About 20 members of Columbia Hope Episcopal Church met Sunday afternoon to discuss racism within the denomination as well as hopes to diversify the church.

Chester Hines, Jr., chairman of the Commission on Dismantling Racism for the Episcopal diocese of Missouri, traveled from St. Louis to address the congregation and facilitate discussion. Hines gave a brief version of the presentation that usually lasts two days.

The presentation focused on a history of racism within the Episcopal Church, the church’s vision, mission and goals regarding racial interactions, and the definitions of power, racism and white privilege. Hines said the purpose of raising awareness about racism was to make a change.

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Sitting inside the Church of the Holy Cross, the smell of the Episcopal church’s history hangs in the air above the 140-year-old pews. Light pours in through the stained glass windows, illuminating the sanctuary. While the church is filled with history and church relics more than a century old, it is the memories of loyal congregants that truly bring the spirit of the church to life.

Sunday, nearly 140 years after the church was built and consecrated in 1870, Holy Cross will hold its final service. Church vestry voted on May 17 to terminate its status as a parish. Though the decision was difficult for many of the vestry members to make, they deemed it necessary due to the 60-member congregation’s dwindling budget.

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To celebrate the 30th anniversary of St. David’s Episcopal Church congregation, church historian Wesley Martin put together a book entitled The Little Church that Could, but now, the addendum he’s writing will have be titled The Little Church that Tried, because St. David’s is closing. The last service will be held July 26, with Bishop Thomas Shaw in attendance. After the service, the church will be deconsecrated and sold.

It’s a heartbreaking end to the little white mission church built by the congregation 13 years ago after searching for a permanent home for its first 26 years. The church’s mission was to bring new members to the church, but membership has stayed at about 25 since the beginning.

“We’re a very small congregation, but everybody does things, everybody helps,” Diane Williams, the congregation’s senior warden, said as she sat in the pews of the empty church one sunny day.

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The self-proclaimed extrovert said that is just his way – he likes to be among the people. He said he will never preach down to someone, and his sermons usually don’t last more than 10 minutes.

“I could never be accused of being overly pious,” [Grant] Wiseman said. “I could be accused of being human. I am very human. I struggle like everyone else.”

It wasn’t that much of a struggle to come here, though. A few relatives are from South Carolina, and moving appears to be old hat to the Wiseman family – they have now lived in 24 houses in various states.

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St. John’s held its first service in 1834 and was officially organized on Oct. 6, 1835.

The first church building was a wooden structure, consecrated in 1839. It was designed by Richard Upjohn, who later became an internationally known architect. He also designed Trinity Church in New York City. That church became a refuge for first responders who worked at the site of the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

St. John’s first structure was destroyed in the Great Fire of April 30, 1911. A stone replica of that building was constructed between 1912 and 1918. It was designed by Hobart B. Upjohn, the grandson of Richard Upjohn. The lectern and the baptismal font from the original building still are in use.

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Much of the growth and success of Trinity Episcopal Church at 139 Ocean Ave. in the Cranston section of historic Pawtuxet is due to the dedicated and talented rectors that have provided such excellent leadership. From the time of the first rector, Rev. Samuel W. Webb, who came from Grace Church in Providence to Trinity Chapel in 1884, to Rev. P. Wayne Runner, the church has received the necessary guidance and support it needed.

One of the most outstanding leaders in Trinity’s history was Rev. J. Hugo Klaren, the first full-time Trinity rector. It was during his tenure as pastor that the building was erected. Those who followed Rev. Klaren, such as Mr. Worthington, Rev. John H. Robinette, Frederick Hicks and Rev. Frank J. Landolt, contributed their special talents to take the church well into the 20th century.

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Christ Episcopal Church in Watertown has seen everything, from baptisms to weddings to funerals, but after centuries of services, it’s saying goodbye.

But worshippers at the church, which can be seen from anywhere on the Watertown Green and dates back to the 18th century, were told Sunday that the church is closing.

“It’s pretty much part of Watertown,” resident Judy Charbonneau said. “It’s been here for years.”

Watch the accompanying video too if you have time, but by all means read it all.

Homeless advocate Eric Sheptock uses technology to get his message out. Though he’s homeless himself, he keeps a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Sheptock, who lives in Washington, D.C., says he wants to educate the public about what he and many others like him are up against.

