Our Mission
St. Paul’s welcomes all. Our mission, as stated in the Book of Common Prayer’s catechism, is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” Members of St. Paul’s seek to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36–40).
St. Paul’s in winter
St. Paul’s is a small but diverse and inclusive parish located in Salem, New York’s historic district. Worship is the focus of parish life. The liturgy is traditional and contemplative and is enriched by fine music accompanied by organist Bill Briggs on the parish’s historic E. & G.G. Hook organ.
Sunday mornings at St. Paul’s include traditional liturgy with hymns, a sung mass, and a gradual psalm sung antiphonally by cantors and the congregation. On special occasions, additional music enhances the liturgy.
Services take place either at 10:30 a.m. or noon, depending on the Sunday.
Holy Eucharist led by the Rev. Meaghan Keegan or the Rev. Gary Strubel takes place on the first and third Sundays of the month at noon, and morning prayer is offered on the second, fourth, and occasionally fifth Sundays of the month at 10:30 a.m.
During the winter of 2024, St. Paul’s has moved its worship to the more intimate (and warmer!) white clapboard rectory behind the church. Please join us!
St. Paul’s in the community
St. Paul’s is a budding ecumenical center of Salem. It hosts book discussion groups at various times during the year, has become the home of a series of popular and well-attended ecumenical services during Advent and Lent, and provides a venue for recitals, concerts, and other events in its church building. With the addition of a donated baby grand piano in 2021, St. Paul’s looks forward to hosting even more concerts and recitals.
Host to Salem food pantry
In 1976, St. Paul’s refurbished and rededicated its Burton Hall, a remnant of St. Paul’s Hall, the parish school run by the church from 1882 to 1893. The building has served as home to various activities in the larger community. Its current incarnation is as the Salem Food Pantry, a joint effort of the ecumenical community in the communities served by the Salem schools.
The pantry is open on Saturday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and by appointment and provides a variety of packaged, fresh, and frozen foods to members of the community who are in need.
As well as hosting the food pantry, St. Paul’s is active in its operation with members of the church helping to staff it.
A vital presence
Through the years, St. Paul’s has been an integral and vital member of the Salem community. Its priests have baptized and confirmed hundreds of local residents, it established and ran its parish school, St. Paul’s Hall, and through the twentieth century and into the present its members continue to worship and pray within its walls, while providing outreach and support to the wider community.