Seventy-five parishioners and members of the clergy last night attended the evening prayer service in St. John’s Episcopal Church, Jim Thorpe, and a reception afterward in the church hall, to welcome the parish’s new rector, the Rev. Robert Hutchinson.

William Diehm, Senior Warden of the parish, made the welcoming address and the rector offered an appropriate response on behalf of himself, his wife and three sons, Robert, 5; Stephen, 3; and Thomas, 1.

Hutchinson is a native of Philadelphia and formerly served at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Norristown.