On East Main Street in the heart of Oyster Bay, New York, a stone-clad Episcopal sanctuary has stood since 1925, the latest chapter in a congregation that traces its roots to 1705. Christ Church Oyster Bay worships from the Book of Common Prayer as a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island and a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Generations of worshippers have passed through its doors, including President Theodore Roosevelt, whose funeral was held here on January 8, 1919. Today the parish is recognized for the beauty of its restored Oliver Smith stained-glass windows, the strength of its choral music program, and an outreach ministry that has built a Habitat for Humanity home and helped launch a community closet on South Street.
A Parish Older Than the Republic
The story of Christ Church began around 1705 as a colonial outpost of the Church of England, nearly a century before what is now the Episcopal Church was constituted in the United States. The congregation has functioned in five successive buildings over its long history. The first was a Town House that doubled as a house of worship. A purpose-built church followed in 1750; after it collapsed and was demolished, a remnant of the congregation worshiped in Oyster Bay Academy from 1802, a building that later became the Rectory. A new church was constructed in 1844, only to be demolished and replaced in 1878. In time, that 1878 church was extensively remodeled, enlarged, and encased in stone in 1925 to create the structure that stands today.
Among its earliest clergy was the Rev. Samuel Seabury, who served from 1742 to 1764. His son, also called Samuel Seabury, went on to become the first Bishop of the Episcopal Church in 1784 when he was consecrated Bishop of Connecticut by three bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church in Aberdeen. The most famous parishioner was President Theodore Roosevelt, whose funeral took place in the church on January 8, 1919. Members of the Roosevelt family are memorialized in carved wall plaques in the church, and the President's pew, lovingly retained, is marked with an American flag. In 2018, Christ Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, joining a small group of American churches with a documented history of three hundred years.
Light from Oliver Smith
Among the greatest treasures in the building are the stained-glass windows that ring the sanctuary. Created nearly a century ago by the artist Oliver Smith (1896 to 1980), a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, the windows tell the Bible story in sequence, moving from the Old Testament to the New as the viewer walks from the back of the church to the front.
Smith was inspired chiefly by Chartres Cathedral. He researched and duplicated the methods used by thirteenth-century European glass makers, then set up his workshop on the church grounds, on what is now the parking lot. There he designed, colored, and fired the glass before assembling it with strips of lead, even making his own glass from formulas followed by those medieval artisans. The three largest windows, in the Chancel and Transepts, were made in Oyster Bay. Those in the aisles and porch were completed later in Smith's Pennsylvania studio by the same process.
In the spring of 2019, work began on the restoration of the historic windows, funded by gifts from many donors. By late July 2019, all the stained-glass windows had been removed from the church and transported to Botti Studio in LaPorte, Indiana, for painstaking restorative work. The COVID pandemic delayed their return, but by the fall of 2020, more than a year after the process began, the windows were fully restored and reinstalled. Time-lapse video of the windows being prepared and removed is preserved as a record of the project.
Two Services, One Quiet and One Sung
Christ Church celebrates the Holy Eucharist at two services every weekend. On Saturday evening at 5:00 pm, the parish offers a quiet, reflective service that includes a sermon and lasts around forty-five minutes. On Sunday morning at 10:00 am, the main weekly service takes place, enriched by music from the choirs. The Sunday morning service is also livestreamed for homebound members and others unable to attend in person.
The liturgical year shapes additional worship throughout the seasons. The parish gathers for the services of the Easter Triduum on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. On Maundy Thursday, just before the stripping of the altar, the Sacrament is reserved at the Altar of Repose so that worshippers may receive it in the form of bread on Good Friday, a meaningful practice provided for in the Book of Common Prayer. The Easter Vigil on Saturday night brings the Blessing of the New Fire and the First Eucharist of Easter, with the choir rejoicing in Christ's Resurrection. A recent tradition at Christ Church is the singing of a choral Requiem Mass on or near November 2, All Souls' Day, when the Gabriel Fauré Requiem is fully incorporated into the Eucharist and offered as an act of worship for those who have died.
