Wooster Square Church's Activist Priest Against Christian Nationalism

From St. PJ’s Episcopal Church:

NEW HAVEN, CT — The Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James, affectionately known as St. PJ’s around its Wooster Square neighborhood, has a familiar-yet-new face at the helm. The Rev. Nathan Empsall, a former associate priest and supply (or substitute) preacher at the church, is now settling in as the new priest-in-charge.

The parish is now led by Empsall, former executive director of the 200,000-member Christian organization Faithful America.

Empsall was the director of Faithful America from 2019 until January 2025, an online community of approximately 200,000 grassroots Christians putting faith into action for love and social justice and against white Christian nationalism. A resource guide against Christian nationalism that Empsall authored for Faithful America -- including a preachers' toolkit -- received national recognition from the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2024, Faithful America protested religious support for Donald Trump's re-election campaign with a 15-foot-tall balloon of a Golden Calf featuring Trump's hairdo.

Empsall, whose writing has appeared in Time and Newsweek, has been in the role for several weeks and of late has shared spiritual opposition to Avelo Airline’s partnership with ICE.

St. PJ's Episcopal Church, located on the corner of Chapel and Olive streets in Wooster Square, is known locally for its weekly Jazz Eucharist (or Communion), a long history of faith-based social-justice activism, and for starting and continuing to house two now-independent service charities, the Loaves & Fishes food and clothing pantry and Sunrise Cafe.

The racially diverse, LGBTQ affirming, and spiritually grounded church’s motto is “Love, Grow, Serve, Go.”

“It’s time for justice, joy, jazz, and Jesus!” said the Rev. Empsall in a statement. “After years of standing up to the national hijacking of our Christian faith, I now feel called to help build depth and community at the local level. Thanks to its loving and dedicated people, St. PJ’s is an absolutely remarkable place, one that has remained stable despite years of transition and social turbulence. As we ground ourselves in prayer and envision the next few years together, we will worship the holy in God, see the holy in one another, and do whatever we can to love, welcome, and seek justice for everyone in our New Haven community. I am so excited to be here, and can’t wait to see who else comes to join in along the way.”

Empsall’s most recent weekly parish eNews column shared his reasons for boycotting Avelo Airlines on moral grounds, following the airline’s decision to charter deportation flights for the Trump administration. Empsall cited the Bible’s clear support of immigrants and called Avelo’s collaboration with Trump’s unprecedented deportations a "cruel, immoral, greedy, anti-immigrant decision" that Christians should not support.

In his first few weeks on the job, the new priest-in-charge has launched an adult-education series called “God’s Microphones,” exploring the lives of prophetic saints who stood up to authoritarian governments, including Oscar Romero and Harriet Tubman. He is also focused on empowering lay leaders, and hopes to consistently rent out the church building’s kitchens and rooms as "the Square at St. PJ's" in ways that benefit the Wooster Square community and New Haven’s many non-profits. He is already thinking about hosting a “Christmas in July” party.

Empsall is a kindergarten dad who has lived in the New Haven area since 2015 and holds a Master of Divinity as well as a Master of Environmental Management, both from Yale. He has written for NBC, Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Hill, Red Letter Christians, and Religion New Service, among other publications.