Saint John's Cathedral Parish Profile 2016

PARISH PROFILE 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS SAINT JOHN’S CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Reconciling Interfaith Initiatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Advocacy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Reconciling in a Time of Transition .

24

OUR CORE VALUES IN ACTION

DENVER AND CAPITOL HILL. . . . . . 25

Welcoming.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Signs and Portents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A More Welcoming Welcome.. . . .

Annual Ministry Celebrations. . . .

4 5 5 6

Serving Faith in Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Missioner-in-Residence.. . . . . . . . 7 Serving Those Who Are Homeless. 8 Serving Those Who Are Hungry.. 8 Serving the City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Celebrating Worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Worship Spaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Giving Treasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Anemic Pledging: A Brief History .

15 Annual Stewardship Campaign .15 Major Gifts and Planned Giving .15 Time and Talent.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Nurturing Fellowship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Formation for Adults.. . . . . . . . . . .

Formation for Children . . . . . . . . .

Formation for Youth . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pastoral Care.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18 19 19 20 20

Respecting Spiritual Inventory of a Diverse Congregation . . . . . . . . . . 21 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer (LGBTQ) Inclusion . . . 21

Photos courtesy of Samuel Lucas Gove

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN COLORADO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

About The Rt. Rev. Rob O’Neill, Tenth Bishop of Colorado . . . . . . . . . 27 Our Hopes for the Tenth Dean . . . . 28 Our Rectors and Deans: A Short History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Early Women Leaders of Saint John’s.31

SAINT JOHN’S CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS

Finances and Demographics . . . . . . 33 Membership Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Geographic distribution by ZIP code .

33 Balance Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Operating Revenues and Expenses.

35 Statement of Activities . . . . . . . . . 35

APPENDIXES

Worship Services: A List . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Cathedral Chapter and Staff. . . . . . . 36 2016–17 Vestry.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Dean Search Committees, 2015–2017 .

37 Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Hospitality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Integration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Dean Search Listening Sessions, 2015 .

37 Bibliography and Useful Links.. . . . 38 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

SAINT JOHN’S CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS SINCE ITS FOUNDING IN 1860, SAINT JOHN’S CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS HAS REPEATEDLY RISEN TO CHALLENGES AND EXPANDED MINISTRIES, FULFILLING ITS MISSION STATEMENT, “TO KNOW CHRIST AND TO MAKE CHRIST KNOWN.”

Our tradition of faithfulness and civic engagement dates to the Gilded Age, when the congregation played a central role in creating a city out of the wilderness. In the 19th century the congregation built its first cathedral, then it built a great hospital (twice) and helmed movements that wrought change for great good. In the 20th century the congregation built a second cathedral, after the first one succumbed to arson, then it built a parish hall, a chapel, an education building, and established nonprofits and mission churches to meet postwar demand then surging in the suburbs.

Since then, of course, the religious landscape in the United States has altered dramatically. Yet a 21st-century Saint John’s bustles with the energy first shown by its founders. Each week the cathedral hosts dozens of community and parish meetings and events. More than 30 music concerts are held each year (sjcathedral.org/ Concerts). Twenty-six nights a year, volunteers turn the parish hall into a dormitory for women who are homeless.

Demographic trends in Metro Denver would seem to favor membership growth at the cathedral. Our own membership losses since the year 2000 track those seen nationally across the Mainline denominations. Statewide, 64 percent of the population consider themselves Christians; 2 percent identify as Episcopalians, which is close to the norm nationally.1 But the nondenominational, ethnically diverse

churches are drawing the lion’s share of Millennials. We are an inclusive, beautiful cathedral in the city. Vital Hispanic neighborhoods are just a stone’s throw west, but we have yet to develop plans for direct outreach to one of the fastest-growing demographics in The Episcopal Church.2 Around us the city is awash with new residents, most of them young and religiously unaffiliated. These exceedingly well documented Nones (as in “none of the above”) are poised to form households, marry, and raise children downtown.3 Can we grow our membership? With the right leadership we believe we can.

