Parish life in this Diocese may be more representative of the broad social and economic fabric than is typically the case in the Episcopal Church. We have people who have traditionally been at the top of the social scale, and we have the descendants of people who came from England to work in the textile mills. Even though the active Navy presence has diminished in recent years, many military personnel have chosen to retire here and are active in their parishes. There are a few parishes with a sizable percentage of African-American parishioners, and some congregations that have become the spiritual homes for people who have fled the civil war in Liberia. There is an active Hispanic congregation in Central Falls.
Some congregations make a point of openly welcoming gay and lesbian members.
It s hard to understand the fabric of the Episcopal Church in Rhode Island without appreciating the role of textile mills in this state s history. A significant number of parishes in Rhode Island used to be organized around the ministry of a priest in a small to medium-sized parish in a town whose economy and social structure was dominated by the mills. Such ministry reached out largely to a blue-collar congregation in a mill culture. This culture was hard-working, authoritarian, paternalistic, and conservative. In recent years, many former Roman Catholics have become Episcopalians, which further increases the influence of this conservative working-class culture on many of our congregations.