This Week at Trinity

36 Main Street, Newtown, CT

Worship at 10am on Sundays

Please note: If you would like to make an announcement on Sundays, please email our Wardens Patrick and Christina to coordinate.

Search Process Update

Why did you come to Trinity and why do you stay? These are essentially the questions we'll be answering at an all-parish meeting on Sunday, October 18, in the Glover Room after church. We will break into small groups to talk about these specific questions. The information you share will inform a key part of our search for a rector. Later this year, Trinity will submit required documents to the diocese describing our parish and community and what we seek in a rector. The observation committee hopes that these documents will present as full a portrait of Trinity as possible. Your input matters!

If you've already provided your thoughts to the committee, you're still welcome to come and share with your fellow parishioners. If you can't make it on the 18th, there are lots of other ways to share your thoughts: look for flyers in the pews and at coffee hour or reach out to any members of the observation committee.

Here's who we are and how to reach us:

Lisa Mages (chair)

The Youth Commission is collecting candy for Trinity to support Newtown Main Street Halloween. Please bring donations and drop them off in the boxes at the entrance to the church.

🎃👻 Halloween Fun at Trinity! 🍬🧡

Halloween is just around the corner, and we’re getting ready for a spooktacular time at Trinity! Join us as we welcome the many, many trick-or-treaters who visit us each year. We’ll be handing out candy and lighting up Main Street with our wonderful Jack-o’-lantern display! 🎃✨

It’s a fun way to bring our community together and share some Halloween spirit with our neighbors.

We need YOU! We’re looking for as many volunteers as possible to help hand out candy, greet families, and make this a memorable evening for everyone.

Whether you can help for a little while or stay for the whole event, every extra set of hands makes a difference!

🧡 Want to volunteer? Click here to sign up.

Let’s make Halloween at Trinity a treat for the whole community! 🎃🍬👻

All Saints Sunday, November 1, 2026

We will celebrate All Saints Sunday on November 1 at our 10:00 a.m. service of Holy Eucharist.

We invite you to share the names of loved ones with the church office in advance if you would like their names read aloud during worship.

We also invite you to bring photographs of your saints—your loved ones—to place in the nooks and crannies of our historic Sanctuary. Oh, the stories such pictures tell! They are a visible reminder of an invisible truth: the communion of saints surrounds and upholds us, always.

As we age, the more saints we know. To grow older is to be filled with memory and grief—grief that sometimes melts into wisdom and, occasionally, flares into a deep and abundant joy at the beauty of this life and our relationships, even in the midst of loss.

All Saints Day is a day when we can almost see through the veil between this world and the next—a day when we glimpse eternity.

On this day, we remember the saints of Christian history who showed unusual courage, extravagant generosity, and peace in the face of adversity. We remember those who gave even their very lives.

And we remember our own saints: those who taught us courage and honesty, how to love and do justice, and how to walk humbly with God. Perhaps they were not famous people, but they were good and faithful. In their own ways, they helped build the kingdom of God on earth.

They are here with us. They are in us, among us, between us—all around us.

Bring a photograph. Share a name. Tell a story. And invite a friend to pray with us on All Saints Sunday as we celebrate the lives, love, and legacy of those who have gone before us.

Needs this Week:

Rice / Rice Sides

Open & Serve meals

Canned Fruit

Shampoo / Toiletries

Interested in a Men's Group at Trinity?

Would you be interested in joining a men’s group at Trinity? We’re exploring the idea of creating a welcoming space where men can come together to connect, share experiences, support one another, and grow in faith and friendship.

Possible discussion topics could include:

Religion & Faith: Exploring our beliefs and asking questions.
Spirituality: Deepening our spiritual lives and relationships with God.
Everyday Life: Talking about family, relationships, work, and the things we all navigate in our daily lives.

The goal is to create a comfortable, supportive environment where men can share openly, listen without judgment, and build meaningful connections.

Interested in being part of the conversation? Please reach out to Anthony Pellagrino to let us know! We’d love to hear from you and see how much interest there is. Once we have a better idea of who would like to participate, we can work together to choose a day and time to meet.

We look forward to exploring this opportunity to build fellowship and support within our Trinity community!

Trinity Youth Commission will participate this weekend in the New Haven Chapel on the Green. The Chapel on the Green is a weekly outdoor church service and community outreach program run by New Haven’s Trinity Church. Chapel on the Green is a 30-minute, open-air worship service held every Sunday at 2. It gathers a diverse, inclusive community of housed and unhoused people, as well as individuals facing poverty and mental or physical health challenges. Every Sunday, the service is followed by a hot, distributed meal for roughly 100 attendees.

