St. Ann's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church — Attraction in Kennebunkport

Reggie Sargent, the Sexton of the Church, called the police on me because he didn’t like what I was wearing.

I walked onto the grounds on a beautiful sunny day to look around with my family - no intention of going into the church and nowhere near it. At the start, I was hanging back by myself to enjoy the view, minding my business, when an older man in a jacket that identified him as working for the Church approached me, cut me off, and got in my face quite aggressively to tell me I needed to put on a jacket. (It was a warm day, I was wearing pants and a top that showed a bit of midriff and my shoulders.) He didn’t specify why at first, and I, rattled by his hostility and rapid, unwelcome closeness, simply said “no thank you,” and kept walking. He cut me off again, this time grabbing for my arm and insisting that I needed to ‘show some respect:’ I pulled away, informed him politely that I was just walking the grounds and had no intention of setting foot in the church, and kept walking. He cut me off again and continued to harass me. I stepped around him and kept moving. Only when my father and brothers noticed and approached did he back away (quickly, I might add) - a clear indicator that it was not me he respected, but rather my proximity to men. From that point, as I walked through the grounds to the other exit with my family, talking and trying to appreciate the beauty of the area, he followed us from a ways behind, staring and talking on his phone.

A few minutes later, after we’d already left and were walking down the road, the police pulled in. Two SUVs. As they informed me, he had specifically requested not just one, but TWO cop cars to come ‘deal with’ me.

Though I don’t think a bigger reaction would have excused this, I want to stress that at no point did I do anything other than move away from him and politely refuse to put on my jacket - I was hot, I was not entering the church, and while I am happy to follow modesty rules in others’ sacred spaces, I am unwilling to be cowed by disrespect and abuse from a man who resents that he does not have power over me. I show respect as it is shown to me, and I was shown none.

Not to mention, the only words I can find noting acceptable dress in the Church or on the grounds are, as taken directly from the website: “Visitors are asked to wear shirts and shoes”. I can confidently say I was wearing both.

Maybe I’m missing something, but I was raised in Episcopal school studying the Bible, and I seem to have missed the section where Jesus preached weaponizing the cops. I do, however, remember Matthew 5:28-29, where he instructed concerned men to gouge out their eyes to avoid lust, so maybe this guy should consider that route.

(I got the sense that ‘love thy neighbor’ might be a more difficult one for him - thought I’d provide a more achievable option.)

Peace...

I was driving with my sister who was from out of state and thought I’d stop by and show her the church. I thought we could say a little prayer as she is going through a very challenging medical problem and we could just stop and say a prayer and make a donation to the church. I noticed a sign when we arrived that there was going to be a wedding that day, so since we had already pulled in I was going to find a place to turn around and leave. As I was doing so, a man who appeared to work there came running over to my car waving his arms frantically and yelling at me! He was SO rude and nasty that I was taken aback at first. I explained that I was turning around to leave and he yelled “can’t you read signs?” I said I saw it and was turning around to leave. He then said, “doesn’t your car have reverse?!” I was so shocked at the way I was being treated and verbally abused by this man and embarrassed that my sister had to witness this behavior. When he continued his tirade I asked him why he was so rude. I also told him that for someone who worked at a church he was NOT very Christian. None of that fazed him and he continued he just kept on getting mad at me as I was trying to back out since he wouldn’t let me pull into a parking space to turn around. I was shaking when I left. I am an older woman and I consider myself to be very respectful to others. I was just floored at how incredibly disrespectful and sarcastic this man was. My husband had told me he had stopped by there one time himself, last year, to admire the views and that same guy had harassed him too. He had parked and was not sitting directly in front of his car, but off to the side of it. He said the guy was rude and what he was mad about made no sense. This was truly one of the worst experiences I have ever had! I will NEVER return to St. Anne’s again! From now on I will visit the Franciscan Monastery and make my...

This was truly a horrible experience. Three women traveling in unknown areas. We arrived on Sunday, after landing in Boston on Saturday. We started our journey and wanted to see this beautiful “ house of God”. We arrived at 8 am on Sunday only to find that they would prefer not to have visitors during church hours or maybe all day on Sunday? We understood immediately and were happy to move on and miss this stop on our trip, knowing that we would not be able to return. However, not knowing really where we were or which direction we should take, we pulled in to the entrance just to turn around. And Wow!!! We were truly met by the devil himself right there at church! We were attacked!!! Literally, by a horrible man who was supposed to be helping park cars. He was rude and out right vicious and unkind… like the devil himself! We explained that we only needed to turn around and reminded him that God loves him but we left knowing that this is the house of the devil and we wanted nothing more to do with it! We will donate elsewhere! Kindness matters and shame on this gentleman! He should look up the word in...