Meal Train for Nik & Carrie Combs!

There are times in our lives when friends and family ask, "What can I do to help out?" The answer is usually to help them with a meal. When many friends provide support through a meal, Meal Train keeps everyone organized.

MealTrain.com is a free meal calendar tool that makes planning meals among a wide group easy and less stressful.

We have set up a Meal Train for Nik and Carrie Combs, so they can spend less time planning and cooking meals, and spend more time raising their baby Matilda.

To read more details about this project, click here. If you aren't a good cook, have no fear; you can purchase a gift card through MealTrain so they can call for takeout!

On Sunday January 5, we welcomed the Rev. Marilyn Anderson as our supply priest. She will be working with us now through February 16.

Get to know her during Coffee Hour!

Please wear your name badge at church, as it helps us learn each other's names! If you need a badge, please sign up for one at the back of the church, by the entrance.

Resolve to Volunteer in 2025!

Trinity runs on volunteers - hosting Coffee Hour, maintaining the altar and grounds, preaching, ushering, editing the newsletter, counting donations, leading Adult Formation, filming our services, and more more more.

If you have a talent you would like to share, or if you want to learn more about how you can volunteer at Trinity, please sign up during Coffee Hour.

Many hands make light work!

Call for 2025 Pledge Cards

Please get your 2025 Pledge Cards in to the office as soon as possible. If you don’t have a card, call Melanie and she can fill one out for you. 

We only have approximately 30 cards, which is half of last year's. 

Thank you!

From Our Bishops

January 21, 2025

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Yesterday, we commemorated the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, we are reminded of a quote from his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written in 1963: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

Yesterday, Donald Trump, our 47^th President, was also sworn into office. We pray that he and all of our elected officials will, as our Prayers for National Life in our Book of Common Prayer declare, “have the wisdom and the strength to know and to do God’s will and be filled with the love of truth and righteousness.” Alongside this prayer, we are also feeling deeply King’s observance that “whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly,” especially in the wake of yesterday’s executive orders. As such, we your Bishops want you to know that:

• The Episcopal Church in Connecticut will continue to claim our identities as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ, standing for the very things Jesus stood for, lived for, loved for, died for, and offers to the world through his resurrection.

• The Episcopal Church in Connecticut will continue to be a place where all are seen, loved, and treated as beloved children of God, regardless of their immigration status, race, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or political affiliation.

• The Episcopal Church in Connecticut will continue to be a place in which the legacy of chattel slavery and white supremacy—in the Church, in the country, in world—are named, lamented, repented, and dismantled.

Wherever you find yourself today, know that you are not alone. Hold tight to the One Vine. Together with your siblings in ECCT, you are forever rooted in God’s Love, Peace, Justice, Reconciliation, and Hope.

Be assured of our prayers and support. We are all a part of the One Vine and whatever affects one of us directly affects all of us.

In Christ’s Love,

The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Mello

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Laura Ahrens 

From Our Presiding Bishop

Dear People of God in the Episcopal Church:

On January 20, Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the United States. We pray that he and all of our elected officials will, in the words of the Book of Common Prayer, have the wisdom and strength to know and to do God’s will and be filled with the love of truth and righteousness.

Even as we gave thanks for a peaceful transfer of power, we learned from news reports that the new presidential administration has issued a series of executive orders that are a harbinger of President Trump’s pledge to deport undocumented immigrants at a historic scale, restrict asylum, and direct other immigration actions. We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement.

As Christians, our faith is shaped by the biblical story of people whom God led into foreign countries to escape oppression. Exodus tells us the story of the ancient Israelites escaping slavery in the land of Egypt and wandering in the wilderness without a home. In Leviticus 19:33-34, God commands that we remember this sojourn as part of our own story of faith: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”

Now, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:12-19, we are no longer aliens. Christ Jesus has made us citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. As we read in 1 Peter 2:9-12, we have received God’s mercy, and we must demonstrate this sacrificial love in our lives and deeds. Because our true citizenship is not here on earth but in heaven, we are called to transcend the earthly distinctions made among us by the leaders of this world. We must proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is promised to the persecuted and answer Christ’s call to welcome the stranger among us. 

This vision of God’s kingdom, this new reality, is the one to which we Christians are pledged in our baptism above any political preference or policy, and to which our church must bear witness through word and deed. This sacred call shapes both our churchwide commitment to stand with migrants and the ministries of congregations across our church who serve vulnerable immigrants and refugees in their communities.

