St. Mary’s is a congregation of the Episcopal Church, belonging to the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida. We are part of the worldwide Anglican Communion of 85 million Christians meeting throughout the world- related through communion with our Bishop and with the Archbishop of Canterbury. We affirm our faith with these precepts:

1) The Holy Scriptures of the Hebrew (Old) and Christian (New) Testaments, as containing all things necessary of salvation, and a being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.

2) The Apostles’ Creed, as the baptismal symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of Christian faith.

3) The two sacraments as ordained by Christ himself – Baptism and the Supper of the Lord – ministered with unfailing use by use of Christ’s words of institution, and the elements ordained by him.

4) The historic episcopate (Office of Bishops), locally adapted in the methods of administration, to the varying degrees of the nations and people called of God into the unity of his Church.

The threefold sources of authority in Anglicanism are scripture, tradition, and reason. This is found in the teaching of Thomas Aquinas in the 1200’s and promoted by Anglican theologian Richard Hooker in the 16th Century. This was commonly known as the “Threelegged stool.” As theology developed experience was added to create a “fourth leg.” The Holy Eucharist (communion) is our principal act of worship as Episcopalians. We are catholic, meaning that we join with faithful Christians worldwide in the confession and profession of the One Faith, One Lord, and One Baptism in Jesus.

In 1964 Joseph K. Singletary gave $20,000 to Christ Church in Bradenton to establish a mission. St. Mary’s was about to be born. That year the first organizational meeting was held with Suffragan Bishop William L. Hargrave, Reverend Fred T. Kyle, his Junior Warden, H. C. (Tom) Slaughter, along with thirty-two Episcopal communicants from the Palmetto area (all but two of whom were members of Christ Church). The bishop announced that Mr. and Mrs. Harry Foster of Clearwater had offered to provide the funds to enable the purchase of property on which to build the church. Their only request was that it be named “St. Mary’s”.

On October 17, 1965 the first worship service was held in the basement of the old Palmetto library. Two weeks later the congregation had already grown too large for the library and moved to the Palmetto Women’s Club.

On January 27,1966, the Diocese approved the plan of the newly incorporated St. Mary’s to purchase five acres located on Tenth Street West. Two months after that, Father Charles Fulton was chosen as Vicar, and May 12, 1966, at the Diocesan Convention, St. Mary’s was accepted as an Organized Mission- St. Mary’s was on its way!

The Grand Groundbreaking Ceremony took place on October15, 1966. Almost exactly nine months later the church and rectory were completed. On October 23, 1973 St. Mary’s became a parish at the annual Diocesan convention. The Memorial Garden plans were approved and constructed in 1978 for the internment of cremains of our departed parishioners. Groundbreaking for the new Parish Hall and Church Offices was held on Pentecost Sunday, May 30, 1982.

On June 1, 2013, The Rev. Glen Graczyk was appointed as Priest-in-Charge. In 2016 we celebrated our
50th Anniversary of the incorporation of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church at our Parish Christmas Party.

On November 8, 2017 The Reverend Glen Graczyk was installed as rector of St. Mary’s by Bishop J. Michael Garrison, Assisting Bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida.
The Reverend William de la Torre began serving as part-time priest for Latino Ministry on January 1, 2018.

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Senior Warden- Frank Grondahl, ffgskg@msn.com, (941)900-1009

Junior Warden- Bill Cooley, dcool12839@gmail.com, (518)796-2352, (518)791-2774

Treasurer- Lorraine Wood, ljhwood53@gmail.com, (941)447-3570

-Bevery Hunt, Huntb104@gmail.com, (941)228-1888

-Nancy Valenti, nancyval@hotmail.com, (941)729-1824

-Peggy Brogan, Pegbrogan48@gmail.com, (941)776-2869

*The vestry of St. Mary's consists of members elected at the annual parish meeting, for terms of three years. The Episcopal Church defines the vestry as “the legal representative of the parish with regard to all matters pertaining to its corporate property..." The basic responsibilities of the vestry are to help define and articulate the mission of the congregation, to support the church's mission by word and deed, to select the rector, to ensure effective organization and planning, and to manage resources and finances. (https://episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/vestry)