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ATTLEBORO

There's a fresh excitement at All Saints Episcopal Church with the arrival of a new pastor.

The Rev. Katheryn Keene, better known as Katie, arrived at the parish in September as the full-time priest for the next three years, and possibly longer.

"I have a clear sense that I am where God wants me to be," Keene said.

She comes at a time of transition for the church on North Main Street that is experiencing renewal after a group of conservative parishioners broke away from the more liberal national Episcopal Church, the United States branch of Anglicanism. They aligned with like-minded Anglicans, left the North Main Street parish property in January and are now operating as All Saints Anglican Church at the former Methodist church in the Hebronville section of Attleboro.

All Saints Episcopal, meanwhile, continued to operate, and some longtime parishioners remained after the split, while others who had left in recent years have since returned. Together, they have been working with diocesan leaders to return the parish to its prior Episcopal traditions, and were guided initially by an interim priest, the Rev. William Underhill, who served until Keene was hired.

Jane Merkle, one of two wardens at All Saints, said members of the church vestry were excited when they interviewed Keene for a permanent post because she fit their hopes for the parish and for its role in the community.

"Katie has brought that into play for us," she said. "Everyone walked away from the meeting wanting her."

Keene said she first visited the parish in July, and after experiencing the worship there, she knew that was where she wanted to be.

"I was already hooked," she said.

What attracted her, she said, was the spirit of joy and vitality she sensed at All Saints.

"It makes possible the kind of life in Christ I want to share," Keene said.

The public will have a chance to meet Keene and visit the church at an open house at All Saints Episcopal from noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 21. The event, Keene said, is a way of thanking the community for its support.

A resident of Acton, Keene is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and an ordained Episcopal priest with training in several areas, including financial development, change management, conflict resolution and ecumenism. She has served in interim and transitional ministries, and at parishes in both the Episcopal Church and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. That kind of crossover is possible because of a formal agreement between the two denominations to allow the exchange of pastors and the sharing of the Eucharist based on similar beliefs in the sacraments.

In one of her more recent assignments, Keene served at a parish of Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians in Virginia.

Keene's ecumenical spirit dates back to her years at Yale, and she said, "once you have lived and broken bread ecumenically, you can't go back."

She intends to pursue that interest here by getting involved in interdenominational and interfaith efforts, a move that the parish welcomes.

All Saints had been active for years in the Attleboro Area Council of Churches, and has been renewing that connection, and will host the council's volunteer night next month.

The parish has also revived its various ministries and programs, including Sunday School and a youth group, and holds Sunday service at 10 a.m., plus Bible study on Thursday nights. Membership is now around 70 or 80, Merkle said, and young families have been joining and attending services.

What she wants the community to know is that All Saints Episcopal Church is in fact open, and never closed after the split as some people had thought.

Keene said there is still some misconception about what happened at All Saints, which never stopped being an Episcopal parish even though a group of parishioners and a priest decided to leave the Episcopal church.

"We have always been an Episcopal parish and continue to be," she said. "We have now reconnected with other churches and with the faith community."

She expects it to take some time to get through the healing process, and to build new levels of trust within the parish after all that has happened. The focus, she said, is on newly discerning the parish's talents and its role in the community, and developing more financial resources to keep the parish fiscally stable as it currently is.

"This church is newly discovering what its call is to serve the community, and what God is calling this church to do," she said.

She wants others to know that All Saints Episcopal is open to all and is as diverse as the community is. People who go there, she said, can expect a warm welcome and a sense of vibrancy.

"I hope people catch our joy," Keene said. "We invite others to come and be part of us."

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