He spends a lot of time in the city’s public libraries, where he gets free access to a computer. There he can check his e-mail account and write his blog ”” called On the Clock with Eric Sheptock ”” which has so far attracted hundreds of readers. He recently wrote about his concern that the homeless shelter he now lives in is in danger of closing.

Read or listen to it all and watch for the Episcopal Church reference toward the end.

Clergy at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, are opting out of performing civil marriages until gay couples can legally wed–and are encouraging other clergy to do likewise, according to the Rev. Ed Bacon, rector.

“At the heart of Jesus’s moral vision and All Saints’ historic mission is respecting the dignity of every human being,” Bacon said in a June 3 press release announcing the decision, which is effective immediately.

“The California Supreme Court in its recent opinion has ruled that those of same-gender affections are second-class citizens,” Bacon added. “Denying fundamental rights to a certain classification of humanity is blatant discrimination with which our governing board, the other clergy of All Saints, and I will not participate. We invite other clergy and congregations to join us in this stand for marriage equality.”

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Members of the congregation of St. Francis Episcopal Church are making knitted hats as part of a ministry. Parishioner Ellie Mahouski said church members have created “hundred of hats” to send to victims of Hurricane Katrina and others needing warmth.

”When an announcement was made at church that a Prayer Shawl Ministry was beginning, one envisioned a caring outreach to those in need in faraway places,” Mahouski said.

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I attended Pentecost Sunday services at New York’s Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and the liturgy was, in general, lovely and uplifting. But the sermon, by the Very Rev. James Kowalski, was a case in point of why politics should be avoided in the pulpit….

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Christ Episcopal Church will celebrate its 150th anniversary at 10 a.m. June 7.

S.C. Bishop Mark Lawrence of Charleston will lead the service at the quaint church, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Father Michael Burton is the rector of Christ Episcopal, located at 2305 U.S. 327. He is assisted by Deacon Hiram Moseley.

Christ Episcopal’s building is in the shape of a cross, originally painted white. The outside walls are boarded and battened. The boards are 10 inches wide running up and down, every seam covered with a beveled board about four inches wide and two inches in the center.

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Trinity Episcopal Church, established in 1849 before moving into its current, fortress-like digs on the corner of Gough and Bush streets in 1892, potentially has a seismic safety problem, an official there said.

But here’s the real issue: the church doesn’t have the funds to find out, or fix it.

As a result, church leaders decided the 350-capacity main sanctuary is going to be mothballed, likely by the end of September. Services are moving to the smaller chapel on the property, a separate building that holds about 75 people.

“What we’re trying to avoid is the use of the word closing,” interim rector Otis Charles said. “The congregation is alive and functioning.”

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Update: A chart of some parish statistics is here.

W. Nicholas Knisely arrived in Phoenix three years ago to serve as dean of Trinity Cathedral downtown.

“I came from Pennsylvania,” he says. “The housing market was just starting to go bust. I thought, ‘Well, I know what to do.’ ”

So he has tightened the belt of the Episcopal church. Although Trinity Cathedral isn’t hurting, the coffer’s growth has stagnated.

The church now relies more on its congregation. Members are doing paint jobs that in the past would have been done by professionals. The same goes with mechanical repairs.

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The landmark Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit has cash reserves for only six to eight weeks of operation and needs a cash infusion of some $200,000 in order to balance the 2009 budget, according to the Very Rev. Scott Hunter, dean of St. Paul’s, who met with diocesan council on May 9.

“I pulled no punches with them,” Dean Hunter told The Living Church. “The cathedral belongs to the entire diocese and we are facing either a hard landing zone or a high mountain, take your pick.”

Dean Hunter said that the cathedral began trying to bring expenses more in line with income about two years ago and that “painful sacrifices” by the entire congregation helped reduce its annual operating budget by $225,000. But the state’s rapidly declining economic situation and the sharp downturn in the financial markets brought the cathedral’s situation to a crisis stage within a relatively short time beginning last fall. The sudden nature of the downturn was the chief reason the cathedral leadership was not able to give diocesan council more advance notice of its plight.

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A simple cross, blackened by an arsonists flames, has a new home atop a new church.Almost three years to the date after a zealot set fire to Christ Episcopal Church, Bishop William Howard Love, the leader of the Albany Episcopal Diocese, will consecrate the new church Saturday.

