St. Bernard's Church Appoints Rev. Franklin Vilas as Priest-in-Charge

BERNARDSVILLE, N.J., – St. Bernard’s Episcopal Church has announced the appointment of the Rev. Franklin E. Vilas, D. Min., as Priest-in-Charge.

The Rev. Vilas, known informally as “Skip,” is already well known to St. Bernard’s and nearby parishes, having preached numerous times in recent months at St. Bernard’s and previously serving as interim rector at St. Luke’s in Peapack-Gladstone and St. Mark’s in Basking Ridge.  Skip comes to St. Bernard’s as part of a team with his wife, Joyce.

“On behalf of the wardens, vestry and all our parishioners, we are delighted to welcome Skip and Joyce to St. Bernard’s,” said Lorraine Sciara-Kelley, senior warden.  “Skip is bringing to our historic church a wealth of experience, great ideas and inspiring leadership, which will help guide us to a new chapter of growth and community service.”

Said the Rev. Vilas, “St. Bernard’s is an exceptionally beautiful and welcoming church, and I’m excited about the opportunity to teach and lead in this parish, and to build on its tradition of giving to the community and offering a place where all can come for spiritual healing and learning.”

            The Rev. Vilas has served as curate at St. Mark’s Church, New Canaan, Conn., and rector of St. John’s in Beverly Farms, Mass., St. Anne’s in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., and St. Paul’s in Chatham, N.J.  In the 1970’s, he was Priest-in-Charge of Trinity Church, Wall Street, and St. Paul’s Chapel in Lower Manhattan.  He served for five years as Program Director of the Diocese of Connecticut, and for six as Executive Director of Wainwright House Conference Center in Rye, N.Y.  Since retirement from St. Paul’s in Chatham in 2000, the Rev. Vilas and his wife Joyce have served as an interim team at several churches in New Jersey.

During his career, the Rev. Vilas has been active in the field of mental health and in the ministries of environmental stewardship and ecojustice.  He is the founder of the national Episcopal Environmental Network (www.eenonline.org) and of GreenFaith, an interfaith statewide organization in New Jersey (www.GreenFaith.org).  He serves on an interfaith advisory committee to the United Nations Environment Programme and is a board member of the Highlands Coalition.  He was born and grew up in New York City, attended Yale University and Virginia Theological Seminary, and was ordained to the Priesthood of the Episcopal Church in 1960.  The Vilas’ live in the Heath Village retirement community in Hackettstown, N.J.

Under his agreement with St. Bernard’s, the Rev. Vilas is expected to be Priest-in-Charge for six months and possibly longer, depending on what may be optimal for the church.  He has come out of retirement in order to lead St. Bernard’s, so the church will be continuing a search for a more permanent Priest-in-Charge.  The church’s prior rector, the Rev. William F. Feus, resigned in July 2012 in order to pursue a career in teaching.

The Rev. Vilas is currently working at St. Bernard’s primarily three days a week, with office hours typically Tuesdays and Wednesdays plus Sundays.  He is regularly ministering to sick and homebound parishioners, so those seeking to meet with him in his Parish House office should plan to call ahead.

HISTORY/BACKGROUND:  St. Bernard’s Church has been an integral part of the Bernardsville community for more than a century while also playing a key role in the growth of Episcopal churches in the region.  Under the leadership of the Rev. Thomas A. Conover, rector from 1899 to 1939, St. Bernard’s provided the impetus for the creation of nearby satellite churches – in Gladstone (now St. Luke’s Episcopal Church), Millington (now All Saints) and Mine Mount (now St. John on the Mountain) – while also helping to reinvigorate St. Mark’s Church in Basking Ridge.  Today, these five parishes are often referred to as the “Conover churches.”

Built in 1897, St. Bernard’s Church was designed by renowned architect Napoleon LeBrun in the Gothic style of an English country church.  It features stained glass windows designed by legendary craftsman Charles Kempe, whose London firm C. F. Kempe Studios also created the stained glass at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.  Following a devastating fire in October 2004, the church underwent a major rebuild, which added important improvements such as a state-of-the-art organ and new HVAC system.  St. Bernard’s Church and Parish House were placed on both the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places in 2005. 

As a member of the U.S. Episcopal Church, St. Bernard’s is part of the global Anglican Communion, a world-wide fellowship of Christians whose faith and worship derive historically from the Church of England.  St. Bernard’s welcomes all who worship Jesus Christ and seek unity with God and each other in Christ.  The church is located at 88 Claremont Road, Bernardsville, N.J., and can be reached at (908) 766-0602.  The web site address is:  www.stbernardsnj.org.

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