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NORTH ATTLEBORO - When the Rev. Maryalice Sullivan prepared to celebrate Sunday morning services at Grace Episcopal Church a couple of weeks ago, she had no idea what had been planned.

Two days earlier, she had marked her 10th anniversary as rector at Grace, but on this day her entire congregation was honoring the milestone.

The members surprised her, not only with special prayers and music during the services, but also with a luncheon and reception, gifts and cards, and a rousing round of roasting.

"The celebration was a total surprise to me," Sullivan said. "It was amazing - absolutely pure joy."

Along with the roasting came some reminiscing on the decade she has served the church on North Washington Street in her first post as rector. Ordained in 1991 after raising four children and earning a master of divinity degree from Yale University, Sullivan served parishes in New Jersey and Connecticut before arriving in North Attleboro on Jan. 19, 1997. What she tried to bring to Grace, she said, was "a real sense that we are loved by God. We're important. We're wanted, needed, called to find hope."

Parish leaders have nothing but praise for their priest.

"She's very much a people person," said Sheila Deffely, co-warden at Grace. But Sullivan is more, she said.

"She is very much a person of prayer," which she said is fundamental for any church that wants to grow as it seeks God's will.

"We have that here," she said.

Carole Howard-Pasic, also co-warden at Grace, said Sullivan accepts everyone, even those who are different, or those who think differently.

"She has a way of pulling people in, and getting them involved," she said.

Former warden Muriel Crockett said Sullivan has a knack for picking the right people for the right jobs and for helping them discover their talents.

Sullivan drew on those talents when she first arrived, and realized that the graceful stone building of Grace Church would be a monumental challenge.

She recalls the leaky tower, troublesome boiler, deteriorating front steps, crumbling concrete and outdated kitchen that all had to be repaired in what ended up being about $800,000 worth of work. The entire interior also was painted and freshened, and still to come is a building project to make the church handicapped accessible. One fond remembrance is the middle school for at-risk students that Grace Church ran for two years, but then had to close in 2004 for lack of funding from grants.

"It was one of our greatest joys, and one of our greatest sorrows," Sullivan said. The joy, she said, came in seeing the transformation of the students, and the sorrow came when there was not enough money to keep the school operating.

Yet as the parish continues to look for more uses for the building, it continues to welcome community groups already using the space daily.

The parish itself also fills it with its own programs such as a vibrant Sunday School, and with its two Sunday services as well as one on Saturday evenings.

The parish also hosts a Wednesday soup kitchen as part of the Food 'n' Friends network of the Attleboro Area Council of Churches, and actively supports the council and its programs.

The parish also engages in a host of outreach efforts, such as the upcoming drive to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, an active prayer shawl ministry, and the constant support it offers to those requiring assistance with food, fuel and other needs.

Sullivan also has been feeding her soul by taking a course in spiritual direction that she said has enriched her preaching and praying.

"It has helped me ask the deep questions like who is God for me, and what is God doing in my life," she said.

She now plans to offer support to the former parishioners of All Saints Episcopal Church in neighboring Attleboro who are planning to return now that the parish's most recent members have left after separating from the Episcopal church.

Sullivan said she hopes to re-establish ties with All Saints so the two parishes can again be sister churches as they once were.

"We have a long history of Grace and All Saints doing things together," she said. "Maybe it can happen again."

As for her own parish, Sullivan's dream is to provide people with a connection, especially those who have not been able to find a church that feeds them.

"I want to open up a way for people to connect, in whatever way they feel comfortable," she said.

GLORIA LaBOUNTY can be reached at 508-236-0333 or at glabounty@thesunchronicle.com.