By Dan Shine
Voice Columnist
First Church and Christ Church
An Influential Relationship
The first part of this story is quoted directly from a column, “Three Influential Relationships,” originally written by former Historian and Deacon Edward Chase in 1974. It describes the early rivalry between the two churches which grew up on West Haven Green.
“(Another) influential relationship is that which exists between First Church and Christ Episcopal Church. The Rev. Samuel Johnson was the first pastor of our church (1719-1722). After three years he offered his resignation and announced that he had (using a descriptive phrase of the day) “embraced Episcopacy.”
“He went to England, took instruction and was ordained into the Episcopal Church and given his first assignment to establish churches in the Connecticut Colony. He came back to West Haven and gathered a flock to form Christ Church and became the rector there in 1723 where he remained until 1737. During that period and continuing until 1754 he also established other Episcopal churches in the Connecticut Colony, earning the title of “Father of Connecticut Episcopacy.” In 1754 he became President of Kings College, which was later to become Columbia University in New York.
“Reverend Johnson’s successor at First Church had been Rev. Jonathan Arnold (1725-1734). He too resigned, announcing that he had “embraced Episcopacy,” went to England, took instruction, and was ordained in the Episcopal Church. He then returned to West Haven where he succeeded Rev. Johnson as Rector at Christ Church in 1737.
“You will recall that when the original settlers, in what is now known as West Haven, then a part of the Town of New Haven, sought to establish their own church as the Parish of West Haven, such permission was not easily obtained. New Haven town officials, at first members of the Connecticut General Assembly, did not think there were enough people nor sufficient economic resources here to maintain a ministry. When they finally did gain permission, our church ancestors little expected that as a result of their efforts, not one, but two churches would be formed in West Haven. It meant that the already recognized modest resources would now be shared.
“For a long period of years, the two churches did experience difficult times financially. Growth was slow and times were hard. On more than one occasion in the eighteenth century First Church applied to the General Assembly for financial assistance which was given. Then in the nineteenth century between 1834 and 1843 First Church received several hundred dollars in financial aid from Connecticut Congregational Home Missionary Society. (Our former pastor) Dr. Boaz comments in his history “not until 1843 did First Church become completely self-supporting and cease to be a missionary church.”
“Yet through all these difficult times, there has always been a steady and growing spirit of cooperation between the two churches. As early as 1734 a joint committee supervised the Old Burial Ground, what is now the two cemeteries adjacent to each church. This relationship continued until 1878 when it was mutually agreed to end burials there.
“During the present (twentieth) century, there have been many jointly sponsored programs.”
Thank you, Deacon Edward Chase for such a well-told story!
To be continued,