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Death and Rebirth: An Uptown Church

The death and likely rebirth of a neighboring church, Saint Paul’s UMC, is instructive. The Rev. Paul Kottke, superintendent for the metro district of the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Methodist Church, recently announced that Saint Paul’s would close in May: “In the ’80s and ’90s, it was hard to find LGBT-inclusive churches,” Kottke explained. People would drive “from far outside Denver to attend,” he said.

But things changed. “The need to drive 20 miles to find an open and affirming congregation? They don’t need that. They can drive 2 miles to find an open and affirming congregation.”

Kottke says the influx of Millennials and Generation-Xers in Uptown (a neighborhood just north of Capitol Hill) creates opportunities for progressive churches because they “value diversity, they value justice, they value integrity, and we need to figure out how to help them make that real in their life.” In point of fact, a young pastor at Trinity UMC downtown is said to be moving his young congregation into Saint Paul’s in 2017.4

Saint John’s recognizes the need to revitalize. A longtime parishioner has observed in a recent “Mustard Seeds” post, “We have closed in on ourselves.”5 Hard words. But we hear voices of encouragement, too. In 2014 we instituted formal and facilitated conversations called the “Dream Together” conferences. In 2015, on the heels of our second annual conference, we held dozens of listening sessions as part of our Search process. People said they saw a congregation “filled with potential.” We have caught glimpses of this potential over the past few years in new ministries of outreach and of engagement. For example, our campus will soon build supportive housing for more than 50 individuals who have been homeless. Working with community partners and the City of Denver, Saint John’s is poised to construct a 17-plot learning garden on its grounds. A missioner-in-residence, hired in 2015, engages us in theological reflection and action. Our leaders, ordained and lay, and our historic connections with the city, point to a future that builds on the original vision for the parish, “To know Christ and to make Christ known.”

In this, our season of discernment, the congregation has seen the need to 2

commit to: • • • • •

basic Christian formation advocating for systemic change increasing our giving forging a shared identity surrendering anxiety for joy

Finally, our bishop has told us that we must embrace mission.

There is no mystery in Jesus’ parable of the fig tree: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.

So he said to the gardener, ‘See here!

For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ The gardener replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ —Luke 13:6–9 We seek a new dean—a gardener— who can help us tend our cathedral parish, for we want to bear fruit, and for it to be said of us, “well and good.”

OUR MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES MISSION

CORE VALUES

Saint John’s Cathedral is welcoming and inclusive of all. Our mission is to know Christ and to make Christ known.

Welcoming—to open our doors to all and invite others to join in our Eucharistic community as living witnesses to the good news of God in Christ.

Serving—to put our faith into action by ministering to the needs of the sick, the bereaved, the poor, the homeless, and those most in need in our community.

Celebrating—to celebrate our love of God joyously in worship, music, and art in the Anglican tradition.

VISION Saint John’s Cathedral seeks to be a vibrant, growing, diverse spiritual community, a house of prayer and worship for all, where seekers are nurtured and transformed by God’s love and led to reach out in service to others.

Nurturing—to be a community where children, youth, and adults know each other by name and are supported through education, fellowship, and pastoral care.

Giving—to be faithful stewards of our Cathedral both now and for generations to come through gifts of our time and treasure.

Respecting—to honor the dignity of all persons and embrace diversity as essential to the body of Christ.

Reconciling—to seek common ground with each other and with those of other faiths and work toward a society of justice where God’s love is reflected in the healing and restoring of relationships.

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OUR CORE VALUES IN ACTION WELCOMING

“TO INVITE ALL OTHERS TO JOIN US IN OUR EUCHARISTIC COMMUNITY AS LIVING WITNESSES TO THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD IN CHRIST.”

We say we are “Welcoming and Inclusive of All” at Saint John’s. It is a fundamental statement of our identity, and we can be a welcoming, inclusive, warm place—once you find the doors that open to let you in.

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Communicating that welcome to the stranger (and to the sometimesbewildered newcomer) has been a challenge. For more than 100 years the cathedral has dominated one of the great blocks in Capitol Hill neighborhood. We are bounded north and south by two of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, 13th and 14th Avenues. Commuters daily hurtle past the church, on 13th Avenue heading westbound, hurtling home in the evening on eastbound 14th. The traffic is just as prolific on Clarkson and Washington—our north- and southbound boundary streets.

