became legal in the state. In 2005, South Church was one of the first churches in the Commonwealth to celebrate same-gender marriage.
come the 23-acre campus on School Street. The first school in the Commonwealth to be incorporated solely for the education of girls opened its doors to 70 students on May 6, 1829. Sarah Abbot and her husband over the years gave many books and aid to indigent students at Phillips Academy. She became Abbot’s first headmistress.
20th and 21st Century Collaborations
Other Close Ties Gil Talbot
Faculty and students have worshipped at South Church since the Academy’s beginning and continue to do so. In 1816, a church for the Theological Seminary was established on campus. One of its founders, William Bartlet, paid for the bricks and mortar of Bartlet Chapel. When South Church was building its fourth and current meetinghouse in 1860, and again in the 1990s when its sanctuary needed renovation, the two congregations shared worship on the Phillips campus. In the 1930s the Addison Gallery building was constructed on the site where Bartlet Chapel had been; on the other side of Chapel Avenue, Cochran Chapel became the new place of worship. The fifth pastor of South Church, Rev. Lorenzo L. Langstroth (1836–1839) also served as principal of Abbot Female Academy for one year. Interested in the culture of bees, Langstroth invented the comb and top opening hive —receiving a patent in 1852 for his design—still used by beekeepers worldwide. During the Revolutionary War, French welcomed British POWs who had been put to work at the gunpowder factory and were assigned to live with parishioners. “Our quarrel is with the English government,” said French, “not its people.” Given the choice, most British POWs remained after the Revolution. After serving South Church for 13 years (1839–1852), Rev. Dr. John L. Taylor became the treasurer of the Trustees of Phillips Academy and a teacher at the Academy. During his pastorate, South Church took special collections to support abolition and anti-slavery societies, a practice that led several South Church members to refuse to attend worship or take communion. South Church’s ministry of “radical welcome” continues. The congregation’s vote in 2004 to become “open and affirming” made it the first United Church of Christ parish in Massachusetts to do so after same-gender marriage
South Church purchased its current tracker organ from the Academy in 1935 at a greatly reduced price. Many South Church members have sung or played instruments in the Academy’s yearly Messiah performance to raise funds for organizations like Neighbor’s in Need and the American Red Cross. Phillips Academy's Gospel Choir has shared its music with South Church congregations for many years. In the 1990s the institutions shared the talents of Rev. Mike Ebner ’70 when he served as both Protestant Chaplain at the Academy and in Youth and Family Ministry at South Church. During this time he initiated mission trips to Johns Island, S.C., for youth groups of both institutions —outreach that continues today as the PA Community Service Alternative Spring Break Trip and the South Church Confirmation Class Mission Trip. In 2000, Ebner, PA Catholic Chaplain Michael Hall, and South Church Senior Pastor Cal Mutti initiated a joint ecumenical Ash Wednesday service that continues to be celebrated together. For the past two decades, a 6 a.m. Easter Sunrise service has combined the PA community and South Church for worship at Missionary Rock near Rabbit Pond. “The ducks always seem to chime in on the “Alleluia” part of Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” Mutti remembers. The end surely does depend on the beginning: we even find ancestors of Langstroth’s bees in the Phillips Academy seal. Neighbors since our beginnings several hundred years ago, Phillips Academy and South Church share an extraordinary legacy. Nancy Bailey Miller was a South Church deacon from 2002 to 2005, office manager of Cochran Chapel from 1991 to 2008, and taught English and ESL at Phillips Academy for 11 summers. Since her retirement from PA she has continued to teach Suzuki violin and has authored two books of poetry. She is the mother of three alumni—Sandy Miller ’91, Cynthia Miller Freivogel ’94, and Tom Miller ’96.
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