Churches set Easter week services


The Episcopalians will host an ecumenical service for Good Friday, the Christian holiday that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The observance also will serve as a closing for the Rev. William Locke, better known as Father Bill, who will leave St. Matthew’s in May. He is making room for Christa Moore-Levesque, the incoming rector who is relocating from New York.

“Jamestown is a delightful community and St. Matthew’s has been a wonderful parish to serve,” Locke said. “I’m excited about their new priest. I think the parish’s future is a bright one.”

Locke, who stepped into the pulpit following Kevin Lloyd’s resignation after 12 years, arrived at St. Matthew’s in October. Ordained in 1994, he led two Pawtucket congregations until 2013, which is when he began specializing in transitional roles. Before Jamestown, he served as interim rector in Providence, Narragansett, Little Compton, North Scituate and Barrington.

Locke, who grew up a Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, said the ecumenical service is important because the foundation of the Episcopalian, Baptist and Catholic faiths are the same.

“While we may organize our church lives differently, and have different emphases on matters of faith or styles of worship, we can certainly agree on the power and significance of the cross,” he said.

The ecumenical service between the three churches dates back to at least 1982, according to local historian Rosemary Enright. The shared service was sponsored by the Rev. William O’Neill at St. Mark until 2013, which is when the churches began alternating as hosts. That collaboration was cemented when, in 2016, the clergy signed a historic covenant expressing their desire to work together. It was an unprecedented move for Rhode Island. Inking their names were Central Baptist Church’s Kurt Satherlie, Lloyd and Ron Brassard, Steve Amaral’s predecessor at St. Mark.

“Our common goal is to support, assist and help everyone in Jamestown,” Satherlie said. “Not just Christians, either.”

Aside from the Good Friday service at 7 p.m., which the Episcopalians have titled “The Passion Gospel, the Solemn Collects, Veneration of the Cross, Communion from the Reserved Sacrament,” the churches will celebrate Holy Week with their individual congregations. For Maundy Thursday, which Commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the apostles, Locke will offer the Holy Eucharist with foot washing followed by a stripping of the altar.

At Central Baptist Church, Satherlie will deliver “a very moving service” of communion and Tenebrae following bread and soup at 6 p.m. Amaral’s sermon at the Catholic church is titled “The Celebration of the Lord’s Supper.” All of these Maundy Thursday services begin at 7 p.m.

On Holy Saturday, which commemorates the day Jesus’ body lay in the tomb, St. Mark and St. Matthew’s will host Easter vigils at 7:30 p.m. in advance of Sunday, the anniversary of the Resurrection.

For the high holy day of the Christian faith, Locke will offer the Eucharist at 8 a.m. followed by a “festive celebration” with choir, organ, trumpet and timpani at 10 a.m. Satherlie will lead a sunrise service at 6 a.m. in the third parking lot at Beavertail State Park with worship at the church at 9:30 a.m. At St. Mark, Amaral will lead his congregation through Easter Sunday Masses at 8:30 and 10 a.m.

“To come together to proclaim the power of Jesus’ sacrifice, and our need for that love and mercy, is a powerful witness to the world,” Locke said.