I am a newbie to Carlisle having moved here in July from Media, PA. My husband and I are in the unique situation of both being Episcopal priests and, in this move, I followed him as he was called to be the new rector (head pastor) at St. John’s Episcopal Church on the Square. Certainly, inherent in a move with three young children, is the question of location and quality of life.  We loved the fact that St. John’s is situated in the heart of the downtown and we purposely sought out a home within walking distance of the church and downtown.  Ironically, we purchased the Church House and are the first clergy couple to choose to live in a church and call it home.

I am have just been named as an associate rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church. I start this month and I will be working as the priest in charge of pastoral care and welcome. I can’t wait to establish ties with Dickinson College, local downtown churches, and folks who are interested in the expression of their faith in mind and body.  It will be my first time living and working in the same community and I am truly grateful for this opportunity. Interestingly enough, it will also be the first time I will be worshipping in the same place as my kids–can’t wait for their sermon critiques.

In the meantime, I am trying to discern my vocation in the community as well.  I have become connected with the PTO at Mooreland Elementary and am eager to be a voice for appropriate class sizes for both teachers and students. I have reached out to those who are from Tanzania in Carlisle and hope that we can soon create an East African community gathering and continue to practice our Kiswahili. My interest in this comes from having  lived in Tanzania for three years after the refugee crisis in Rwanda. My time in Tanzania has left me particularly cognizant of the challenges of immigrants and refugees.  Additionally, church life creates immediate communities, and through church, we have already been able to volunteer for Carlisle Cares and support our own in house project S. P. Y (Summer program for youth). We are grateful for how easy it is to integrate into service opportunities in Carlisle.

One of my friends came to visit and she described Carlisle as a mix between quaint and cosmopolitan. I believe she is on to something.  I love the fact that Dickinson offers Latin Club to my children, that the music program at Dickinson and St. John’s so often overlap, that we can walk all over town for coffee and restaurants. One of the selling points to our eleven year old in the move was Bosler Library. He likes it so much that we bought him an LLBean bag just for his books. He can walk there by himself, email us that he arrived safely, and email us when he is about to walk home. Carlisle makes independence for pre teens a real privilege. We also love that the YMCA is in the heart of town and ran our first family turkey trot last week.  I am sure there is more for us to discover as we hunker down here and find friends and build community.

In all honesty. I have not encountered many challenges in Carlisle other than I have had to explain to my children what confederate flags are–as we have seen them on a fair amount of licence plates here.  We only moved here from the suburbs of Philly, but it seems this region has a marked identification with the South, which I would not have expected.  The events in Charlottesville this summer were especially challenging to my family, as I have a brother who lives there, and some of his children are children of color. We were very happy to participate in the peaceful gathering on the square in Carlisle and were heartened by the diverse crowd in attendance and the thoughtful remarks by community leaders.

I hope that my family and I can continue the bringing together of various communities in Carlisle. Carlisle is unique in that people live in close proximity and that allows true socio-economic diversity that often does not exist in the burbs. Certainly, this can also be a challenge, but I think of it as a strength. I hope we can foster relationships throughout the town and especially with those whom we would call neighbors.  This is where I see such creative potential in the Color Carlisle project and would like to help be a part of this unique vision to bring unity and a sense of collective vision to our town. – Pastor Melissa Wilcox, St. John’s Episcopal Church