Rev. Brian Raiche, Priest-In-Charge The Rev. Brian Raiche is both an Episcopal Priest and fundraising consultant. Brian has been called to serve as Priest-in-Charge and Pastor at the Church of the Good Shepherd. He was received as an Episcopal Priest on June 6, 2015. He previously served as the Associate Rector at Trinity Episcopal Church in Haverhill, MA and helped coordinate the Merrimack Valley Mission Hub (MVMH). The HUB is an outreach program to youth at risk providing creative after school programming including tutoring, music lessons, theater, family nights as well as Montessori-based education and social services.
Brian is also the founder and Senior Principal of Cornerstone Fundraising- a leading religious development firm in the greater Boston area. His expertise is in designing and directing multi-million dollar capital campaigns, major gifts programs, endowment campaigns, planning studies, and increased revenue appeals for churches and other non-profit institutions.
In addition to his professional work and ministry, Brian serves on the Board of Directors for Roof Over Head, a collaborative providing housing to families in need in Amesbury, Newburyport and Salisbury as well as the Board of Dinah’s House, a Center of Hope for women and children.
Rev. Pete Jeffrey, Deacon in Residence The Rev. Pete Jeffrey grew up in Arlington, MA. His formative years were spent attending Church of the Advent in Boston, singing in the boy’s choir and serving as an acolyte. He married his high school sweetheart; they have been married almost fifty years. Pete and Kathy have one daughter, Andrea. His family moved to Tewksbury where they have lived for over thirty years. He has degrees in Information Science from Northeastern University. Pete is now retired, having worked with various companies in the information systems departments for over 45 years (yes, they had computers way back then).
Pete has always had a call to ministry and has served on vestries in Belmont and in North Billerica. Cursillo has been a major part of his life, serving on the National Episcopal Cursillo Committee and currently as spiritual advisor for the Massachusetts Episcopal Cursillo servant community. He works as a volunteer with Hospice for the Lowell Visiting Nurse Association. His call to Ordination began eight years ago and Rev. Pete was ordained as a Permanent Deacon in 2012. Leaving his supporting parish, St. Anne’s in North Billerica, Pete was assigned to two parishes in Lowell—St. John’s and St. Anne’s—and worked in a drop-in center for the needy, Living Waters Ministry of Hope, also in Lowell.
Rev. Pete serves the Diocese of Massachusetts on the board of the Massachusetts Episcopal Clergy Association and is a Safe Church trainer for the Diocese and a member of the Creation Care Green Grant Committee. Rev. Pete has a love for the Diocese of Jerusalem, having made a pilgrimage there last year with Bishop Gayle. Starting in the fall of 2015, Pete will be involved in a four year study called Education for Ministry.
My name is Patrick LaFortune. I was born and raised as Christian Episcopalian in my original country of Haiti. I came to the United States in the summer of 1999. God and my pastor Rev. Jane Gould of St. Stephen’s Memorial, Lynn, MA, guided me through the process to become in 2012 a postulant to the Priesthood in the Eastern Diocese of the Episcopal Church. I studied at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary School, Master of Arts in Urban Ministry Leadership and Master of Divinity from 2012 to 2017. I was ordained as Transitional Deacon on June 3, 2017. My goal is to serve the Lord in His Church and in the world until my last breath.
