Clergy

The Reverend Savannah Ponder, Priest-in-Charge

Savannah became the Priest-in-Charge of the Chapel on the festive Lobster Lunch Sunday in August 2023. She holds office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, often accompanied by two retired racing greyhounds, Augustine and Monica. In addition to her role at the Chapel, she serves as the Chaplain to Rhode Island College. Within the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island, she is a member of the Congregational Development Commission and the Liturgy Committee, and she represents the diocese as a clergy delegate to Province 1.

Savannah formally prepared for ministry at Duke Divinity School (Master of Divinity) and Virginia Theological Seminary (Diploma in Anglican Studies). During seminary, she interned at an ecumenical university chapel, spent a summer as a chaplain to social justice interns on Capitol Hill, and assisted with refugee resettlement through Church World Service. Prior to ordination, she lived in an intentional community focused on making known the gifts of persons with intellectual disabilities called L’Arche. 

Ordained as a deacon in 2019 and a priest in 2020 in the Diocese of Washington, Savannah spent three years at St. John’s, Lafayette Square, as Assistant for Children and Youth and later as Associate Rector overseeing outreach, young adults, and pastoral care ministries. She also served in Connecticut as the Director of an Episcopal Service Corps program and as a Hospice Bereavement Chaplain.

Savannah is married to the Rev’d Dcn Matthew Ponder, who serves as Curate at Christ Church, Westerly.