SIGNS AND PORTENTS

In 2006 an enterprising sub-dean had a novel idea: why not erect signs saying we were a church? Saint John’s had in fact been a signless place of worship for about a century, lacking even the traditional “Episcopal Church Welcomes You” signs, which have extended Episcopal welcome for more than 55 years. The new signs would say, the sub-dean explained, “Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral” and even provide the times of our services. He submitted a proposal to the design and historicpreservation people at Saint John’s who act as arbiters of the cathedral aesthetic. “Why would we need signs?” they asked, “Everyone knows who we are!” There was more conversation.

But after a year of meetings and increased amity, everyone agreed that, yes, signs were a good idea. A design was approved, and the signs were installed on our landscape, visible to all manner of passersby.6

We recently installed signage indoors.

Newcomers can now find the parish hall for coffee or the chapel for prayer. They can locate the Nursery and a restroom.

Fully integrated members recall their

early wayfinding difficulties at Saint John’s. “I feel like a perennial newcomer,” confessed one longtime parishioner, who now serves on the vestry.

A MORE WELCOMING WELCOME

A 2014 spiritual inventory captured this challenge of welcome at Saint John’s (for discussion, see pp. 21).

Upon the recommendation of a lay-led data-analysis team, the vestry voted to approve a full-time welcome-andintegration coordinator. The position was filled in September 2014. The coordinator’s office is off the Welcome Center, just as one enters Saint John’s from the parking lot. He is also present for the Sunday services and on Wednesday for Cathedral Nite, greeting and welcoming people. After filling out welcome cards, visitors receive a phone call and email within a week. They are then invited to a monthly gathering.

In creating this new staff position, Saint John’s hopes that newcomers, and former parishioners too, will find their way eased into community.

We recently installed the Blackbaud congregational tool, used to track both membership and financial data.

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ANNUAL MINISTRY CELEBRATIONS

Toward this goal of improving welcome and integration, Saint John’s recently instituted annual ministry celebrations. These are acts of thanksgiving for those who have responded to God’s call to seek and serve Christ in all others. This year, on Pentecost Sunday, an all-day event celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit throughout the day. The cool spring weather drove us indoors, to the parish hall. It was a packed and joy-filled day, with live music and great food. The celebration was also an invitation to discern new forms of service.

E Welcome & Integration E Welcome

Center reception

E Cathedral

tours

E Ministry

celebrations

E Mosaic

Muse concerts

E Ushers

(youth and adult)

It is a truism in corporate churches like Saint John’s that every member of the congregation “is essential to the living ministry of the community.”

We aspire to be one body, of many parts—all of them necessary. Yet busy, well-run churches like Saint John’s can seem more self-sufficient than they are. We could be more ardent in asking parishioners to support the staff in the work of the church—to step forward both for their own spiritual growth and for the health of the church’s wider ministry.

Individuals intent on finding their way to deeper spiritual practice and growth will be met at Saint John’s by compassionate and bright clergy, staff members and fellow parishioners. But if Saint John’s is to become a place of genuine welcome and inclusion, the parish must master new, more intentional behaviors of outreach, invitation, welcome, and integration into community.

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E

Faith in Action at Saint John’s

E

Cathedral Co-operative of Gardeners

E

Cathedral Learning Garden

E

Grants Committee

E Missioner-in-Residence

SERVING “TO PUT OUR FAITH INTO ACTION BY MINISTERING TO THE NEEDS OF THE SICK, THE BEREAVED, THE POOR, THE HOMELESS, AND THOSE MOST IN NEED IN OUR COMMUNITY.”

FAITH IN ACTION

Saint John’s has seen and responded to human suffering outside its doors from the beginning. The city was “enmeshed in a tangle of relief problems,” writes Allen D. Breck, just as parishioners were building the first cathedral.7 The so-called climate cure for those with lung ailments, particularly tuberculosis, brought hordes of health-seekers, many of them penniless, to Denver. They died on sidewalks and in makeshift boarding houses. The 19th-century matriarchs at Saint John’s (see pp. 31) responded by building, staffing, and managing a great hospital, the first in city limits, to meet this urgent human need. But there is still suffering just outside our doors.

