New leader brings inclusive spirit to Christ Church Riverdale

After searching for almost two years, Christ Church Riverdale has finally found the rector they were looking for.

The Rev. Andrew Butler’s passion to preach started long before he was called to Christ Church. Having graduated with both a Master of Arts in Christian education and a Master of Divinity leading to an extensive background of experience in preaching, Rev. Butler is anything but new at this — and even found time to stir up a bit of controversy along the way.

In fact, this is not Rev. Andrew’s first stint in Riverdale.

“It’s very ironic that I’m here,” Rev. Butler said. “Fifteen years ago at Princeton Seminary, I did my internship across the street at Riverdale Presbyterian. I knew this church was here and never came. 15 years later, here I am on the other side of the street. It’s amazing.”

Since his first Holy Eucharist at Christ Church on Aug.  3, Rev. Butler has already begun making a few changes to the parish, such as switching from a closed communion to an open communion and making the services more accessible to worshippers.

“All are welcome to receive,” he said. “We don’t all have to be of the same theology about what it means. On the most basic level, it is about hospitality. Jesus was about hospitality, about welcoming a stranger.”

To make the church more welcoming to new worshippers, Rev. Andrew plans to change the church bulletin to include all scripture and songs for the days worship. He also plans to increase the scope of community outreach to the Riverdale community, not just to support parishioners, but to support the community as a whole.

“I want us to be as welcoming as we can be and to not assume that everyone who comes in our doors knows who we are and what we do,” Fr. Butler said. “We’re talking about being accessible. We have a handicap ramp, so we consider ourselves accessible, but there are other things we need to do to be accessible.”

Posey Krakowsky, who has been attending Christ Church for the past eight years and was on the search committee to find a new rector, said that the congregation knew exactly what they wanted in a new priest.

“They were definitely looking for someone who was a strong preacher and someone who was very compassionate, and someone who was knowledgeable and who was a good teacher as well,” said Ms. Krakowsky. “They wanted everything, they wanted the whole package. We’re definitely impressed.”

The process of searching for a new rector was indeed a long one. Geoffrey K. Doughlin, one of the wardens of the parish, says that the norm for this kind of search can last anywhere from 18 months to two years. Christ Church was hoping to find their new rector by September, and by July, Rev. Andrew was ready, Mr. Doughlin said.

“Obviously, this is a very diverse parish. We have people from the Anglican tradition coming from all over the world,” Mr. Doughlin said. “Coming into a place where you have such a variety of parishioners, the person who we’re looking for has to be comfortable with that. I think that we found that person.”

Over his career as a priest, which took him from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania to Montclair, New Jersey, Rev. Butler got some major attention in 2011 when he invited Muslims and Anglicans to worship together in one service in Montclair.

“I became good friends with some Muslim folks in New Jersey and said, ‘Why don’t we worship together?’” Rev. Butler said. “Sunday morning we had a ten o’clock prayer as the canter sang facing Mecca and we had readings from the Quran.”

Although the response he received throughout the nation was largely negative, Rev. Andrew said that his parish did not have a problem with the coming together of two faiths.

“We’re all people of prayer. As Christians, Muslims, Jews — prayer and meditation are very important,” said Rev. Butler. “I got hate mail from all over. It was disturbing on one hand, but on the other hand it was affirming to me that it’s not always popular to do the right thing.”

Rev. Butler is currently living next door to Christ Church with his partner and three children. After their homecoming ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 7, services will resume on the regular fall schedule with services each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. as well as a service on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.