A service of music and readings is offered during Lent to commemorate Christ's suffering on the cross. Choral Evensong, perhaps the most distinctively Anglican of all church services, is celebrated at intervals. The Festival of Lessons and Carols, which traces its origins to Truro Cathedral in 1880 and was later adapted at King's College Cambridge in 1918, is offered each Christmas. The Way of the Cross marks the Passion.
Music That Has Carried Across Generations
Music has always played an important role in the spiritual life of Christ Church. As early as 1844, parish records indicate that professional vocalists and instrumentalists were hired from New York City for special events. Today the parish features a celebrated Adult Choir, a lively Treble Choir, and a custom-built pipe organ.
The Adult Choir is made up of mostly volunteer singers, with paid professionals as section leaders, enhancing worship from September through early June. They rehearse on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm and sing at the Sunday 10:00 am services, at several Evensongs throughout the year, and at the annual Gala Concert in June. The Treble Choir is for children age eight and older, either girls or boys, who still have treble voices. They rehearse on Wednesdays from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, are featured periodically at the Sunday morning services, and participate in Evensongs and the Gala Concert. Treble Choir members receive free musical instruction and vocal coaching in both choral and solo singing.
The choirs and the Festival Orchestra of Christ Church present a range of offerings, from hymns and anthems sung during Sunday services to special Evensongs highlighting important liturgical occasions and a celebratory concert held each spring. Past performances have included works by Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Fauré, Rutter, Schubert, and Bernstein. The Director of Music, Michael C. Haigler, leads the program.
Where the Youngest Belong
Children are not only the future of the church. They are the church, here and now, in the words of the parish. Youth Formation is offered from Noah's Nursery for children ages three and younger through Sunday School for ages four to eleven and a Youth Group for middle and high school students. Kathryn Cantanno, Director of Youth Formation, leads the program, assisted by volunteer Sunday School teachers and by the Rector.
On Sunday mornings, Noah's Nursery is available from 9:30 to 11:30 am in the Parish Hall for children ages four and under. Sunday School begins at 10:00 am in the Parish Hall for children ages five and older, and the children return to church in time to receive Communion with their families. The Church School is a modern facility equipped with a nursery, classroom, and library. A key part of the curriculum is Godly Play, a child-centered program modeled on Maria Montessori's philosophy, in which teachers manage the space and time but allow children to discover their own knowledge and meaning in each week's lesson. Teachers engage children with creative lesson plans that include reading, writing, listening, speaking, singing, and crafts, beginning with Old Testament and New Testament stories.
A wide range of activities marks the year for young people, including service as acolytes, singing in the Treble Choir, evenings of fun and celebration, special worship events, and opportunities for service in the community. A highlight of the year is the parish's Christmas Pageant, which puts the spotlight on the Church School and Treble Choir, along with visiting goats and a pony. Several local Boy and Girl Scouts have completed Eagle Scout and Silver Award projects in the Community Garden and undertaken redecorating and repairs for the Church School, including the creation of a cozy corner and activity room for the Nursery and the renovation of the Godly Play room. Confirmation classes for older youth are led by the Rector in alternate years, preparing them to be confirmed by the Bishop.
From the Parish Hall to the Wider World
At the core of the parish's mission is outreach: sharing Christ's love and making a difference in the world. The Outreach takes several forms. St. Hilda's Guild, a women's outreach group, holds annual fundraisers, including a pre-Thanksgiving Bake Sale, a Winter Soup Sale, a Cookie Sale, and Trivia Nights, to support smaller, less-recognized local charities. Past recipients have included Hood African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Oyster Bay, Harmony Heights in East Norwich, PeerPals.org, MOMMAS House, Bethany House, and Helping Hand Rescue Mission in Huntington Station.
The Huntington Interfaith Homeless Initiative, known as HIHI, was founded by the Family Service League and many local congregations to address the needs of homeless men in the community. Over twenty churches and synagogues commit to providing one night of shelter per week from November through March. On one Sunday of each of these months, Christ Church volunteers provide meals, toiletry supplies, clothing, and funds for supplies and unforeseen expenses. Christ Church also sponsors a Habitat for Humanity home, with the most recent house located in Central Islip, raising money through various sources including the Oyster Festival parking lot weekend. A crew of parishioners joined the professionals on the first day of work.