It is nothing less than remarkable that the small, elderly congregation persevered to see their church rebuilt, said Richie Henzler, a musician who plays the recorder at services. The dozen or so active members of the congregation never doubted it would happen, he said, even though at a time when new Episcopal churches are rarely built, there was no full-time priest to advocate for them because pastors rotate among the small North Country churches.

We couldn’t leave in ashes something burned in hate, Henzler said.

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The Rev. Paul F. Zahl, former dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, has announced his intention to …[reretire July 1] as rector of All Saints’, Chevy Chase, Md.

According to accounts from several members of the parish, Fr. Zahl, 58, said in his announcement during services on Sunday, May 10, that he felt called at this stage of his ministry to concentrate on teaching, preaching and reaching the unchurched as opposed to parish ministry.

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I will take comments on this submitted by email only to at KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Update:I received an email from Paul Zahl which says:

[The Living Church article is not correct]. I am not “resigning” from All Saints and June 15th is an error, too.
I am re-retiring from All Saints, having coming out of retirement in December 2007 in order to serve as rector of the parish.
In fact, I had retired officially in January 2007.
Mary and I have received the warm blessing of Bishop Salmon and of Bishop Chane to do this, and we shall be returning to our home in Florida.
The retirement takes effect on July lst.

In a quaint, dimly lit sanctuary with stainedglass windows and hardwood floors, men dressed in Civil Warera outfits worshipped alongside women wearing bonnets and long antebellum dresses.

It was, after all, Trinity Episcopal Church’s 150th anniversary service Sunday, and churchgoers, ushers, the music director and even the pastor were all playing the role.

The entire service was a throwback to 1859, when construction began at Trinity Episcopal, the state’s oldest Episcopal church still being used for Sunday worship, according to the church’s rector, churchgoers and a historical book on the church.

“One of the great things about being a part of Trinity is that you have this wonderful history, but it’s a living history,” said the Rev. Walter Van Zandt Windsor, the church rector. “It’s sort of like being able to live in the presence of those who have gone before while still preaching the gospel in a modern world.”

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An Episcopal priest was permanently suspended from his position at an Everett church last week.

Father Lawrence Perry, who has served as head of Trinity Episcopal Church since 2000, was asked to leave after two adult congregants accused him of sexual misconduct, said Norah Joslyn, a spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, which governs the Everett church. Perry did not dispute the accusations, she said.

Makes the heart sad–prayers for all involved.

[Peet] Dickinson plays bluegrass guitar. It’s a way to evangelize through music, he says. For years he sang in church choirs. But don’t assume he’s all hipster and not a serious traditionalist. He’s both: well-grounded in Orthodox Anglicanism and well-attuned to the tastes of young people, he says.

Johnny Wallace, senior warden of the cathedral and chairman of the search committee, said the church began looking for a new leader last summer, considered applications from 10 candidates and settled on Dickinson after Bishop Mark Lawrence helped narrow down the field to four. The bishop interviewed each of the finalists.

Wallace said the congregation was “looking for someone to be at the cathedral for a long time.” Dickinson, who is married with a 5-year-old daughter, was just the sort of family man they were looking for, Wallace said, also citing the young priest’s Orthodox leanings, evangelism and varied tastes in music and worship styles. (The cathedral offers both a traditional and contemporary service at 10:30 a.m. Sundays.)

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Local historians’ desperate attempts to salvage a 97-year-old church built on grounds once owned by Coconut Grove pioneer Commodore Ralph Munroe failed Monday, as a bulldozer destroyed the church’s facade and tore down its bell.

A group led by preservationist Arva Parks Moore met with leaders from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church late into Sunday evening — leaving the session, they said, believing they had succeeded in holding off the demolition.

But later Sunday night they were told the school would press forth with its plan to build new classrooms and a commercial retail building where the structure stood facing Main Highway in Coconut Grove’s central business district.

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In 1883, a few local women asked the Episcopal bishop in Tacoma to send someone to help organize a church on Bellingham Bay.

That August, the bishop sent the Rev. Reuben Denton Nevius, a veritable Johnny Appleseed of Episcopal churches in the Northwest.

