St. Mary's Church, Barnstable

St. Mary’s Outreach Committee and ECW annually disburse overly $50,000 to international, national, and local partners in mission. Please visit the links below to learn more about the groups we support.

Local groups we support:

• Housing Assistance Corporation (homelessness prevention)
• Homeless not Hopeless
• Cape Cod Child Development
• The Family Pantry
• Solid Rock Prison Ministry
• Bridge to Hope (for women transitioning from jail)
• Amazing Grace of Cape Cod (a summer camp for children whose parents are incarcerated)

National groups we support:

• Rosebud Episcopal Mission

International groups we supports

• Nets for Life, Malaria prevention program
• Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance, Women Caregivers Program
• Himalayan Cataract Project
• The Water Project

Kids’ Summer Meals (formerly Food4Kids)

This seasonal feeding program began at St. Mary’s in the summer of 2016 and runs daily, Monday through Thursday from June through August. KSM is a partnership between St. Mary’s, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and other faith-based and community agencies. KSM addresses childhood hunger on the mid-Cape, where one in three children is food-insecure, especially in the summertime when there are no school lunches. Volunteers come to help assemble sandwiches in the kitchen, pack the coolers and deliver food to a growing number of sites around the mid-Cape and distribute the meals to the children. 

Learn at St. Mary’s: Children ages infant through 6th grade

At St. Mary’s we offer Christian formation for children from preschool age through middle school. Children’s Sunday School classes take place on Sunday mornings from 9:30 a.m. through approximately 10:40 a.m., when the children join their families in Church at the exchange of the Peace. We celebrate a special Joy Mass for children in the Parish Hall on the fourth Sunday of every month beginning at 9:30 a.m.. Following Joy Mass the children report to Sunday School and parents are invited to join us for coffee, conversation and forums for families.

Nursery

Newborn through age 3

Nursery Care is available in a cozy, sun-filled room full of age-appropriate toys, books and art supplies. Please know children are always welcome in the church! However, Nursery is a wonderful option for little ones who are more content to play on Sunday mornings. All people, regardless of age, are welcome to receive Holy Eucharist. Many families using the Nursery bring their little ones up to Church in time to receive the bread and wine on Sunday mornings. All families are encouraged to pick up their children immediately after the service in order to participate in fellowship during coffee hour.

Godly Play

* Age 3 – Grade 1

* Grades 2 & 3

Godly Play is a reflective and imaginative way of working with children which explicitly recognizes and respects children’s innate spirituality. Godly Play uses lyrical storytelling accompanied by beautifully hand-crafted wooden figures to bring the sacred stories of the Bible to life. The children are invited to gather on the floor in an intimate circle around the storyteller to hear and see the story each week. When the storyteller has finished, the children are asked “wondering questions” designed to help them reflect on the story and make their own meaning. Godly Play helps children become more fully aware of the mystery of God’s presence in their lives by, encouraging curiosity and imagination in experiencing the mystery and joy of God. Children are then given free time to create artistically in any manner they feel inspired.

Feasting on the Word

* 4th – 6th Graders

Our preteen group graduates from Godly Play to a curriculum designed specifically for them called Feasting on the Word. Our goal is to meet these kids where they are spiritually. The resources are developed specifically for preteens and use a combination of Scripture study and lots of physical activities. Our primary focus with this group is to help them recognize the gifts God has given them, celebrate their own creative potential and learn how to act as a community of faith.

“Open Circles” are neighborhood-based small groups designed to help us extend friendship to others and to support one another in the challenge of living out our faith. We are made in the image of a God of relationships – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and through relationships the abundant love of the Trinity is poured into us. Open Circles give us the chance to connect with each other and bear God’s love and care into each other’s lives. Throughout Holy Scripture, we read that God hears our cries and responds us in many ways, most dearly in the gift of his Son, Jesus. Just as God hears and responds to us, so are we called to listen to each other and reach out to those who have not yet felt the healing love and grace of God. Open Circles are places where everyone’s story is welcome, and everyone has the chance to be heard. Each member of St. Mary’s has been “mapped” into an Open Circle that meets in homes.

