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150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION - SESQUICENTENNIAL
“Ten well-dressed ladies and nine gentlemen gathered on the evening of June 18,1855, just three days before the official beginning of summer, in the meeting room above the newly built Chestnut Hill Railroad station. Presiding was Cephas Childs, with Thomas Earp as secretary. In his minutes of that first meeting, Earp commented on the recent growth of Chestnut Hill and painted a very rosy picture of the years ahead, citing ‘the increasing number of those who are attached to the Protestant Episcopal Church’ . . . and who wanted to help ‘build a Christian Community.’” With those words local historian David Contosta begins his history of that “Christian Community,” which has been known for the past 150 years as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill. St. Paul’s was officially admitted to union with the Diocese of Pennsylvania on May 8, 1856. Beginning on November 27, the first Sunday of Advent, St. Paul’s will begin a yearlong sesquicentennial celebration. Our history is a rich one, one that includes the election of three St. Paul’s rectors as bishops (William Hobart Hare as bishop of Niobara [later South Dakota] in 1867, Malcolm E. Peabody as bishop of Central New York in 1938 and James R. Moodey as bishop of Ohio in 1983. That history also includes several parishioners who held important roles in both the Diocese of Pennsylvania and the national church. All of that, and much more, will be chronicled in Contosta’s history, which was published in November 2006. The published history is but one part of our 150th anniversary celebration. There was a Sesquicentennial Speakers Series, a number of musical events, a parish cookbook, guest preachers, a gala, and a festival service on November 5, 2006, the 150th anniversary of the calling of Alexander Shiras as the parish’s first rector. The first event actually took place before the official sesquicentennial kick off. On Sunday, November 13 at 5 p.m., the Rev. Dr. Jean Mather, a trained historian and rector of Christ Church and St. Michael’s in Germantown, was the first speaker in the five-speaker series. She reviewed the changes that have taken place in the church over the last 150 years, with special emphasis on trends, continuity and change. The aim is to illuminate how the history we’ve lived created the Episcopal Church we are today. The other speakers in the series were former University of Pennsylvania President Sheldon Hackney (May 7, 2006); the eminent religion journalist and author Phyllis Tickle (June 11, 2006); The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Episcopal Divinity School’s president and dean (October 8, 2006); and Lutheran Seminary professor Gordon Lathrop (February 11, 2007). In addition to the speakers series, the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, retired suffragan of Massachusetts and the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion, preached on St. Paul’s Day (January 22, 2006). Our 25th presiding bishop, the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold III, preached at the anniversary service on November 5, 2006, the day after he left office. Before being elected coadjutor of Chicago in1984, Griswold served more than 10 years at St. Paul’s neighboring parish, St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Music has always played a huge role at St. Paul’s. In 1956 the parish, as part of its centennial celebration, installed an Aeolian-Skinner Organ, the last instrument personally finished by the renowned G. Donald Harrison. St. Paul’s music director Richard Alexander has since enlarged the organ. As a celebration of the organ’s 50 years, a recital with virtuoso organist Kenneth Cowan took place on Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. The parish commissioned a special a cappella anthem that was premiered at the November 6 festival service. Composed by the major American composer Stephen Paulus, the anthem was dedicated to Richard Alexander, who recently celebrated his 35th anniversary at St. Paul’s. On March 12, 2006, St. Paul’s choir joined forces with its counterpart at St. Martin-in-the-Fields for a special evensong. And, just for the fun of it, there was an evening of short silent movies and a sing-along on Friday, September 22. Bob MacDonald, organist and choir director of the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth and a former staff organist at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, accompanied the films and lead the sing-along. Finally, St. Paul’s produced a cookbook, proceeds from which were used to help the hungry in the community. You can read or listen to many of the presentations on our Sesquicentennial Archive page.
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