A Church at the Heart of Dade City
St. Mary's Episcopal Church sits at 37637 Magnolia Avenue in the center of Dade City, Florida, and has been proclaiming the Christian gospel from that corner of Pasco County for over 130 years. The congregation traces its roots to the late nineteenth century, when Episcopal families in the small town began gathering for worship, and the parish has continued to meet, pray, and serve from its Magnolia Avenue location ever since. Its motto captures the long reach of the work: "Proclaiming Christ to All from the heart of Dade City for over 130 Years."
The rector, Father Jim Teets, summarizes the welcome in a few words: "If this is your first time at St. Mary's, if you are here every now and then, or if you are here week by week, my brothers and sisters, welcome; you are home."
Holy Eucharist Throughout the Week
Worship at St. Mary's centers on the Holy Eucharist, celebrated in Rite II from the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer. The parish gathers for the sacrament four times a week.
- Sundays at 7:45 AM - an early spoken Holy Eucharist, Rite II.
- Sundays at 10:00 AM - the principal Sunday service with music and hymns, livestreamed on Facebook.
- Tuesdays at 6:30 PM - a midweek Holy Eucharist, Rite II.
- Thursdays at 6:30 PM - Holy Eucharist, Rite II, followed by the Men's Breakfast fellowship.
Thursday mornings add a second offering: a weekly Bible study at 10:00 AM in Freeman Hall, followed by a brief celebration of the Holy Eucharist that closes the gathering. The 7:45 AM Sunday service runs about 45 minutes; the 10:00 AM service lasts an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes when Baptisms or special music are included. The Thursday morning Bible study and its post-study Eucharist last about half an hour together.
What to Expect on Sunday Morning
Visitors at St. Mary's find a small-town Episcopal congregation that has thought carefully about how to greet newcomers. There is plenty of off-street parking behind the church, with handicap spaces available off 11th Street. The main entrance is on Magnolia Avenue, with a transept entrance on 11th Street and a separate accessible entrance from the handicapped parking lot.
Worshippers generally arrive in business or business-casual attire, though the dress range runs from suits to khakis. As the parish notes, "we care about who you are on the inside, not what you are wearing." Almost every Sunday after both services, coffee hour is served in Freeman Hall, the parish hall. Greeters and exit greeters are available to answer questions, and welcome cards in the pews let first-time visitors share their contact information. The congregation is clear about one thing newcomers do not have to worry about: "Don't worry, we don't make you stand up and wave."
Gathering Around Scripture
Learning is a major part of the parish's rhythm. The weekly Bible study meets on Thursday mornings in Freeman Hall and is followed by a brief celebration of the Eucharist. During Lent the group works through a sustained study; one recent program spent five sessions walking through William F. Cooke III's "Jesus's Final Week: From Triumphal Entry to Empty Tomb," reading one or two chapters per week from Palm Sunday through Easter. Audio recordings of each session, led by Father Jim, are posted for members who want to revisit the conversation.
Resources for daily study are shared through the parish, including links to the Revised Common Lectionary, Bible Gateway, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer online, and a one-year Bible reading plan. The parish's Faith Resources page also points members to the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, Episcopal Cursillo, and devotional sites such as Forward Day by Day, The Upper Room, Daily Bread, Mission St. Clare, and Inward Outward.
The Men's Breakfast and the Women's Table
Two long-running small groups anchor the parish's sense of fellowship. The Men's Breakfast Group gathers on Thursday evenings around the 6:30 PM Holy Eucharist and shares a meal together afterward. The group also sponsors an annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper in Freeman Hall on the eve of Lent, serving pancakes and sausage free of charge to anyone who walks in.
The Women's Eucharist/Breakfast is the parallel gathering, with its own calendar of regular fellowship times. Both groups serve as places to deepen friendships across the parish and to keep watch over the congregation's life together.
Quilts and Crafts: Rachel's Guild and the Handmaidens
St. Mary's has become known for two crafting communities that meet on Fridays in Tanno Hall, the parish's renovated outreach building. Rachel's Guild is a quilting group founded by Karen Menard as an outreach mission. Inspired by a similar group at Holy Innocents' Episcopal in Valrico, the guild creates quilts for children in need, drawing its name from the biblical story of Rachel's weeping in Jeremiah 31:15. The guild meets on the second and fourth Fridays of each month from 2 to 4 PM in a dedicated workroom in Tanno Hall. In one recent year the group donated sixteen quilts to local elementary school nurses and gifted a larger quilt to a parishioner in need. Fabric donations are welcome, and free lessons are available for anyone who wants to learn.