The Rosebud Episcopal Mission was established in 1875 on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in south-central South Dakota, the home of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (The Burnt Thigh Nation). Part of the Diocese of South Dakota, the Rosebud Mission has 11 active congregations: The Church of Jesus (Rosebud); Trinity Church (Mission); Grace Chapel (Soldier Creek); Holy Innocents' Church (Parmelee); Holy Spirit Church (Ideal); St. Paul's (Norris); St. Thomas (Corn Creek); Tiwahe ed Wacikiyapi, Norris (an outreach of St. Paul's and St. Thomas); St. Philip and St. James (White River); All Saints, Milks Camp; and Calvary Church (Okreek).

Our clergy: The Rt. Rev. John Tarrant, Bishop; The Rev. Dr. Lauren R. Stanley (Western side); The Rev. Annie Henninger (Eastern side); The Rev. Webster Two Hawk (White River); and The Rev. Deacon George Medicine Eagle.

Since 2015 St. Mary's has organized an annual Mission Trip to Rosebud with The Rev. Dr.Lauren Stanley with a mix of youth and adults to do projects on the reservation and to learn more about God is working through God's people on the reservation. It is a mutually enriching experience for our parishioners and the people we serve.

“THE YOUTH” is open to all teens in grades 7-12 and their friends. We usually gather on the first and third Sunday of the month from 4:30pm to 6:00pm. At our meetings, we check in about our lives, plan upcoming activities, and learn about ourselves, society, spirituality, and healthy relationship. In addition to learning together, we also have lots of fun! Bowling, lock-ins, trips to the beach, cooking meals together…. come join THE YOUTH!

Special Projects

The YOUTH frequently participate in fun activities:

Every 2-3 years, we build a boat in partnership with the Maritime Museum in Hyannis. This builds our youth community and connects us with the maritime history of wooden boat-building on Cape Cod.

We have also built fantastic floats for and participated in the Barnstable Village Fourth of July Parade, where we won first place in July 2016 for a fantastic rendition of Noah’s Ark!

The YOUTH also partner with our Holy Smokes woodsplitters group to chop wood from dead and fallen tree to sell as firewood. Chopping wood also gives us great practice for our Summer Mission Trip, where wood splitting is one of our biggest service projects.

Summer Mission Trip

For the past two years, the Youth of St. Mary’s have travelled to the Rosebud Episcopal Mission at the Rosebud Lakota Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. Click here to follow our first trip in 2015. Going forward, this mission trip has also been opened up to the adult members of the parish. Everyone is welcome to follow us as we travel to Rosebud again in April 2018.

Youth Outreach

In addition to our big Summer Mission Trip to Rosebud, the YOUTH also participate in many outreach projects throughout the year.

In January, the YOUTH join with the Cape Cod Council of Churches’ Youth StreetReach outreach ministry to the homeless in downtown Hyannis, hosted at the Federated Church. This opportunity to meet and care for our homeless brothers and sisters is an eyeopening experience and prepares the YOUTH for greater engagement with social justice issues as they mature to adulthood.

In March, after the snow has melted revealing the detritus of winter, the YOUTH clean up trash and debris at local ponds, like Hathaway Pond, and local beaches.

In August, the YOUTH and other parishioners collect school supplies and backpacks for the children served by Cape Cod Child Development.

In December, the YOUTH organize, shop, and wrap gifts for teens and children identified through Department of Children and Families (DCF) and supported through a grant from our Outreach Committee.

Youth Formation

When the YOUTH engage in times of learning, we use the Journey 2 Adulthood (J2A) curriculum, which explores the themes of Spirituality, Self, Society, and Sexuality as means of learning more about ourselves, our world, and God.

Miracle Kitchen

On the first, third, and fifth Wednesdays of each month, St. Mary’s prepares lunch for seventy five guests at the Salvation Army.  We welcome volunteers to help cook, deliver, and serve the meals. 

Faith Neighborhood Kitchen

The first Monday night of each month, St. Mary’s prepares dinner for over 150 people who come to Faith Assembly of God church in Hyannis.  It is profoundly moving to talk with and serve the men, women, and children who come for a hot meal. 

Thanksgiving Meals

Through the Community Action Committee of Cape Cod and the Islands, St. Mary’s helps provide Thanksgiving meals for our struggling neighbors during this season of gratitude. Last year we provided 178 needy families with a very special holiday meal. We would love your help organizing this program, or at Thanksgiving time, donating food or grocery cards. 