Parishioners were asked in the 2014 parish survey how Saint John’s might respond to need outside its walls.

Homelessness and hunger were among

their chief concerns. Yet how would the congregation organize itself around mission and outreach? It was agreed that the best way forward would be to identify and hire a missionerin-residence. This staff position was approved by vestry in 2015 and filled in the fall.

Missioner-in-Residence

The job responsibilities for this new post were built from the ground up, as the missioner developed relationships within the community and began to discern the gifts and desires present. His position took form around the responsibility to provoke and support theological reflection within the parish, and then to help develop this reflection into practice.

The missioner divides his time between the cathedral and the Denver community, spending half his time serving and building relationships with the cathedral’s mission partners, including Metro Caring, Saint Francis Center, and Network Cafe (among others). He also works to foster new relationships and looks to aid those who arrive at the cathedral in need of immediate and vital assistance (see sjcathedral.org/Serve/ TheMustardSeedsBlog/PostID/604).

E

Imitation of Christ book group

E

Mustard Seeds Blog

E

Days of Service

E

Women’s Homeless Initiative

The other half of the missioner’s time is used to support spiritual discernment and relationship building within the cathedral community.

The most public example of this is the “Mustard Seeds” blog, which has garnered a steady readership since it was launched in November 2015—nearly 5,000 pageviews to date. It provides a platform for diverse voices from or connected to the Saint John’s community, voices that both challenge and support us as we put our faith into action.

On a more intimate level, the missioner facilitates group discernment. At present, this is focused on the Imitation Book Club (which took its name from the first text it studied, The Imitation of Christ). The book club meets weekly to discuss the fundamentals of Christian faith and how they might be put into practice. In doing so, the group is fostering a community that can serve as a spiritual basis for advocacy and service. The missioner writes up and distributes meeting summaries so that those who are unable to attend can still benefit from discussions and learn of opportunities for work.

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SERVING THOSE WHO ARE HOMELESS

Grant recipients, agencies, parishes, ministries, and organizations supported by or connected with Saint John’s Abrahamic Initiative Capitol Hill United Ministries (CHUM) Denver Catholic Worker Colorado Episcopal Foundation Colorado Episcopal Service Corps Foundation Campus Ministry, University of Denver Diocese of Colorado (Episcopal Church in Colorado, or ECC) Episcopal Relief & Development Everding Lectureship Family Promise General Theological Seminary Giving Tree Habitat for Humanity High Plains Region (ECC) Inner City Health Interfaith Alliance Loaves & Fishes Metro Caring (an ECC institution) Network Café Our Merciful Savior Episcopal Church Project Angel Heart Rainbow Alley Drop-in SafeHouse Denver St. Francis Center (ECC institution) St. Martin’s Chamber Homeless Choir 32nd Ave. Jubilee Center (ECC institution) Urban Peak Work Options for Women

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Organized five years ago by a canon at Saint John’s, the Women’s Homeless Initiative is a coalition of 16 communities of faith that provide overnight shelter for up to 25 homeless women, 365 days a year. As the Monday-night site on alternate months—26 nights a year—volunteers transform the parish hall at Saint John’s into a dormitory. “What can I bring?” partners always ask the organizers, and “Can I do more?” People prepare supper, keep company and then keep vigil, and, in the morning, provide snack-bags to-go as the women are shuttled back to St. Francis Center (sfcdenver.org).

Parishioners know about Monday night WHI at Saint John’s and cite it with pride when speaking of our outreach. People outside the parish, and often outside of any formal church affiliation, participate in it, bringing needed items for the women and helping in other ways, like laundry and shopping. Groups from across the city participate. One organization donated funds as part of its own commitment to helping women. One group prepared gift bags at Christmas, and then showed up to prepare a dinner. A local school prepared and served dinner one night. The grade-school children wrote notes of love on Valentine’s Day. The students had a good time and have asked to come back.