The Handmaidens of St. Mary's meet every Friday from 1 to 4 PM in Tanno Hall for an afternoon of yarn, crochet cotton, plastic canvas, and thrift-store makeovers. The group is open to all skill levels, and the goal is simple: "we want to learn, grow, and share our skills while connecting with one another." Whether members come for an hour or stay the full afternoon, the Handmaidens blend crafting and conversation into one of the parish's most relaxed gatherings.
Reaching Out Beyond the Church
The parish takes its missionary identity seriously, both locally and in partnership with others. Daughters of the King, an Episcopal order for women in prayer and service, has a chapter at St. Mary's. The congregation supports the work of Episcopal Cursillo, a movement for spiritual renewal, and points members to the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida for regional connection.
One of the parish's most personal outreach efforts grew out of grief. In September 2023, Jace Avadikian, a young member of St. Mary's, died of a malignant rhabdoid kidney tumor. His family established the Jace Strong Foundation to fund research and build awareness of the rare pediatric cancer, and the parish has woven the foundation's work into its own mission as a cause the whole congregation shares.
Year-round the parish hosts community events that double as outreach: a Pentecost picnic in Freeman Hall with cook-out food, live music, a bounce house, and water fun for the kids; Trunk-or-Treat in the fall; Cookies with Santa in early December; movie nights in the parish hall; and themed trivia evenings that have included 60s and 70s throwback nights. Holy Week brings Palm Sunday services with a procession of palms, a Maundy Thursday foot-washing service, Living Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, and Easter celebrations at both Sunday services.
Leadership on Magnolia Avenue
The parish is led by Father Jim Teets, who holds a Master of Divinity from the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee. He was ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests at Trinity Cathedral in Miami shortly after graduation and, with his wife Sharon and their chocolate lab Shamus, moved to Dade City in 2019 to take up the work of ministry. Cheryl A. Smith serves as Music Director, leading the congregation's sung worship.
The Vestry, the parish's elected lay leadership, is organized around portfolios. Mike Avadikian serves as Senior Warden, and Greg Gude - president of Kumquat Growers and a long-time member of St. Mary's - is Junior Warden. Nancy Alfonso, a Dade City native and former city commissioner, serves as Chancellor. Claudia Betten is Vestry Clerk, and John Harrison, whose career included posts as Bursar at Ithaca College and Comptroller at Lynchburg College, is Treasurer. Other portfolio-holders include Elizabeth "Liz" Mitchell (Christian Formation), Rick Jelesky (Church Growth), Karen Zummo (InReach), Norma Barendse (Church Life), Doug Dunkelberger (Finance), and Zachary Smith (Outreach).
An Episcopal and Anglican Home
St. Mary's is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida and of The Episcopal Church across the country. The name "Episcopal" comes from the Greek episkopos, meaning bishop, and the parish is guided by its bishops and served by ordained priests and deacons while the baptized members do the bulk of the ministry. Together with other Episcopal parishes, St. Mary's belongs to the worldwide Anglican Communion, which traces its roots to the Church of England and now includes some 70 million members around the globe.
The parish is deliberately both Protestant and Catholic in the older senses of those words. It is Protestant in that it witnesses for Jesus and stands outside communion with Rome, and Catholic in that it values the long-standing traditions and practices of the Christian faith. The parish is sacramental: it accepts as central the two great sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, in which the bread and wine are received "by faith" as the body and blood of Christ. The clearest statements of belief are the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, two-thousand-year-old summaries still held by billions of Christians worldwide.
Worship Online and the Fund for the Future
For those who cannot be in the pews, the 10:00 AM Sunday service is livestreamed on the parish's Facebook page and then archived on its YouTube channel. Audio recordings of recent sermons, including Father Jim's homilies, are also posted for catch-up listening. Online giving is available through the parish's Realm giving page, and a separate giving page supports the Fund4theFUTRE endowment campaign.
That capital campaign, called the Fund for the Future, is a three-year effort to grow St. Mary's endowment fund. The endowment supports three missions: capital improvements and campus maintenance, the missions and ministries of the parish, and a reserve fund for lean years. The campaign goal is $300,000 over three years, or roughly $100,000 a year. Recent building work, made possible in part by earlier generations of parishioners, has included renovating Freeman Hall, moving the church office and music room, upgrading the audio and video systems in the sanctuary, and improving the Sacristy Hall. The campaign asks the current generation to leave the same legacy for those who come after.