Days of Hospitality

One day each month, St. Mary’s hosts community members who stay in local homeless shelters for a day of fellowship, games, and delicious food. We would love your help driving from Hyannis to the church, cooking the meal, and visiting with our guests during their time at St. Mary’s. Especially during the winter months, the days of hospitality are a lovely respite from cold and lonely days. 

Our goal is to let every parishioner and their families know the love and care of God during difficult times of transition. We hope and pray that all will feel welcome bringing concerns to our team and we pray that we will continue to serve our parish faithfully in Jesus’ name.

Churches can be places of healing. Through the church, we come to understand the meaning of health as the harmony of body, mind, and spirit and living in relationship with God and with each other. We offer healing prayers during communion at all of our weekend services, and a weekday Healing Eucharist on Wednesdays at 10:00 am. Through our pastoral care team, we can reaffirm the church’s role in ministering to the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. We can become God’s instruments of healing.

The pastoral care team coordinates with the Eucharistic Visitors to bring communion to shut-ins, help get transportation for parishioners who need a ride to church, make friendly visits to people at home, visit people in the hospital, nursing homes, rehab centers or other facilities, and deliver food to parishioners.  Our parish nurse is available to help monitor parishioners health needs. We also receive parishioner prayer requests and concerns about others in need.

Daily Hospital Visits

Each day of the week, members of our clergy team visit Cape Cod Hospital.  If you or your loved ones are admitted to the hospital, please indicate that you are a parishioner at St. Mary’s so that we can visit and pray with you.

Our mission: “As Christ’s body in the world, we are called to act as faithful stewards of the rich resources we receive from God and to engage in a ministry of environmental conservation, preservation, education, and advocacy in the parish, the local community, and the larger world.”

Environmental Stewardship efforts are an ongoing part of life at Saint Mary’s. We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint in the world as a church by lowering operating expenses for light, heat, and power. Expenses for paper products will also go down as we successfully substitute using white board instead of making paper copies for meeting agendas, use paperless communication like email, or simply copy on the back of paper headed for the recycling bin. We use ceramic mugs and reusable plastic glasses at our coffee hour, reducing our need to purchase and discard the hundreds of throw-away cups. In the gardens, we have begun the transition to organic lawn care and are confident that with careful timing of lawn treatments, we can have a healthy, attractive lawn at no additional cost, while safeguarding surrounding wetlands. In 2009, we installed rain barrels and funded a well, two further cost-saving measures. The payback period on the well is estimated at 3-4 years.

B.E.A.S.T.S.

St. Mary’s BEASTS (Be Engaged – Animal Stewardship Through Service) is a group that is dedicated to improving the lives of animals and educating parishioners. Mission Statement We are a group which through God’s grace and our own hard work is determined to:

• Help Christians recognize that animals are fellow creations of God and to respect and treat them as such
• Act concretely in our church community to better the lives of all animals and to include them in our spiritual lives and our liturgies
• Answer, to the very best of our ability, God’s call to be good stewards in the lives of animals

By doing these things we hope to open minds and hearts to St. Basil’s prayer and, “…realize that they live not for us alone, but for themselves and for thee, and that they too love the sweetness of life.

St. Mary's is the founding church of Amazing Grace of Cape Cod, a one week residential camp program at Camp Burgess in Sandwich for children from Cape Cod and the South Shore whose parent is or has been incarcerated.  In 2013 a group of interested parishioners gathered to model a local program based upon other similar programs throughout Episcopal dioceses.  After the first year of the camo in 2014, Amazing Grace became a stand-alone 501C3 organization in 2015 but still has strong ties to Episcopal Churches in the Cape & Islands deanery. 

St. Mary's provides many different forms of support for Amazing Grace: volunteers to serve on the board and as mentors at camp, monetary donations and support for the many year-round activities of the program.

​​​​​​Sacred Ground is dialogue series on race, grounded in faith.  Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race, racism, and whiteness while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity. The 10-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories.

Sacred Ground is part of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society.  This series is open to all, and especially designed to help white people talk with other white people.  Participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day – all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.