Fr. J. Taylor Albright
Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church, Tariffville, Connecticut
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Taylor and Kitty come to us from Southwick, Mass, where Taylor had served as priest since 2003.
Southwick Community Episcopal Church was a church Fr. Taylor and Kitty helped to plant. Trinity members: John Bald, George and Linda Lynch, and Josh and Sarah Thayer were part of the original launch team whose call was to establish a church that reached out, not to Episcopalians in the area, but to people who had given up on church altogether. |
Kitty grew up in West Hartford and currently works in Farmington as an analyst contracted by United Technologies. She is an avid sport fan, especially of the Boston Bruins. "I didn't grow up watching hockey, but when my nephews and nieces started playing, I caught the bug!"
Taylor was born in Virginia and grew up in the Baltimore area. "I came to New England for seminary and thought I would be moving back south. I didn't figure that Tariffville was as far South as I would ever get. God certainly does have a sense of humor."
Following seminary, Kitty and Taylor moved to Western Massachusetts, where Taylor worked in a community mental health program in Holyoke. There he ran four 24-hour halfway houses for adults with severe mental health issues.
"I think God used a very non-church kind of environment- clients and staff who felt they were at a great distance from God and who would have never considered church as a place they could attend or be welcomed, to shape the way I understood ministry. Without it, I would have never noticed the attention Jesus pays to people who seem so outside of the church loop we hold so dear."
In addition to his ministry as a priest, Taylor has served as the Chaplain of the Southwick Fire Department and part of the Massachusetts Corps of Fire Chaplains. He is a guitar player who has performed most recently in the Western Mass area, and a long time gym enthusiast. And, he has a passion for coffee!
While Kitty is a cradle Episcopalian, Taylor did not grow up in church. He credits his parents' personal transformation while in their early fifties as having the most significant impact on what led to his conversion at the age of twenty-one. That experience began a journey that led him into a variety of settings: a small, blue collar Pentecostal church, a lay religious order, youth and college ministries, and three very different seminary experiences, one Roman Catholic, one Evangelical, and one Episcopal.
Kitty and Taylor have two grown children: Jeremy and Katie. Jeremy and his wife, Alli, have a child, Grace, and live north of San Francisco. Katie, currently a first lieutenant in the Air Force, is working on her PhD at Michigan. She has a delightful puppy, Granger, a lab mix.
Taylor was born in Virginia and grew up in the Baltimore area. "I came to New England for seminary and thought I would be moving back south. I didn't figure that Tariffville was as far South as I would ever get. God certainly does have a sense of humor."
Following seminary, Kitty and Taylor moved to Western Massachusetts, where Taylor worked in a community mental health program in Holyoke. There he ran four 24-hour halfway houses for adults with severe mental health issues.
"I think God used a very non-church kind of environment- clients and staff who felt they were at a great distance from God and who would have never considered church as a place they could attend or be welcomed, to shape the way I understood ministry. Without it, I would have never noticed the attention Jesus pays to people who seem so outside of the church loop we hold so dear."
In addition to his ministry as a priest, Taylor has served as the Chaplain of the Southwick Fire Department and part of the Massachusetts Corps of Fire Chaplains. He is a guitar player who has performed most recently in the Western Mass area, and a long time gym enthusiast. And, he has a passion for coffee!
While Kitty is a cradle Episcopalian, Taylor did not grow up in church. He credits his parents' personal transformation while in their early fifties as having the most significant impact on what led to his conversion at the age of twenty-one. That experience began a journey that led him into a variety of settings: a small, blue collar Pentecostal church, a lay religious order, youth and college ministries, and three very different seminary experiences, one Roman Catholic, one Evangelical, and one Episcopal.
Kitty and Taylor have two grown children: Jeremy and Katie. Jeremy and his wife, Alli, have a child, Grace, and live north of San Francisco. Katie, currently a first lieutenant in the Air Force, is working on her PhD at Michigan. She has a delightful puppy, Granger, a lab mix.