The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Christmas worship services 2022, Wellesley churches

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Wellesley has many houses of worship that observe Christmas. Whether you’re looking for a service for the kids (complete with a pageant), beautiful music, candlelight, in-person, or a live-streamed experience, check below for a soul-lifting experience. Make sure to check individual websites as you make your plans.

Christmas Eve takes place on Sat., Dec. 24, followed by Christmas Day on Sun., Dec. 25.

First Church of Christ, Scientist

8 Rockland St, 781-235-1114
Regular services on Sunday, December 25, 10am

MetroWest Baptist Church

2 Brook St.  781-431-0828
Check their website for information

Milestone Church at Elmwood Chapel

42 Elmwood Rd.    781-235-6025
Check their website for information

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

79 Denton Rd., 781-235-7310

St. Andrew's Church, Wellesley

Dec. 24, 3pm, Christmas Eve Children’s service
Dec. 24, 5pm, Christmas Eve Family Eucharist service
Dec. 24, 10pm, Christmas Eve Choral Eucharist service
Dec. 25, 10am, Christmas Day service

 

St. John the Evangelist Parish (Catholic)

9 Glen Rd., 781-235-0045

St. Paul Parish (Catholic)

502 Washington St., 781-235-1060

Wellesley St. John, St. Paul Collaborative

Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills

309 Washington St., 781-235-9423
Check their website for information

Wellesley Congregational (Village) Church

2 Central St., 781-235-1988

Dec. 24, 4pm, Family service children’s pageant, sanctuary and livestream
Dec. 24, 7pm, Candlelight service with sanctuary choir, sanctuary and livestream
Dec. 24, 9pm Candlelight service with youth and alumni choir, sanctuary and livestream
Dec. 25, 10am, online worship only at this link (no in-person services)

Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

207 Washington St., 781-235-4424

Dec. 24,  3:30pm, family friendly, interactive pageant service for all ages
Dec. 24, 6pm, candlelight service that includes the beautiful sacred music of the Chancel and Handbell Choirs
Dec. 25, 10am service

Wellesley Friends Meeting (Quaker)

26 Benvenue St., 781-237-0268
Check their website for information

Linden Square, Wellesley
Riverbend, Natick

A history of helping: Wellesley Food Pantry seeks summertime donations

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There are some who might be surprised to learn that many Wellesley residents need help putting food on the table. After all, the US Census Bureau puts the 2020 median household income in town at $214K, so with numbers like that, where’s the need? The truth wasn’t publicly acknowledged in Wellesley until the late 1980s that many neighbors aren’t quite so flush and might need some help with the groceries. Seems that residents in need were going over to Natick to access the food pantry in that town, since Wellesley was without such a safety net.

Wellesley Food Pantry
Wellesley Food Pantry storage area. The Pantry was renovated a couple of years ago, and safety features such as enhanced lighting and a sprinkler system were added.

That changed in 1989, when the Wellesley Food Pantry opened its doors at Wellesley Hills Congregational Church thanks to the efforts of representatives from local houses of worship, along with Wellesley Friendly Aid board members. Once the ball got rolling, volunteers quickly stepped up to donate needed items, organize the shelves, and provide monetary support. Today the Pantry is supported by special programs like the annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive (which accounts for about 10% of the yearly donated food)  and the Wellesley Scouting for Food Drive (which brings in about 40% of food donations). Given that both those drives were canceled during the pandemic, the spike in monetary donations of $130,854 donated to the Pantry in 2021 was a welcome infusion of resources.

Wellesley Food Pantry
Fresh fruit and produce delivery in the basement kitchen of Wellesley Hills Congregational Church.

In addition, the Wellesley Food Pantry gets donations from area businesses, houses of worship, civic organizations, and everyday people who make room in their grocery carts each week for a few donations to run over to the Pantry. Village Table, a Wellesley-based organization set up during the pandemic to combat food insecurity, is also one of the Pantry’s partners, with the charitable group’s fully prepared, fresh, and nutritious meals a popular item among clients.

“We serve 174 families and 97 children,” said Pantry board of directors president Peter Lull in during an interview at the Pantry. “Usually our breakout is about a third of clients 18 years and younger, and about a third 65 years and older,” with the rest falling somewhere in between.

How to donate

There are two constants in the world of the Wellesley Food Pantry—donations are always needed, and space at the pantry is always limited.

