Rumford Congregation to Install Tenth Rector

Episcopal Bishop of RI to Preside at Celebration of New Ministry

Church of the Epiphany has called the Rev’d Vicki Ix to serve as the tenth rector and she will be installed at a festive service on Thursday, October 1 at 6:00 pm. The Bishop of Rhode Island, the Rt. Rev’d W. Nicholas Knisely, will preside. The liturgy is designed to celebrate the mutual ministry of the priest and the people and to celebrate this new chapter of mission together. A reception will follow.

Ix comes to Church of the Epiphany after twelve years of service to the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. She began in 2014 as Communications Director & Missioner. Ordained to the priesthood by the Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher in 2017, she became vicar of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ashfield, Massachusetts in 2018 and served them part-time until January of 2025. While vicar she continued to serve on the bishop’s staff full-time as Canon for Communications. Fisher will preach at the October 1 service.

Early in 2026 Vicki began searching for a congregation in which to live out the gift of priesthood full-time. “The people of Epiphany were the draw for us and their deep commitment to the local community,” Ix said. She and her wife, Gosia, moved into the rectory at the end of May and her tenure as rector began June 1. “The Holy Spirit has been at work at Epiphany,” Bill Dench, senior warden said. “Vicki, Gosia, the Search Committee and Vestry all felt called together to do God’s work.”

Ix attended St. John’s School of Theology – Seminary in Collegeville, MN. She was awarded the M.Div. in May of 2002. From 2002-2012, she was a professed Benedictine sister in a small monastery in Virginia. After being received into The Episcopal Church in 2013, Ix participated in the Anglican Immersion summer program at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkley, California. More recently, in 2023, she was a fellow in the first Leader’s Way cohort at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale – a nine-month hybrid program for clergy interested in faithful innovation.

Church of the Epiphany was established in 1944 through a gift of land from sisters, Ida Bridgham and Eliza Appleton. A church, rectory and parish hall were built in that order. Today, Epiphany is a vibrant congregation composed of Episcopalians who live in Rumford, Pawtucket, Providence, Seekonk and North Attleboro, MA. A recently renovated worship space meets the needs of several on-site partners and occasional renters. Epiphany strongly supports Good Neighbors Food Pantry and runs the This and That Thrift Shop. Services are 8 am and 10 am on Sunday and Wednesday at noon.