternoon was given upto It. The children assembled In the church and marched, with the county clergy attheir head to a public hall where hymns were sung, speeches made, gifts and food were distributed to the children. The names of those who had not missed any Sunday School during the years were read.


1833 – 1836
Allen C. Morgan, Rector


1830 – 1832
William Barlow, Rector


1814 – 1830
Alpheus Greer, Rector

Alpheus Geer was born at Kent, August 7, 1788, graduated at Union college in 1813, was ordained deacon by Bishop Hobart in New York city, June 12, 1814, and priest by Bishop Griswold at Middletown, early in 1815.

In September, 1814, the Rev. Alpheus Geer was invited to become rector, at a salary of $600, “provided Gunntown will pay one-third for his services one-third of the time.” The vote as finally passed was to pay him $400 for two-thirds of his time, leaving Mr. Geer and Gunntown to settle for the remainder.

He remained in Waterbury nearly sixteen years, from the fall of 1814 to the spring of 1830. He went from here to Hebron, where he remained about fourteen years, and afterwards preached at a number of places in this state. He died at Norwich, February 3, 1866. While here he lived first on South Main street and later in the Judge Hopkins place, on West Main street. The period of Mr. Geer’s pastorate was one of quiet and moderate prosperity. There was not at that time much growth in the town, and as a semi-farmer clergyman, who was expected to live to some extent off the product of his glebe, he was a very fair representative of the country clergy of his time. On Sunday, October 20, 1816, he presented to Bishop Hobart of New York, then acting as bishop in this diocese, which was temporarily without a bishop, a class of 226 for confirmation, being the largest class ever confirmed by Bishop Hobart.


1807 – 1814
Virgil Horace Barber, Rector

From a Wikipedia  online biography::  Virgil Barber was born May 9, 1782, in Claremont, New Hampshire, where his father, Daniel Barber, was an Episcopal priest. Virgil was educated at the Cheshire Academy, then went to Springfield, Vermont, to study surveying. In 1801 he entered Dartmouth College. Virgil was ordained an Episcopal priest and in 1807 became pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Waterbury, Connecticut. He then married Jerusha Booth of Vergennes, Vermont.

In 1814, Barber became principal of the Episcopalian Academy at Fairfield, New York, He said that the first step leading to his conversion to Catholicism was the reading of “A Novena to St. Francis Xavier”, a book belonging to an Irish servant girl. This raised doubts concerning his Protestant faith, which his bishop, John H. Hobart, and other Episcopalian ministers could not solve for him.

During a visit to New York City, in 1816, he called on Benedict J. Fenwick, with the result that he resigned his Episcopalian charge at Fairfield, and went to New York, where he and his wife Jerusha were received into the Roman Catholic Church with their five children.


1797 – 1806
Tillotson Bronson, D.D., Rector

From the online McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia:  Tillotson Bronson, a Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born at Plymouth, Connecticut, in 1762. Under the Reverend John Trumlbull, the Congregational minister of Watertown, he began his preparation for college, teaching a school, meantime, at Waterbury. In 1786 he graduated at Yale College, and was ordained deacon September 21, 1787. The following October he was called to officiate in the churches of Stratford, Vermont, and Hanover, N.H. He returned to Connecticut in 1788, and on February 25 was ordained priest in New London. In October he resigned his charge, and in 1792 went to Boston, supplying the place of Reverend William Montague, rector of Christ Church, during the latter’s travels abroad. In 1793 he became rector of the churches at Hebron, Chatham, and Middle Haddam, in Connecticut.

Two years thereafter he was called to the rectorship of St. John’s Church, Waterbury, where he remained about ten years. Having been appointed to conduct the Churchinan’s Magazine, published at New Haven, he resigned his pastorate in 1805, and removed thither. The publishing office of the magazine was removed to New York after two or three years, and his connection therewith accordingly ceased. The Diocesan Convention of Connecticut elected him principal of the academy at Cheshire in the latter part of 1805. The Churchman’s Magazine having been revived he had again undertaken to edit it, while at the same time performing his duties at the academy; but his health was now seriously, impaired, and he declined a re-election as a member of the Standing Committee, a position which he had held for the twenty preceding years. He died at Cheshire, September 6, 1826. Very often he had been a delegate to the General Convention; and he was a trustee of the General Theological Seminary and of Washington College. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 5:358.


1796 – 1797
William Green, Interim Rector


1795
Alexander V. Griswold, D.D., Interim Rector


1791 – 1793
Seth Hart, Rector


1790 – 1791
David Foote, Rector


1790
Chauncey Prindle, Interim Rector


1789 – 1790
Solomon Blakeslee, Rector


1759 – 1788
James Scovil, Rector (First Resident Rector)

From an online biography:  James Scovil was born on February 9, 1733 in Watertown, Connecticut, the son of Lt. William Scovil (probably a Lieutenant in the local militia). The Scovils had originally come from the town of Escoville in Normandy. They settled in England in 1066, at the time of the Norman Conquest.

James Scovil’s early years were spent in rural employment, as his father had not intended to give him a profession. In his seventeenth year, while employed as a weaver, he met with an accident which changed his life. He was severely lamed, and his father placed him with an eminent surgeon who lived in a nearby town. There he became the pupil of Mr. Southmayd, minister of the Parish. This gentleman found him such an apt scholar that he recommended a liberal education, which was approved by James’ father.

When fully recovered, James returned home where he pursued his studies with such vigour that in three years time he entered Yale College, graduating with his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1757. He followed that by going to King’s College (Columbia), New York, to study for his Master’s Degree. Two years before graduation, his father died, leaving him 200 pounds to complete his education. Rather than continuing on at King’s College, James went to England where he became an ordained minister of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (the Society which supplied ordained Church of England ministers in America). Rev. James Scovil returned to Waterbury, Connecticut in 1759, and took up his duties as Parish Rector – receiving from the S.P.G. 30 pounds annually.


1749 – 1759
Richard Mansfield, D.D., Missionary


1744 – 1746
James Lyons, Missionary


1739 – 1743
Theophilus Morris, Missionary


1737 – 1739
Jonathan Arnold, Missionary