Wellesley Food Pantry
Donations from area vegetable gardens.

“We don’t have a ton of storage space,” says Lull. “We ask that when people want to donate they really stick to the specific wish list we have because we don’t have the room to store a lot of excess inventory.”

Check the Pantry website for the wish list for items most in need at the moment. There are also collection bins at Roche Bros. and Whole Foods. Or you can do a curbside drop-off on Mondays, 2pm-3pm, at the west entrance of Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, 207 Washington St.

Largesse from vegetable gardens is also welcome. Residents can drop fresh produce donations on Tuesdays, 8am-11:30am, in the Wellesley Hills Church kitchen (from the west entrance, down the stairs and to the right before entering the assembly room).

Wellesley Food Pantry
Curbside drop-off of food items are accepted at the west entrance of Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, 207 Washington St., Mondays, 2pm-3pm. Over 70K bags of food were donated to the Pantry in 2021. 

Monetary donations are also welcome. On average the Pantry spends over $2,000 per week to purchase foods such as fresh vegetables and fruits, meats, eggbeaters and other perishable items, as well as non-perishables when donations are low. Almost all monetary donations ($130K in 2021) go directly to stocking the Pantry, as administrative expenses are minimal—the staff and management are all volunteers, and the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church provides the Pantry with rent-free space.

You can mail your check, payable to the Wellesley Food Pantry, to:
Wellesley Food Pantry
207 Washington Street
Wellesley, MA 02481

You may also donate using PayPal or a credit card.

How to volunteer

Helping out at the Food Pantry is one of those gigs in town that people tend to hang onto once they secure their spot. Lull has volunteered for over 15 years. “We are always willing to take names, but for the most part we’re pretty well staffed. We don’t get a lot of volunteer turnover,” he said.

He says there are several dozen regular volunteers and dozens of occasional helpers from Wellesley Service League, National Charity League, Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club, and more.

How to register for help from the Pantry

Support from the Wellesley Food Pantry is open to all qualified Wellesley residents. Residents needing Food Pantry assistance can register by email, mail, or in person with an appointment.  More information here.

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley
Wellesley Lacrosse

St. Paul Church in Wellesley to bring back the ring of historic bell

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St. Paul Catholic Church in Wellesley is looking to bring back the joyful noise of  its 96-year old historic church bell after many years of silence. It’s not that there’s anything seriously wrong with the gong itself—just a ringing mechanism that’s no longer functional, but that’s an easy fix. The larger reason the church chimes have been out of commission is because tests conducted by Salem-based engineering firm, Structures North, reflected that supports for the 3,000-lb. bronze instrument have weakened to the point where safety was compromised, making replacement of the old wooden beams essential.

St Paul Bell Tower, Wellesley
St. Paul Catholic Church is covered in scaffolding during repair work. Photo by Duncan Brown.

 

Work to get the bell back into tolling shape is underway. Scaffolding has gone up around the St. Paul bell tower so that the team from Aniceto Historical Restorations out of Milford can replace badly deteriorated wood framing that supports the bell; repair crumbling sections of the bell tower’s masonry; and repair the parapet. A crane will be brought in to lift the bell while new beams are put in place. The church may still be accessed through the main doors during construction.

St. Paul bell, Wellesley
St. Paul bell, Wellesley

“I am thrilled that St. Paul Parish is able to undertake this important project, which is being made possible by the generosity of our wonderful community. We look forward to the day when we can proudly ring the bell at St. Paul Church once again,” said Rev. Jim Laughlin in an email. Laughlin is recovering from injuries sustained in the spring when, as a pedestrian, he was hit by a vehicle. Although it will be some time before he can return to ministry, the pastoral staff including Rev. Bryan Hehir have things bell in hand. (Sorry, not sorry for the pun.)

St. Paul bell, Wellesley
As you can see in the lower left corner, the wooden beams that support the bell are badly deteriorated from decades of absorbing the bell’s reverberations.

An inscription on the bell notes that it was donated to the church in 1926 by Salvatore DeFazio and family. The DeFazio family is still a contributing force to be reckoned with around town. Salvatore’s great-grandson and Wellesley resident Tory DeFazio in a phone interview said soon after the church opened in 1916, Salvatore promised the pastor that he would donate a bell. Pastor Edward Welch held him to it. “It took my great-grandfather about ten years to raise the money, but he did it,” said DeFazio, owner of the Windsor Press in Wellesley Hills, a Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend committee member, and a past president of the Wellesley Historical Society

St. Paul church, Wellesley
Crumbling sections of the parapet, covered with protective mesh so that bits don’t break off and fall during construction, will be replaced as part of the project. The Celtic cross will be temporarily removed during work.

