Welcome!

Today we welcome the Rev. Samantha J. Christopher as Saint Mary's curate and eventual priest in charge. Deacon Samantha is currently a transitional deacon who graduated from Yale Divinity School in May. During her time at Yale, she has served as Seminarian at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church, a historic Anglo-Catholic parish in New York, and she is a member of the Society of Catholic Priests.

She was sponsored for ordination by the Episcopal Campus Ministry at the University of Arizona, where she was a staff member following her time in the Beloved in the Desert Episcopal Service Corps. Her ordination to the priesthood will occur on August 23rd at Saint Philip's in the Hills, Tucson. Carpools are being arranged for those who would like to attend. Please speak with Cheak for more information.

Deacon Samantha was raised Lutheran (ELCA) in small town Ohio by a single mother and joined the Episcopal Church during her undergraduate education at Ohio State. Following her graduation in 2020, she moved to Tucson. She met her fiancé, Hyacinth, at church in 2023 while in Philadelphia for a summer pastoral internship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They currently work as a substitute teacher, and are a fellow Anglo-Catholic. Deacon Samantha and Hyacinth became engaged earlier this year, and plan to get married next April on the East Coast.