“Q. Who are the ministers of the Church?
A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons,
bishops, priests, and deacons.”
Clergy
The Rt Rev’d Sally French, XIII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
Bishop French is the chief pastor of parishes, missions, and special ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, including the Episcopal Church at Princeton. She oversees our ministry, counsels our chaplain, and chairs the Campus Ministry Foundation that supports ECP and other campus ministries in the diocese. Read more about Bp Sally here.
She can be contacted at sfrench@dioceseofnj.org.
The Rev'd Allen Wakabayashi, Chaplain
Fr. Allen serves as the Chaplain at ECP. He is married to his wife, Mtr. Diane Mumma-Wakabayashi who is also an ordained priest in the Diocese of NJ.
Born and raised in Chicago, IL in a Japanese-American Christian community, Fr. Allen comes to ECP after having served in campus ministry for many years, primarily with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at campuses in Illinois. His longest stretch of ministry was at Northwestern University (1995-2008) where he directed a large campus ministry (~375 undergraduate students, 5-7 staff) seeking to embody the reconciling love of Christ across barriers of race and culture and proclaim the gospel on campus.
In 2008, Fr. Allen became the Associate Pastor at non-denominational university-town church that regularly drew about 250 students from the nearby campus of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign).
After having served in various Protestant and Evangelical church settings, Allen felt irrevocably drawn into the Anglican/Episcopal Tradition. The sacraments, tradition, sacred mystery… it opened up the life of faith in transformative ways. “It was like all of a sudden my faith went technicolor with an explosion of sights and sounds and smells!” And so, along with his wife, Allen was ordained to the priesthood. For his entire adult life, Allen has felt the call to share the love of Christ with university students and serve the university community. He continues that here at Princeton as ECP’s Chaplain.
Fr. Allen earned his B.A. in Psychology at Millikin University in Illinois. He then earned a Master’s degree from Wheaton College Graduate School in World Missions/Intercultural Studies (1989). After completing additional coursework at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Fr. Allen went to complete a Master’s Degree at Loyola University of Chicago (Jesuit) in Biblical Theology/New Testament where he took advanced coursework in New Testament, Papyrology, first-century Hellenistic Jewish literature and Soteriology (2005). Fr. Allen later prepared for ordination in the Episcopal Church at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin. In his free time, weather permitting, Fr. Allen loves to go out on his kayak to fish for bass on nearby lakes and ponds. Fr. Allen can be reached at allenmw@princeton.edu, 217-979-7137 (text/call), or on Facebook at fb.com/allen.mitsuo.
STAFF
Lily Leonard, Treasurer
Lily brings an extensive background in finance and administration to her work at ECP, having served as AssistantVice-President for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a US securities firm in Hong Kong. She subsequently lived and worked in London, Dublin, and Cape Town over the last two decades, including as an administrator for a mathematics program in partnership with the University of Cape Town and Princeton in Africa. She returned to the US in 2002 and continues to work on overseas infrastructure development projects in both Afghanistan and Colombia. An active member of Trinity Episcopal Church, where she serves on the acolyte guild and Grounds Committee, Lily is an avid sportswoman and accomplished international mountaineer completing the seven summits (scaling the highest peak on all seven continents). She lives in Skillman, NJ with her husband of 35 years and can be reached at lilyleonard@gmail.com.
Joseph Ferguson, Director of Music
Connor oversees all aspects of sacred music at ECP, working with Lux Choir and serving as the conductor and choirmaster. Joseph is also the Associate Music Director at Trinity Princeton.
Email Joseph at fergusonj@trinityprinceton.org.
Seminarians
ECP hosts anywhere from 2 to 4 seminarians from Princeton Theological Seminary for field education supervision over the academic year (and, by special arrangement, over the summer), including one seminarian in the Teaching Ministry program.
Most often, seminarians come from within the ECP community: seminarians who have been a part of the worshipping body and exhibited particular gifts for ministry that could benefit the whole. Appointments are made in consultation with the chaplains and PTS Field Education Office. If you are interested in exploring a field ed internship at ECP, we would encourage you to first attend our Sunday (8pm Eucharist, Princeton University Chapel) and then speak to our Chaplain after the service.
ECP and Trinity Episcopal Church also work in partnership to lead a PTS Anglican Formation cohort open to all seminarians at ECP, Trinity, All Saints' Princeton, and other Anglican/Episcopal field ed sites within the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey and beyond. Seminarians interested in joining this formation cohort should first secure a field ed placement at an Anglican/Episcopal site in the area and then contact Mtr Kara Slade (kslade@princeton.edu) to express interest in joining.