Total repair costs are expected to be over $485k. The parish has obtained a short-term loan from the Archdiocese of Boston for up to 75% of the budget. Income from St. Paul’s leasing of the school building to Star Academy will be helpful to cover part of the project, however, the St. Paul community has been called on to help repay the loan. You don’t have to be a church member to chip in, so if you enjoy hearing the peal of church bells, or just like the idea of preserving a part of Wellesley’s history, don’t be shy about contributing to the St. Paul Bell Tower Fund.

St. Paul church, Wellesley
Yes, I scaled the ladder to heaven to stand atop the parapet of St. Paul Church. I don’t make it a habit to climb around various structures in Wellesley. But I might once have taken a journey to the center of the earth inside the Babson Globe. 

Once repairs are complete, those who have been sauntering to mass, unprompted by the bell to quicken their pace, will lose their excuse to slide into the pews after the first, “Lord, hear our prayer.”

You know who you are.

St. Paul church, Wellesley
St. Paul Church sanctuary.

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Wellesley Friendly Aid

Easter Sunday services in Wellesley, 2022

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Easter falls on Sunday, April 17, 2022, and a happy one to those who celebrate the religious holiday. In-person services are back this year, and masks are encouraged by some churches, and required by others. For those who wish to celebrate at home, live streaming services will be available by most churches.

Whether you choose to attend in-person or online, all the services and masses will be celebratory, and all are welcome.

Make sure you check church websites for all the Holy Week details.

Thanks to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church for sponsoring this Easter services post.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
79 Denton Rd., 781-235-7310

St. Andrew's Church, Wellesley

First Church of Christ, Scientist
8 Rockland St, 781-235-1114

MetroWest Baptist Church
2 Brook St.  781-431-0828

Milestone Wellesley
42 Elmwood Rd.    781-235-6025

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

79 Denton Rd.  781-235-7310

Easter Sunday services, April 17, at 9am & 11am. The services will contain glorious Easter hymns and anthems, Easter readings, an Easter sermon, prayers, and the sharing of Holy Communion.

There will be a children’s Easter egg hunt at 10am, between the two services.

St. John the Evangelist Parish (Catholic)
9 Glen Rd., 781-235-0045

St. Paul Parish (Catholic)
502 Washington St., 781-235-1060

Easter Sunday services:
7:30am Mass at St. Paul
9am Family Mass at St. John (Upper Church with simulcast in Powers Hall)
9am Family Mass at St. Paul (Main Church with simulcast in Parish Hall)
11am Mass at St. Paul
12pm Mass at St. John

There is no Sunday 5pm Mass on Easter Sunday

UU Society of Wellesley Hills
309 Washington St., 781-235-7423

10:30am Easter Sunday service

Wellesley Congregational (Village) Church
2 Central St., 781-235-1988

Wellesley Village Church

 

Details:
7am Sunrise Service—outdoors and in the Chapel, with Village Table breakfast following
10am Celebration Service—sanctuary and livestreamed, with hand bells, brass, and choir
11:10am All Church Fellowship, with egg hunt on the church lawn

Wellesley Hills Congregational Church
207 Washington St., 781-235-4424

9am Family-Friendly Easter service
11am Easter service with Communion

Both services will be held in-person, with livestream offered as well

Wellesley Friends Meeting (Quaker)
26 Benvenue St., 781-237-0268

MORE:

Where to Worship in Wellesley

Wellesley Catholic churches seek all voices and stories during Synod process

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St. Paul Church, Wellesley
St. Paul Church, Wellesley

Question: When was the last time a Catholic pope asked what you thought? Yes you, the one who is so spiritually lapsed, it seems likely that your religious subscription could never be renewed? Yes you, the one who walks through the cafeteria of catholicism and chooses only dessert (“I’ll take a little Christmas, and a side order of absolution, please.”) Yes you, the one who’s not Catholic, or Christian, or even a believer in any higher power. Yes you, the true believer, the every Sunday mass-goer.

Answer: Never, until now.

