About Us

With Worship Services commencing in 1901, Trinity Chapel has become a mainstay in the town of Shirley and surrounding communities. Early services in homes were replaced in September 1902 by permanent quarters in the newly constructed and dedicated Trinity Chapel.

In its development it has been closely associated with Groton School, Church of the Good Shepherd, Clinton, MA and Episcopal Divinity School. In May 1984, Trinity Chapel became a full-fledged parish in the Diocese of Massachusetts. Today, it functions both as an individual parish and as a part of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. In addition, it has for many years shared a joint summer worship program with the United Church of Shirley.

Although it began as a local church, its community now includes parishioners from Lunenburg, Fitchburg, Groton, Ayer, Harvard, Leominster, Stow, Townsend and Cambridge.

Trinity Chapel is very much a family-oriented congregation - the participation of our youth in all aspects of our church is strongly encouraged. One young person is an active member of our Vestry, while another is redoing our website as a community service task. Our Sunday school starts at the same time as our weekly service, then the youth join the congregation at the Peace for the remainder of the service. The occasional noisy infant attending a service will be greeted with smiles of commiseration.

We are a very ecumenical congregation: many of our current parishioners were brought up in different churches. Our annual Seder Supper (which is led by someone of the Jewish Faith) is one of the best-attended social/faith-based activities of the year! Our leader explains the meaning of the Seder as we proceed, and when the youth have stopped sweating from the horseradish a wonderful meal is quickly dispatched!

Among the challenges we face are the small size of our congregation and limited resources. We are fortunate to own the historic Rectory next door, and we enjoy a spacious lot of roughly three acres (including the rectory).

Most parishioners also serve Trinity in some capacity: acolytes, vestry, Altar Guild, search committee, our growth and membership committee, and on the various ad-hoc committees that are formed throughout the year to organize the various activities we put on. An example of this is our annual Strawberry Festival. This is our biggest fund-raiser of the year. Virtually the entire parish pitches in to put on this event, and it's a wonderful small-town fair with a strong community feel. We also have spring and fall rummage sales, a Christmas Fair, an Epiphany party, and various other social events throughout the year.

• More information about our historic rectory and how to make a donation to our restoration fund.