Party for Fr Peter

Fr Peter Helman has accepted the call to be Rector at St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He will begin his new role on Sunday, November 19. His last day at Saint Philip’s will be Sunday, November 5.

There will be a thank you/celebration party for Fr Peter from 12:30pm-2:00pm on Sunday, November 5. Details will follow next week.

In the meantime, you can say “thank you” by contributing to his purse via Saint Philip’s website. Click on the button below and then select “Give to purse for Fr Peter” from the drop down menu.

Fr Peter has been at Saint Philip’s since 2016. He says that what he will miss most are the people. “The depth of community and love—the mutual care and service people offer one another—is remarkable.”

Pastoral care has been a focus during Fr Peter’s years at Saint Philip’s. He notes that officiating at baptisms, weddings, funerals and helping people prepare for Confirmation has been a real privilege. “Being with people during some of the most important moments of life is a tremendous honor.”

That perspective underlines something Fr Peter says guides him daily: people matter most. “Investing in their lives—in any manner of small ways—adds up and creates something bigger than any individual. Life is complicated and has all sorts of textures but sharing our faith together allows us all to grow.”

Fr Peter has never lived anywhere as long as he has in Tucson. In addition to growing in his role as a priest here, he also met his fiance Jenna in Tucson in 2018. They were introduced through mutual friends one evening and before they parted ways he slipped her his church business card. They will marry in Arkansas on April 27, 2024.

Jenna is a doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona, specifically in the Environmental Health Sciences College of Public Health. She will move with Fr Peter to Alabama as she can continue to write her dissertation there.