Join us on Sunday, March 5 at 4pm when The Reverend Dr. Elaine Ellis Thomas of All Saints speaks on how Hoboken’s fires inform her ministry. Admission is free and refreshments will be served. This event complements our Main Gallery exhibit, “The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982.“

Pastor Elaine began her ministry at All Saints on February 1, 2018. In addition to her duties as rector of All Saints, she is deeply involved in local ministry with the Hoboken Clergy Coalition and as chaplain of the Hoboken Fire Department. When Pastor Elaine began research for her doctoral program, she learned that the founding of All Saints (which combined St Paul’s on Hudson, Holy Innocents on Willow, and Trinity on Washington) coincided with the establishment of the Hoboken Shelter and In Jesus’ Name Charities, both of which grew out of the needs of people being burned out or priced out of their homes. This history is in the DNA of All Saints. The deeper she looked, the more stories she discovered, as the generational trauma persists to this day. Her work led to a dissertation entitled “The Mile Square Cathedral: The Church as Community Healer.”

Prior to her arrival in Hoboken, Pastor Elaine served as Associate Rector of St. Paul’s Memorial Church at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and was a central figure in the clergy response to the white supremacist events in the summer of 2017. A graduate of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and Drew Theological School at Drew University, she spent time at Coventry Cathedral in England and in Cape Town South Africa at the Institute for Healing of Memories, studying and training in reconciliation methodologies which are central to her ministry. She serves as president of the Standing Committee in the Diocese of Newark and was a member of the Presiding Officers’ Working Group on Truth & Reconciliation for the Episcopal Church. Pastor Elaine and her husband Tim live in the rectory with their Great Pyrenees, Ella, and a Siamese-Persian cat, Cocoa. She may be reached at ethomas@allsaintshoboken.com