This week, the Trinity Youth Commission will work in collaboration with the Mission and Outreach team to prepare and distribute the meal for the Chapel on the Green Community. This powerful show of service is a valuable opportunity for Youth to learn about the community but also grow in their own faith to become servants to others.

The Chapel on the Green experience includes:

Saturday, October 17 - 10 am: Hot meal preparation at the Trinity Kitchen
Sunday, October 18 - after service: Cold meal (sandwiches) preparation and caravan to New Haven
Sunday, October 18 - 2 pm: Chapel on the Green service in New Haven

Individual Youth members are invited to participate as much as their schedule allows. Families are encouraged to attend as well.

Preparations for Main Street Halloween continue. The Youth Commission seeks parish donations of candy for distribution to trick-or-treaters. Let’s fill the boxes at the entrances of the church!

In service,

Frank LaBanca

Jessica Gibson

Rebecca Merrick

Spotlight on Carolyn Fagerholm!

Trinity has been blessed to have Carolyn Fagerholm as our choir’s professional alto section leader since 2015, and this year we are delighted to officially appoint her as Trinity’s Cantor. You have already been seeing more of Carolyn during the chanting of Psalms, and we look forward to seeing her grow into this role further. At Trinity, Carolyn brings not only her beautiful voice, excellent musicianship, and a remarkable mastery of Anglican and Gregorian chant, but also a generous and encouraging spirit. The choir adores her, and her warmth and good humor help to create a collaborative and easy-going rehearsal atmosphere.

A Newtown native, Carolyn grew up immersed in the local music and theater scene, balancing competitive swimming with rehearsals and performances. Her musical journey took her to the University of North Carolina Wilmington for her bachelor’s degree in music where she performed in productions of the operas The Merry Wives of Windsor and Mozart’s The Magic Flute. In her senior year, Carolyn was the recipient of the William F. Adcock, Jr. Memorial Scholarship; an award based upon overall excellence in music, above-average academic record, and high performance standard. She continued her academic career at Bowling Green State University where she earned a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and deepened her experience in opera and music outreach. Carolyn has performed in numerous operas and musicals, sung with children’s opera companies, traveled to Austria with her university choir, and as an actress guest-starred on Law & Order: SVU just last year. She frequently performs in the chorus of the Yale Opera and loves to sing various genres of music.

Highlighting music across genres, on Friday, October 30, at 6:00 p.m. in our sanctuary, Carolyn will present Music, Magic, and Mischief: An Evening of Theater and Opera’s Favorite Bad Guys. With Halloween at the doorstep, this recital offers a playful look at some of music’s most memorable villains. We hope you’ll join us for this special evening celebrating Carolyn’s extraordinary talent and the many ways music can surprise and delight us. Donations of non-perishable food items to support Trinity’s Little Pantry are requested, so your evening of music can also help our neighbors. We are so grateful to have Carolyn as part of Trinity’s music ministry!

In Christ,

Jennifer

Signs of fall seem to be all around us; orange and yellow leaves on the trees, leaves gathering on the ground, and the familiar rhythms of new routines settling in. As the seasons change, we are reminded that joy is all around us, including in our Church School community! Over the last few weeks, we have explored the many examples of faith we can look to, from the biblical figures to you, the community of Trinity Church. It is a blessing to see the children growing in their understanding of what it means to be part of a church family.

This week in Church School we continue our story about Ruth. Last week we learned how Ruth had a difficult decision to make, to stay with her friend Noami, leaving behind what she knew, or to go back. We played a game of “Yes, No, Maybe” to explore how it can feel to face something new and unfamiliar. Now, we’ll discover how Ruth and Naomi meet new people who show them kindness in a new land. Together, we’ll stitch bookmarks to remind us that God is always with us, even in new places.

Next week after church on October 25th, come join us in the Glover Room for pumpkin fun! We will be carving pumpkins for the Great Pumpkin Challenge. There will also be paint available for the younger ones to paint pumpkins. It will be a good opportunity to connect with other families at Trinity. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Should you wish to make a donation to LL, please mail a check to First Congregational Church of Ridgefield (FCC), 103 Main Street, Ridgefield, Ct 06877. The memo line should read LLGD or click here.