SERVING THOSE WHO ARE HUNGRY

Since it was formed in 2011, the Cathedral Co-operative of Gardeners (CCG) has grown, gleaned, and delivered about 10,000 lbs. of produce.

During the growing season (June– October) volunteers take fresh food to Metro Caring (metrocaring.org), an agency that assures timely, safe distribution of food and services to people who are hungry and seeking to return to self-sufficiency. Each summer the congregation takes part in Loaves & Fishes, a citywide event that raises

awareness about local hunger. Last year Saint John’s collected 3,000 pounds of nonperishable food items.

Early in 2016 the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development approved the congregation’s $30K grant request to build a 17-plot learning garden on campus. A collaboration with Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) and Metro Caring, the landscaped area will feature 17 raised beds for groups of guest gardeners and interested parishioners. It resembles a traditional community garden, except guest gardeners will be earning a jobtraining credential in what is in essence their outdoor classroom.

We offer Days of Service for members wanting to serve on a drop-in basis.

By grounding these service days in theological reflection (see p. 8), parishioners find they are helped in making sense of their service to others.

SERVING THE CITY

In 1966 Saint John’s formed the Clarkson Corporation to hold a block of land between 14th and Colfax Avenues, calling it Cathedral Square North. The congregation then looked for ways to develop the parcel to further the mission and ministry of the cathedral.

After fits and starts over the decades, the vestry commissioned the Clarkson Community task force in 2010 to develop a plan. Using a parishioner’s generous gift in 2011, the cathedral developed a memorial park as a quiet urban space for contemplation and transition to worship as members of the congregation approach the cathedral from the north parking lot.

In 2013 the task force helped to forge a partnership between Saint John’s and Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa) to locate the Wartburg West program on Cathedral Square North and in the buildings on the cathedral campus. The young men and women who participate in the program serve at Denver nonprofits and engage with the parish. The task force also helped to establish the cathedral’s relationship with Sewall Child Development Center, which uses classroom and play space on the Saint John’s campus to provide

The Saint Francis Apartments at Cathedral Square North: Permanent Supportive Housing

instruction for preschoolers from Denver’s Public Schools (DPS), a third of whom have special needs. Sewall has been a test program. We hope to continue to explore ways to leverage our resources and relationships to meet the changing needs of our city.

When he met with the members of the Profile Committee on January 7, 2016, Bishop Rob O’Neill told them that “vital and dynamic” parishes are those in which 1 out of every 4 members are engaged in hands-on ministry to the poor, the marginalized, and the otherwise disadvantaged, isolated, ailing, and alone. Because the proportion of Saint John’s parishioners who serve in these capacities is well below 1:4, the bishop called the congregation to take up this work.

The tenth dean of the cathedral will likewise want to be prepared to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:12).

CELEBRATING TO CELEBRATE OUR LOVE OF GOD JOYOUSLY IN WORSHIP, MUSIC, AND ART IN THE ANGLICAN TRADITION.

WORSHIP

The charism of the early church was joy. At Saint John’s we offer traditional, transcendent, joyful cathedral worship, suitable to our Gothic Revival structure and space. Worship here has been in line both theologically and liturgically with the vision of the 1979 Prayer Book since about 1982.

Since the 19th century, most of the Episcopal clergy in the diocese were formed at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, a school founded in the 1840s as a center for Christian formation in what was then the Wisconsin wilderness. Influenced by the Oxford movement, the founders hoped to form lay and ordained leaders who would propagate the faith in frontier communities.

In 2015 the Clarkson task force announced that Saint John’s and the St. Francis Center had formed a partnership to develop permanent supportive housing for those previously homeless. A 52-unit apartment building will rise on Cathedral Square North on property owned by Saint John’s/Clarkson Community. The project was approved for funding by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) and the Colorado Division of Housing.

The contracts are signed. The project will break ground in June 2016 and be completed about 15 months later. Residents will be assigned a case manager who will help them set goals, obtain financial benefits, and stay healthy both mentally and physically. The apartments will bring relief to some of our neighbors and, for Saint John’s, an opportunity for service.

