About
Who We Are
Christ Episcopal Church, Guilford, Connecticut 265 Years Young!
Welcome to Christ Episcopal Church, Guilford, Connecticut! From the time it was founded in 1744, Christ Episcopal Church has provided a welcoming religious presence on the Guilford Green. The present church was consecrated by Bishop Brownell in 1838.
If you are searching for a parish home or at a point in your life when it seems right to return to your parish home, we hope this website provides enough information to prompt you to take the next step: that is to accept our sincere invitation to come and worship with us or contact our Interim Rector, Father Anthony C. “Tony” Dinoto if you have questions or wish to meet with him.
Baptism: The Sacrament of Holy Baptism is celebrated on the Feasts of Our Lord designated by the Book of Common Prayer as most appropriate: The Great Vigil of Easter, Easter Sunday, Pentecost, All Saint’s Sunday, and the Feast of 
the Baptism of Our Lord. Often times, young families find their way back to church with the birth of a child and the desire to share their own Christian covenant through Holy Baptism.
Holy Matrimony: The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is available to one or both of those persons actively practicing their faith within in this community of faith or other Christian church. The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage, prescribed by our Book of Common Prayer is used at all weddings. Unless, because of sensitivity to faith concerns of a Non-Christian member of a wedding couple, the Nuptials are celebrated within the liturgy of the Holy Eucharist. Christ Episcopal Church is not an appropriate venue for those attempting to ‘side step’ or ignore rules of their own denomination as a “chapel of convenience”. An average of four pre-nuptial conferences with the Rector or Interim Rector or priest-in-charge is a diocesan requirement that is closely adhered to. Divorced Roman Catholics wishing to become part of the Episcopal Church as a first step are welcome and should know that we DO NOT REQUIRE or recognize the annulment process of that church. A certified divorce decree is sufficient to begin the process.
Confirmation: The Sacrament of Confirmation is administered by bishops of the Church. A fairly recent practice in this diocese calls for “regional” services of Confirmation, wherein the diocesan or one of the bishops suffragan visits a selected parish in the deanery. At this service, “confirmands” from several parishes gather to receive this sacrament marking a deeper commitment to the faith and practice of the Episcopal Church. Christ Church’s Journey to Adulthood and Rite 13 religious education program prepares young people to receive the sacrament.
Christian Burial: The Book of Common Prayer provides two Burial Offices at the time of the death of a member of the Church, Rite I and Rite II. Because the Holy Eucharist is the “principal act of Christian worship: it is the practice of this Church to celebrate the promise of Eternal Life and Thanksgiving within the service of Holy Communion either as a Requiem Eucharist, with the deceased’s body present or Memorial Requiem Eucharist, when only the cremated remains are brought to the church. Music used within the liturgy is subject to approval by the priest.
The Episcopal Church in the United States
The Episcopal Church in the United States is a constituent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, a Fellowship within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Anglican Communion traces its roots to the Church of England, which split from the Roman (Catholic) Church in the sixteenth century. During the English Reformation, the division was driven by the influence of 
reforming church leaders, by corruption in the Roman Church and by disputes between English monarchs and the Pope. It was a distinctively different reformation from the Continental Reformation which was essentially driven by theological and biblical differences with the Roman church.
The Episcopal Church fulfills the essential conditions of both Catholic and reformed churches and consequently has been called the “Bridge Church” or “Via Media” (“the Middle Way”) The Episcopal Church is Catholic in that it maintains a three-fold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons who stand in a line of succession dating to the time of the apostles. Further, it is Catholic in that it uses the Apostolic and Nicene creeds, 
the Bible, and celebrates the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion (also called the Lord’s Supper or the Mass) instituted and ordained by Jesus Christ. The Episcopal Church is reformed (or 
protestant) in that it maintains the essential “protest” against the unique authority of the Pope and is further protestant in its freedom of individual Christians with regard to matters of religious practice. The spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion is The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of the See of Canterbury. The Episcopal Church is lead by our Presiding (i.e. archbishop) Bishop.
The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut
The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut is the oldest Episcopal diocese in the United States and one of the nine original dioceses (which explains the symbolism of the nine white crosses on the blue field of the Episcopal shield of the Episcopal Church). The first Bishop of Connecticut, The Rt. Rev’d Samuel Seabury, was born in what is now Ledyard, Connecticut, and was the 
first Anglican bishop with a diocese outside the British Isles. Anglican services have been celebrated in the diocese since 1702. There are 177 parishes in the diocese, encompassing the entire State of Connecticut with approximately 75,000 baptized members and those who attend the Holy Eucharist on Sunday. The current diocesan bishop, the Right Reverend Andrew Donnan Smith, who is the fourteenth bishop of the diocese, announced his intention to retire in early 2010 and has called for the election of a successor at the October 2009 diocesan convention to be held at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford.