The Rev. Vincent G. (Father Chip) Seadale, pastor of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown, is retiring to Florida next week after more than a decade and a half of Island ministry.
He’ll preach his final service at St. Andrew’s this Sunday, before flying south with his wife Colleen to begin their new life in Ponte Vedra Beach, where the couple own a condominium.
On the Vineyard, Mr. Seadale played a leading role in developing the Island’s first homeless shelters, a church-based network called Houses of Grace that started in the winter of 2015 and ran for five years before the Harbor Homes nonprofit established its winter shelter program.
When Harbor Homes lost its shelter space earlier this year, St. Andrew’s and the Federated Church in Edgartown jumped back into action, hosting overnight guests until the shelter season ended this month.
“Feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked — that’s our job,” Mr. Seadale told the Gazette during an interview in his St. Andrew’s office shortly before Easter.
The red-brick church at the corner of Summer and Winter streets drew international attention in 2022 for taking in dozens of Venezuelan migrants, who had been airlifted here from Texas with no advance notice to Vineyarders.
“That’s one of those things where God swoops in and you’re just here and make a quick decision to go with it,” Mr. Seadale recalled, adding that he wasn’t even on the Island when the migrants arrived.
“I was on the Outer Banks at a conference [and] I just said, ‘We’ll take them, we’ll figure it out,’” he said. “These people just needed somewhere to sleep.”
Widespread coverage of the Venezuelans’ plight led to a flood of donations for their care, directed to St. Andrew’s even after the migrants were removed by order of then-Governor Charlie Baker two days later.
The contributions totaled about $175,000, with which the church has created a disaster relief fund, Mr. Seadale said.
“There was no way we could return the money because we didn’t have any idea where it came from in most instances. And so we ended up with a batch of money and we decided to put it in trust,” he said.
“When there’s a hurricane or an earthquake or the fires in California, we send money to the people who need housing,” Mr. Seadale.
Churches helping migrants in San Antonio and El Paso, Tex. also receive support from the fund.
“We still have money to give,” he said.
Formerly a business attorney, Mr. Seadale changed careers after attending Yale Divinity School, where he graduated in 2004.
“Becoming an ordained minister was the best thing that happened in my life except for marrying my wife,” he told the Gazette. The couple celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversary next month and have three grown children.
Their Ponte Vedra home is not far from Christ Church, where Mr. Seadale began his ministry. He later moved to Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville, where he heard about the opening at St. Andrew’s in 2009.
The Seadales, who both have New England roots but had never been to Martha’s Vineyard, visited that Labor Day weekend and were living here by November, in a church-owned house on Bold Meadow Road.
“It was a no-brainer,” he said.
The couple quickly settled into Island life, Ms. Seadale as a family therapist and Mr. Seadale as successor to longtime St. Andrew’s pastor Bob Edmunds.
He also became a highlight of the Christmas in Edgartown parade, donning a miter, a long white beard and flowing robes to portray the original Saint Nicholas for crowds along the route.
“I’m more than happy to insert that religious angle in there, even if they don’t know it,” said Mr. Seadale, who makes a point of wearing his clerical collar outside of church so that others know he’s an active minister.
“I like to go through Stop & Shop and watch what people do with it. I’ll know when they’re ready to come talk to me. They’ll get a look on their face,” he said.
Beginning next week, the Rev. Cynthia Hubbard of Chappaquiddick will take over Mr. Seadale’s duties at St. Andrew’s on a part-time basis until a replacement minister has been hired.
The work is lighter now than it was when Mr. Seadale arrived: Congregations across the country have seen their numbers decline in the 21st century, with St. Andrew’s no exception.
“We’re all shrinking, and many are closing their doors,” he said.
“When I started here, we had a choir. We had a Sunday school. We don’t have those any more,” Mr. Seadale added.
St. Andrew’s no longer offers daily church services and has only one regular Sunday service, although there were two on Easter.
But while his flock may be smaller now, Mr. Seadale said, St. Andrew’s remains strong in both finances and determination.
“What I found was a congregation with a core leadership with the heart of a lion, and we still have that,” he said.
“It’s just giving me such optimism for the future, that the church will rebound. It won’t look the same here and everywhere else, [but] there will always be Christians,” Mr. Seadale said.
“There is a place for us [to be] paying attention to our spiritual sides. I don’t care what stripe it is … I think we all have a connection with God that we know is there.”
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