Since the late 19th century, The Episcopal Church has followed this call by welcoming immigrants and refugees to the United States, and today, Episcopal Migration Ministries is one of 10 resettlement agencies through which refugees enter this country. Our Office of Government Relations is a persistent advocate for immigration resolutions adopted by General Convention, and works with ecumenical and interfaith partners to urge compassionate and humane policies that at the same time recognize the need to protect borders and address security threats. Thousands of Episcopalians participate in this ministry of advocacy through the Episcopal Public Policy Network.

As more immigration enforcement policy changes are announced, our churchwide ministries will continue to provide practical pathways to protect the most vulnerable among us. We invite you to join us by:

• Advocating with our members of Congress by using this action alert to take action to protect immigrants, known as Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as children and have lived here most of their lives. The long-standing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that offers a respite from the fear of deportation is at risk, and Congress must take action. 
• Standing against mass deportation using this action alert, which would have severe consequences for our communities and economy.
• Supporting orderly border management that is proportional and humane and respects the right of asylum.
• Supporting programs that protect vulnerable groups of people, including Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), humanitarian parole, and the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
• Speaking out against anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions, including race-based targeting, vigilantism and violence, family division, and detention and deportation without charges or convictions. As Christians, we must stand against these expressions of hatred and fear with a clear witness to our sacred promise to respect the dignity of every human being.
• Encouraging our congregations to use the resources of the Office of Government Relations and the Episcopal Public Policy Network as we embody the Gospel through direct witness on behalf of immigrants in our communities.

Across our church, migrants are members of the Body of Christ and part of our congregations and communities, and our common life is richer thanks to their contributions. To our siblings who are at risk of deportation or of being separated from those you love, know that your story is our story, and your dignity is inseparable from our own. We stand with you, and we will face these challenges together.

As one church united in the Body of Christ, please pray especially for families who live under the shadow of separation, and for all who seek asylum for protection from persecution. Pray, too, for the people of our congregations and dioceses who work tirelessly to serve immigrants and refugees, and who now face new and heartbreaking challenges to their ministry.

Finally, as faithful Episcopalians have done for decades, please join us in giving generously to Episcopal Migration Ministries and its ministry with refugees seeking a new life in the United States.

In Christ’s Peace,

The Most Rev. Sean Rowe

Presiding Bishop

Julia Ayala Harris

President of the House of Deputies

Our Culture is Beautiful Movie Discussion

This Saturday January 25 at 1pm at Trinity Church, we will have a movie screening followed by a discussion with members of Our Culture is Beautiful, a local group that celebrates cultural diversity in Torrington. Our movie this month is a 2014 film (rated PG-13) that centers on a major figure in the civil rights movement in 1965 as he plans a march to draw attention to voting rights in the South. This Oscar-winning* film was directed by Ava DuVernay and stars Daniel Oyelowo.

(*Best Original Song - "Glory" by John Legend and Common.)

For more details, contact Conrad at conradsank@gmail.com.

The movie is free, and all are welcome!

182nd Annual Meeting

THIS SUNDAY January 26, 2025

Following the 9am service.

Please attend -

or you risk being talked about!

You can also attend virtually, via Zoom.

The Annual Meeting will not be accessible via our website or Facebook - if you want to watch it from home, you must do it via Zoom. Here are the Zoom details:

Topic: Trinity Torrington's Zoom Meeting

Time: Jan 26, 2025 10:45 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/9944941441?pwd=R0sydU5DRHJFc2VDc3AvK2dHL3ozQT09&omn=86337198183

Meeting ID: 994 494 1441

Passcode: Trinity

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One tap mobile

+19292056099,,9944941441#,,,,*9772416# US (NY)

+13017158592,,9944941441#,,,,*9772416# US (DC)

Mtr. Carrie's Maternity Leave

Mother Carrie will be on maternity leave from now until April 7^th (the Monday before Palm Sunday) with a combination of vacation and paid leave. During that time, our services of Holy Eucharist will be covered by two wonderful retired local clergy: the Rev. Marilyn Anderson and the Rev. Evelyn Wheeler. Emergency pastoral coverage for the first part of leave will be handled by Rev. Marilyn, and after that by a familiar face, the Rev. Nikolaus Combs.

The full document explaining who to contact about what, and how, can be found here.

If you have an announcement or event that you would like publicized, or if you are a parishioner involved in an event that you would like to share with the parish, please send it to The Portal at announcements@trinity-torrington.org, and we can then direct your announcement to the best method of communication.