As Father Jim of the St. John-St. Paul Collaborative in Wellesley explains, times are changing. In an announcement to parishioners, he shared that Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic church, has called for a Synod in the church, asking all to engage in, “listening deeply and allowing all voices to be heard, especially those on the margins.”

“Synod” comes from the Greek for “assembly” or “meeting,” and the Collaborative has been holding lectures and a discussion series, to which all are welcome. “Unlike past Synods,” Fr. Jim Laughlin said in an announcement, “this is not simply a discussion for the hierarchy, or for those on the inside—Pope Francis is calling all of us to express our faith, our hopes, and our dreams for the Church.”

Kelly Meraw, the Collaborative’s Director of Collaborative Pastoral Care, and one of the Synod discussion facilitators, said,”The Synod is for the purpose of growing and for changing the culture of listening within the church. It’s about listening, not about debate, or judgement.”

The next community lecture takes place with Fr. Bryan Hehir on April 7, 7pm, at the St. Paul parish hall, 502 Washington Street.

Learn more here about the Synod and how the process is unfolding worldwide

Deland, Gibson, Wellesley
Rick Cram, leader

Christmas worship services 2021, Wellesley churches

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Wellesley has many houses of worship that observe Christmas. In-person services are back this year, and masks are encouraged by some churches, and required by others. For those who wish to celebrate at home, live streaming services will be available by most churches.

Whether you choose to attend in-person or online, all the services and masses will be joyful, and all are welcome. Merry Christmas, Wellesley.

Wellesley Square Merchants, Holiday Stroll
Wellesley Square tree lighting, 2021.

First Church of Christ, Scientist

8 Rockland St, 781-235-1114

Regular services online on Sun., Dec. 26, 10am
All are welcome.

MetroWest Baptist Church

2 Brook St.  781-431-0828
See their website for more information.

Milestone Church

42 Elmwood Road, Wellesley, MA
781-235-6025

Since many families travel or host extended family from out of town for Christmas, Milestone offers two identical celebrations on Christmas Eve Eve (Thur., Dec. 23rd, 5pm & 7pm), with live music and an encouraging Christmas candlelight message.

Registration is not required, but encouraged to help ensure each family has a great experience.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

79 Denton Rd., 781-235-7310

St. Andrew's, Wellesley

 

St. John the Evangelist Parish (Catholic)

9 Glen Rd., 781-235-0045

St. Paul Parish (Catholic)

502 Washington St., 781-235-1060

Saint John/Saint Paul, Wellesley

Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills

309 Washington St., 781-235-9423

Fri., Dec. 24, 5:15pm: Candlelight & Caroling Christmas Eve service

Join Rev. Kelly and Director of Music Suzie Cartreine for a traditional service of Lessons and Carols, featuring carols sung by the UU Wellesley Hills Choir. The extended Musical Prelude starts at 5:15pm and worship at 5:30pm.

Wellesley Village Church

2 Central St., 781-235-1988

Thursday, December 23, 4:30-6:30pm: Eve of the Eve Sanctuary Open House, in-person and live streamed
Sanctuary open for candlelight prayer and music

Friday, December 24, Christmas Eve Worship, in-person and live streamed
4pm: Family Service with Children’s Pageant in the Sanctuary, in-person and live streamed
8pm: Candlelight Service with Sanctuary Choir, in person and live streamed
10pm: Candlelight Service with Youth and Alumni Choir in the Sanctuary, in-person and live streamed

Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

207 Washington St., 781-235-4424

Wellesley Hills Congregational Church

 

Wellesley Friends Meeting (Quaker)

26 Benvenue St., 781-237-0268

Dec. 24, 4pm: Gather in the Meeting House or on Zoom for a welcome interlude of peace at this busy time of year.  Worship by candlelight and firelight as the sun sets.

UU Wellesley Hills to hold Black Lives Matter vigil

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UU Wellesley Hills will hold its monthly, 15-minute, silent, Black Lives Matter Vigil on Tuesday, September 7, 6pm in front of the church at 309 Washington St.

BLM vigil, Wellesley
BLM vigil, Wellesley. Photo credit: UU Wellesley Hills

Everyone is invited to stand and honor Black lives harmed and lost, and those victims of racial violence and injustice, known and unknown.

Questions: info@wellesleyhills.org

EVENT: UU Wellesley Hills Black Lives Matter Vigil
DATE: Tuesday, September 7th
TIME: 6pm-6:15pm
LOCATION: 309 Washington St., Wellesley, MA