St. Alban's welcomes female rector

Cindy Tipton Mainolfi gets strange looks from people in the grocery store.

But she's used to that.

Women in clerical collars are still pretty uncommon, although there are more of them now, she said.

"A lot of people are still intrigued by a woman priest," she said.

In October, the Rev. Tipton Mainolfi became the first permanent female rector at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Glen Burnie.

Born in Georgia and reared in Virginia, she has lived in Baltimore since 1972.

"I came to work … I had no definite plans to stay in Baltimore," she said. "I just kind of fell in love. I'm one of Baltimore's biggest...