The Rev. Rita Henault will officially be celebrated as the new priest at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity on Sunday, April 15, when The Rt. Rev. Neil Alexander, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, visits Fayetteville and performs the installation ceremony. Henault will be installed as rector of the church in a ceremony beginning at 5 p.m. She has been leading services at Nativity since Feb. 4, when she arrived from Edmond, Okla., with her husband, Mark.

Festivities will begin the day before, with a free concert of spiritual and secular music on Saturday at 6 p.m. by the Saint Cecilia’s Chorale of Brooklyn, N.Y.

The concert will be the only scheduled public appearance of the chorale south of Atlanta as part of its current tour. The chorale also will provide music at the 11 a.m. Eucharist service on Sunday and at the installation of Reverend Henault Sunday evening.

Don Gorham, current vice-chairman of the Nativity Vestry said, “The visit by the Bishop for the celebration of Rita’s new ministry is really an ancient ceremony in the Episcopal Church. The Bishop is coming to put his final seal of approval on our selection of a new priest, so this is a big, big day for us.”

Henault worked for 20 years as a registered nurse specializing in critical care before deciding that her second career would be as a priest in the Episcopal Church.
Founded in 1990, Nativity has approximately 200 members, and is located at 130 Antioch Rd., two miles south of downtown Fayetteville.

The church is part of the Diocese of Atlanta, which is comprised of all Episcopal churches in North Georgia.

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