On the church grounds sits a large Community Garden where wholesome vegetables and fruit are grown, not only to enjoy on site but to share with others. The newest outreach venture is the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Closet, a collaboration with the Youth and Family Counseling Agency of Oyster Bay-East Norwich, offering clothing, shoes, household goods, and baby items to in-need families from a storefront location at 127 South Street, Oyster Bay. Nothing is ever sold. The parish has also hosted an annual Mardi Gras pancake supper and a benefit reading of A Christmas Carol for the Interfaith Nutrition Network.
The Parish Hall is opened every day of the week for groups that serve the wider community. Daybreak, a program of the Life Enrichment Center of Oyster Bay for frail or mentally impaired seniors, operates in the Parish Hall Monday through Friday from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. Alcoholics Anonymous meets there on Wednesday and Sunday evenings at 8:00 pm. The Learning Tree, a nursery school for children ages two to four, has been operating in the parish for more than seventy years. The Abby O'Neill Parent Child Home Program of Youth and Family Counseling runs a summer playgroup for toddlers and their siblings in the space.
An Outreach Grants Committee administers an annual budget allocated among domestic and international organizations and institutions, with priority given to Episcopal and Anglican causes, then Christian causes, then other faiths and secular organizations. Past recipients have included the Institute for the Healing of Memories, Episcopal Relief and Development, Camp DeWolfe in Wading River, El Hogar Ministries in Honduras, and the Fortune Society.
A Rector with an Oxford Past
The twenty-seventh Rector of Christ Church is The Rev. Dr. Michael Piret, who moved back to the United States in January 2016 after thirty-two years in the United Kingdom. A native of Buffalo, New York, he studied English Literature at SUNY Fredonia and the University of Michigan before crossing the Atlantic in 1983 on a one-year graduate scholarship to Merton College, Oxford. After training for the ministry at Edinburgh Theological College, he was ordained Deacon in 1992 and Priest in 1993 at Inverness Cathedral in Scotland. He served a curacy in the Highlands and then returned to Oxford as Dean of Divinity, that is, Chaplain, of Magdalen College, providing pastoral care for those of all faiths and none and conducting daily services in the college's fifteenth-century chapel for more than twenty-one years. He is married to Dr. Siân Piret, a medical research scientist in the Department of Medicine (Nephrology) at Stony Brook University, and they share the Christ Church Rectory with their Burmese cat, Fergus.
The Vestry, elected by the congregation, governs the parish through leadership in realizing its mission and management through financial stewardship, property care, and policy.
Sacred Events in a Living Parish
Weddings, baptisms, and funerals are central to the life of the parish. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism is normally administered at the main service on several major days in the church year: the Baptism of Our Lord in January, the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening, Pentecost Sunday, and the Feast of All Saints on the first Sunday in November. Weddings are a particular joy in the sanctuary, although the parish is not a venue to be rented out: only members or those who express a real desire to become active, pledging members may be married here. The Rector must be consulted well in advance of choosing a date.
Welcoming First-Time Visitors
Christ Church welcomes everyone, whether a lifelong churchgoer or someone setting foot inside a church for the first time. All baptized persons, regardless of tradition or denomination, are welcome to receive Communion, including young children. Those who prefer a blessing instead of Communion are welcome to come forward for that as well. Anyone wishing to explore Baptism may speak with the Rector. What to wear is entirely a matter of personal choice. Some dress more formally, others casually; an usher in a sports jacket and shorts may be seated near a teenager in sweatpants and sneakers, or an elegantly dressed worshipper in pearls and a fancy bonnet. Members of the Adult Choir, Altar Guild, lectors, intercessors, and ushers all serve in the liturgy and are supported by training.
The parish mission is to be a place of faith, hope, and uplifting worship, sharing Christ's love and making a difference in the world. Newcomers are invited to enter the historic doors of Christ Church, hear beautiful music and challenging sermons, and discover a community where there is a place for them.