Trinity Church, an open Episcopal congregation rooted in the love of Jesus Christ and serving the greater Princeton community, seeks to educate and nourish ourselves and others to live the Gospel, to grow in personal and active faith in God, and to invest our diverse resources to enrich God’s creation among and around us.
We are a parish of the Episcopal Church, the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Our worship embodies both the rich liturgical heritage and the contemporary practices of the Christian church in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer. Our life of worship is enriched by the Holy Eucharist (the communion service), and we welcome you to join us in communion at the Lord’s Table. The largest Episcopal congregation in the Diocese of New Jersey, Trinity is made up of people from many different backgrounds and church traditions, and marked by diverse interests and perspectives. This pluralism is reflected in the many opportunities for worship, learning and teaching, and service through pastoral care and outreach. Each of these is essential to the Christian life and mission.
We invite all to share our journey.
The Story of Trinity Church:
175 Years of Transformation
Trinity was a relative latecomer in mainly Calvinistic central New Jersey. Princeton Borough, in particular, was a heavily Presbyterian village, anchored by the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and Princeton Theological Seminary. It was not for lack of Episcopalians statewide—the Diocese of New Jersey alone is home to 21 churches older than ours, several dating to colonial times.
A handful of local would-be parishioners, including a number with southern connections, founded Trinity in 1833, building a modest Greek Revival meeting hall as their church. Miller Chapel, a stone's throw away on the Princeton Seminary campus, is a similar building by the same local architect-builder, William Steadman, who also designed many houses in the neighborhood. The parish prospered.
In 1879 the original structure gave way to a larger, more assertively Episcopalian building designed in the Gothic Revival style by Richard Upjohn and his son. This remained until the first decade of the last century, when architect Ralph Adams Cram doubled the nave in length. In 1914, Cram was hired again to create a small chapel in the north transept (the Lady Chapel), a larger French Gothic chancel, and a significantly heightened tower accommodating a small carillon. With some interior alterations, this is today's church building.
From its founding to 1914, Trinity had six Rectors, one staying 48 years. It clearly was a different day, when a Rector's traditional functions in a small town centered on visiting parishioners, on baptizing, marrying, and burying, and on conducting Divine Service on Sundays. The Victorian era saw Trinity deviate from tradition in a notable way, reaching out to the community beyond our doors.
In 1850 the church built a gothic schoolhouse (now attached to the aprish house and serving as offices) to serve as a Sunday School for parish children (itself an innovation), and at other times as a school for African-American children, whom the local schools did not serve. In the second half of the 19th century, Trinity founded several nearby missions, of whichtwo survive independently. Trinity Church, Rocky Hill, is a “family-size” parish just north of Princeton; St. Barnabas, Kendall Park, is a larger parish northeast of Princeton and surrounded by suburban housing built in the last 40 years.
Starting in 1879, Trinity, like many Episcopal parishes, participated in the Choral Revival in the Anglican church, with its emphasis on vested choirs of men and boys trained by professional church musicians, and singing quality church music. Thus began our choir porgram, long one of the finest in the nationl. This rigorous program, now coeducational, has thrived under a succession of gifted leaders. In 1875, Trinity founded the St. Paul's Society for students at Princeton University, where the number of Episcopalians had grown. Now called the Episcopal Church at Princeton University (ECP), it is supported by the William Alexander Procter Foundation. ECP has long had a full-time chaplain who conducts regular worship in the University Chapel, and holds student events at the Foundation's Procter House adjacent to the campus.
Through the 1920s, '30s, and early '40s, Trinity slowly grew with its town. The growth of Princeton Township (surrounding the Borough) and today's extensive suburbs were yet to come. During the baby boom of the late 1940s and the '50s, Trinity experienced explosive growth in young families with children, with a burgeoning Sunday School (at one point claiming five hundred members) that old-timers remember fondly. Through that period the parish ministry remained essentially traditional, with outreach a minor component and the Rector and assisting clergy very much in charge. During the '50s, a large parish hall (Pierce Hall), kitchen and meeting room were built to accommodate the growing demands for space.
With the 1960s, when eternal verities were called into question, mainline churches—Trinity included—began to shed their cultural and religious hegemony. The baby boom was coming of age, and yesterday's well-scrubbed Sunday School pupils were considered by some to be unruly youth, questioning authority and the relevance of traditional institutions like the church. For relevance, we opened a basement coffee house, “The Catacombs.” Trinity conducted some folk masses, though, as now, they never loomed large in our worship style. Some occasionally uproarious liturgical choices continued well into the 1970s.
The 1960s also witnessed a devastating fire (1963) and reconstruction in the church proper, as well as the beginning of two enduring outreach efforts: Trinity Counseling Service, described later, and All Saints' Church, which was created in 1960 as a neighborhood church to serve the fast-growing eastern end of Princeton Township with its own vicar. An attractive stone church with parish house was built at the outset, and under fine clergy and lay leadership it quickly became independent. Our two parishes share Trinity-All Saints' Cemetary, next to All Saints', and some other undeveloped property at the site of All Saints'. All Saints' was the brainchild of The Rev. Dr. John Vernon Butler, Rector from 1948-59. Dr. Butler, a strong leader, followed The Rev. Arthur Lee Kinsolving (1940-47), who had moved to New York City to lead St. James's, Madison Avenue. Butler served 11 years, then became dean of New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and later Rector of Trinity Church, New York. Under his leadership, Trinity grew to more or less its present size.
Next, The Rev. Robert Spears saw Trinity through the fire and rebuilding of the mid-60s, and after seven years' tenure became Bishop of Rochester, New York. The Rev. James Whittemore served from 1967-77, during which Trinity evolved into something like its modern form, with expanded lay leadership, liturgical renewal, a revised church, enlarged facilities, and a more diverse and welcoming congregation. A long-awaited moment came when parishioner and clergy staff member The Rev. Daphne Hawkes—who remains a volunteer associate clergy—was ordained to the priesthood at Trinity, the first woman priest in the Diocese of New Jersey. Whittemore left to head the Seamen's Church Institute in New York City, now led by former Interim Rector The Rev. Jean Smith.
The Rev. John Crocker, Jr., came to Trinity in 1977 from the Episcopal chaplaincy at MIT and served until his retirement in 1989. His tenure included expanded outreach, consolidation of the many liturgical changes of the preceding years, and planning for needed facility improvements.
In 1991, after an extended interim period, The Ven. Leslie Smith, Archdeacon of the neighboring Diocese of Newark, became Trinity's most recent rector, serving until his retirement in mid-2006. During his tenure, the 21st Century Plan, with major fundraising, construction and renovation of parish buildings, as well as an outreach endowment component, was carried out. With his strong support, service to the community was further expanded for temporarily homeless families. Appreciated by many for his personal pastoral support in times of crisis, Leslie was Trinity's third-longest serving rector. Trinity has for decades benefited from able assisting clergy, too numerous to name. These gifted women and men, including both staff and volunteer clergy, have contributed in diverse and significant ways to the life of the parish.