A month later, 29 women formed a guild to raise money for a church. They sought donations from businesses and organized concerts, festivals and plays.

“It’s how they raised a lot of their money,” said Roger Emerson of Bow, a newer member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church who is helping to research its history.

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Tucked away at the end of a long driveway, partially covered by trees and multi-story buildings on Mott Avenue, is Grace Episcopal Church. It is this quiet lot, just seconds from the bustle of Connecticut Avenue and I-95, that Grace Episcopal Church has called home since 1964.

And it is here that the church may have to close its doors.

“In bold terms, we do not have enough money to last more than two years,” said the Rev. Lois Keen, pastor at Grace Episcopal.

The church’s budget is approximately $300,000, most of which is spent maintaining its aging building. Members are doing their part to sustain their church, with members giving $1,600 to $1,800, more than the national average of $1,200, but it is not enough to cover the church’s expenses. It also isn’t enough to cover additional expenditures, including needed repairs to its slate roof, Keen said.

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Not everything people see on Twitter is gospel — but some of it is.

In an effort to spread its message in the world of social networking, Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church married microblogging and social networking with the Gospel Friday when it told the Passion of Christ, the story of the crucifixion, in posts of 140 characters or fewer.

From noon-3 p.m., a church worker posted 18 tweets adapted from the Gospel of Mark. The story was largely told through the eyes of six characters: Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Peter, a serving girl and Pontius Pilate.

One tweet read, ”ServingGirl: is so tired. Caiaphas and the priests have been up all night questioning a man who claims to be the Messiah. And I wait on them.”

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St. Francis Episcopal Church is observing Earth Day early this week with a Monday night covered dish dinner and distribution of reusable bags.

Outreach Chairman Harriet Pegram said attendees will receive one of 100 reusable bags donated by Wal-Mart to take to the churches in their community. The church already has distributed bags donated by earlier this year.

Mrs. Pegram said the project is part of the 15-year Millennium Development Project developed by world leaders in 2000 to reduce poverty and boost renewable energy. One of the eight goals developed was to ensure environmental sustainability.

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Fortunately, some very kind folks at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Sycamore are more than willing to help.

The recent unemployment figures in DeKalb County are being reported at around 9.5 percent, an increase from about 6 percent last year, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

So the governing board of St. Peter’s simply saw a need within the community and decided to fill it.

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President Obama picked the self-described “Church of the Presidents,” a history-drenched Episcopal church across from the White House, for his first venture to services since he was inaugurated Jan. 20.

The Obamas’ Easter visit to St. John’s Church doesn’t mean they have found a permanent place of worship in the capital.

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After a two-year search, California’s oldest Episcopal Church now has a new rector, Nevada City native Seth Kellermann.

The Rev. Kellermann, 32, starts preaching Sunday at Grass Valley’s Emmanuel Episcopal Church downtown, kicking off the highest holiday of the Christian calendar: Palm Sunday and Holy Week, featuring a series of sermons leading up to Easter on April 12.

“This is kind of our big time,” he said.

It’s a big time for mainstream churches across the country, as they face the challenges of an aging demographic and struggle to attract younger people and busy families.

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Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey is receiving training at All Saints Episcopal Church in Hoboken toward obtaining his master’s degree in theology.

McGreevey — who famously resigned as governor in 2004, saying that he was “a gay American” — is at All Saints for half-a-day once a week and on Sunday morning.

He’s not preaching to the congregation — yet, but, “He’s getting his field education at All Saints,” confirmed Rev. Geoff Curtiss, director of All Saints Episcopal parish. “He’s basically learning about how the parish works and learning what it means to run a Sunday morning congregation.”

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After over 126 years, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church will hold its last service this Sunday.

The church, located on Warwick Neck Avenue, which has close to 100 members, is merging its congregation with St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on Post Road in Apponaug.

The two parishes will officially become one during this Sunday’s mass, which will begin at St. Mary’s and proceed to St. Barnabas where it will be completed. Episcopal Bishop Geraldine Wolfe will preside over the mass.

During an interview on Tuesday, church elders from St. Mary’s said the decision was made strictly due to financial reasons. The church has seen a steady decrease in parishioners over the years and despite a drive two years ago to modernize their service, attendance didn’t increase enough for the church to survive.

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