Rev. Heather Blais, the new priest at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Wiscasset, joins the church at a time of transition. This past summer, St. Philips’s entered into a new two-year agreement with Grace Episcopal Church in Bath that would see the two places share clergy.
Blais runs her own service twice a month at St. Philip’s, once per month at Grace, and shares the pulpit at Grace once a month, with Rev. Michael Ambler.
The agreement is new ground for St. Philip’s, which until now operated independently.
“St. Philip’s is figuring out who they’re going to be in the years to come,” Blais said in an interview at her office in Wiscasset.
According to a statement on St. Philip’s website, the agreement “brings the leadership of an experienced priest, Rev. Michael Ambler, and adds the fresh perspective and youthful enthusiasm of a newly ordained cleric, Rev. Heather Blais.”
Blais, 27, accepted the position at St. Philip’s shortly after her ordination in June 2011. She succeeds Rev. Linton Studdiford, the architect of the agreement between Grace and St. Philip’s. Studdiford served as St. Philip’s priest-in-charge for three years.
Both churches entered into the partnership with separate identities. St. Phillip’s prides itself as a smaller, family-sized church, Blais said.
“St. Philip’s is very reminiscent of life in a family,” she said.
While Grace has some 250 parishioners, requiring two separate services to accommodate them, St. Philip’s counts only 50 members.
As the head priest at St. Philip’s, Blais both leads services and handles the church’s day-to-day operations. The veteran Ambler assists her as needed in the business and administrative aspects of her job, which she describes as a learning experience.
“He gives me a push when I need to step up and helps me with things when I need to improve,” Blais said. “On my end it’s the perfect deal.”
St. Philip’s is Blais’ first post since her graduation from the Bangor Theological Seminary in May 2011. She was officially ordained at Grace and celebrated her first Eucharist at St. Philip’s shortly after moving into the church’s rectory with her husband, Jay, and their two young boys.
“The real blessing is that I have this opportunity to learn from both churches,” she said.
According to Blais, the entire St. Philip’s community held a “parish work day” to help her fix up her new home.
“There’s such generous spirit and hospitability with both places,” Blais said.
Blais’ said her journey to priesthood began early in her life. As a young girl, she found herself moved by the sanctity of the Eucharist.
“There was something sacred in the Eucharist that stuck with me,” Blais said. “I knew I wanted to be a priest.”
Though she explored other career opportunities, Blais said she could never escape the call to be a priest.
Prior to her ordainment, Blais worked for the Civil Rights Office of the Maine Dept. of Transportation helping to improve labor relations and insure fair wages for DOT workers.
Politics and government, the focus of her studies at St. Anslem’s College, has always interested her, Blais said.
This interest is reflected in her sermons.
“Economic justice is something close to my heart,” Blais said.
Blais encourages her parishioners to support St. Philip’s Help Yourself Shelf Food Pantry, a hunger ministry that assists over 20 communities.
“Encouraging hunger ministries is the closest to what Christ told us to do,” Blais said.
The agreement between St. Philip’s and Grace ends after two years. At that point, the two churches will meet to determine whether their common course will continue. So far, however, the agreement has met with praise from parishioners.
“I think the sharing project is going quite well,” St. Philip’s parishioner Gail Swanton said. “We are benefiting from Heather’s new ideas, and Michael’s experience and mentorship.”
Despite an uncertain future, Blais says she is not worried.
“I’m a planner, but we’re open to wherever God takes us,” she said.
