
Rector Della Wager Wells
Our Rector, Della Wager Wells, is a cradle Episcopalian and has been an active layperson from her childhood in Watertown, New York, to her adult years in Atlanta, Georgia, at the large urban parish where she was senior warden and developed and led a training program for laypersons to prepare them for leadership in the church.
In 2008, Della+ became involved in the Compass Rose Society, an international mission organization supporting the relational ministry of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the global Anglican Communion. Meeting and interacting with congregations from all over the Anglican Communion inspired Della+ to pursue ordained ministry.
Della+ retired after 30 years of practicing law in Atlanta in the fall of 2015 to begin seminary at Yale, and is married to Jere (pronounced Jerry). Jere retired from his post as assistant headmaster of a large Atlanta K-12 independent school the following year to join Della+ at Yale, taking up the role of Director of the Educational Leadership and Ministry program at Yale Divinity School in his first try at retirement, retiring a second time in July 2023.
Della+ was Berkeley Divinity School’s first Porter Fellow following graduation from Yale, spending the academic year in Jerusalem at St. George’s College, an Anglican center for pilgrimage, study, and reconciliation. As a part of the fellowship, Della+ also worked with St. George’s Cathedral and Jerusalem Peacebuilders, a reconciliation ministry for Israeli, Palestinian, and American teens. Della+ was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Knisely at St. Martin’s in Providence on her return from Jerusalem, with then Dean Hosam Naoum of St. George’ Cathedral, Jerusalem (now Archbishop of Jerusalem and Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East), as clergy witness and cantor.
Della+ maintains an active involvement with St. George’s in Jerusalem through board service on the North American Regional Committee, which manages U.S. fundraising and an endowment for St. George’s College. She has also remained active in the Anglican Communion, working with the Anglican Alliance, the Anglican Church of Tanzania, and serving on Communion committees leading up to the 2022 Lambeth Conference of Bishops, where she served as Lambeth Conference staff.
Della+ and Jere celebrate their 43rd wedding anniversary in June and have two married adult children, a beloved new granddaughter, and a Labrador retriever, Buoy (like a lobster buoy, Della+ says), who loves coming to church, treats, and swimming. Della+ and Jere both are thrilled to be in Rhode Island, where all three of their favorite food groups — clams, lobster, and soft ice cream — are in plentiful supply. Jere enjoys fly fishing, sailing, and golf, and Della+ loves the Episcopal Church, global mission, choral music, urban farming, and raising chickens. Call me Della+. The cross is a silent presence.