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A view from the pews

A Sunday service at Saint John’s in the Wilderness is always a little bit different.

There are four services during the season, and each is tailored to the needs of a different group of parishioners. Having been to all four, the appeals of each are evident. The commonalities of the services are a clearer indication, however, of what binds the parish together. One senses an intentional balance being maintained, preserving the informal, personal connections among parishioners and between the parishioners and the clergy. This balance of relationships is supported by the critical formality of liturgy and its connection, through time, to all ages.

From the rustling sounds of older parishioners being helped to their feet by younger members, to the squeaks and squawks of children wrestling with their impatience and the kind looks of recognition and understanding of those in the pews, the love of God is celebrated, recognized, and felt as the clergy guide our worship.

An early and steady infusion of Nashotah House clergy lent the church in Colorado a theology and liturgical style that leaned toward ritualism. Not so at Saint John’s. Perhaps because the congregation saw the cathedral as the sole cosmopolitan outpost in the diocese, not suitable for Nashotah’s frontier-trained mystics, it resisted the importunings of the liturgical movement. Today the cathedral is both theologically and liturgically in line, as we say above, with the vision of the 1979 Prayer Book.

The 7:45 a.m. Sunday service is a quiet Rite I Eucharist with organ and usually one hymn. At 9 a.m. a Rite II Eucharist overlaps young children’s formation; members of our youth group (middle and high schoolers) serve as ushers during the school year, and children of all ages participate in the choirs each week. At the Peace, young children, who have just celebrated a Godly Play service in the Saint Francis Chapel, join the rest of the assembly. They then take part in collecting the alms and gather close to the altar for the Eucharistic prayer.8 While this Eucharist is inherently connected to children’s formation, and children exercise particular roles in it, it is not a children’s liturgy.

The Eucharist is celebrated again at

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11:15 a.m. according to Rite I. Evensong is celebrated once a month at 3 p.m. and draws a congregation from around the diocese, as well as members of other religious traditions. They are attracted as much by the English choral tradition as by the spirituality of the Divine Office (see pp. 36 for a list of worship services).

The later Sunday morning Eucharists (9 and 11:15) enjoy the ministry of a full choir. Occasionally, especially on major feast days, the choir sings a choral mass setting. But for the most part, all the music, with the exception of the anthems, is congregational. In general, Saint John’s celebrates according to the principles of progressive solemnity so that in the course of the liturgical year, the parish draws upon expressions from the restrained to the exuberant, not only in music but also in ceremony, decoration, and vesture.

On Sunday evening at 6 o’clock the parish celebrates according to “An Order for the Eucharist.” Called The Wilderness, this service holds an echo of the congregation’s patronal saint, John the Baptist (see pp. 13).

Perhaps the most striking element is the protracted time of prayer after the sermon. Participants move about the church from prayer station to prayer station in what is at once active and

contemplative. Many who regularly attend The Wilderness identify this time spent in focused reflection as the root of their life of prayer. Effervescent, ceremonial, sensual, mysterious, The Wilderness points toward something true more broadly of the cathedral—although Saint John’s is formed by tradition, it is not bound by traditionalism.

The Eucharist celebrated at 5:30 p.m.; on Wednesday the Eucharist is celebrated twice, at 7:00 in the morning and 5:30 in the evening.

Noonday Prayer is offered Monday through Friday. The noon service replaces Evening Prayer. The midweek services are well attended. The earlymorning Wednesday liturgy draws a faithful group of regulars who meet to study scripture afterward. In the evening, many of those who take part in Cathedral Nite events, like the catechumens, come first to the Eucharist. The parish leadership, both ordained and lay, has recognized that the evening liturgy in particular presents an opportunity to broaden the congregation’s liturgical experience— an opportunity not yet fully explored.

WORSHIP SPACES

When the second cathedral was built (1906–11), the plans drawn up by Tracy and Swartwout, a New York architectural firm, called for a much larger structure than was eventually built. During construction, the walls collapsed, and the failure of the congregation to prevail in a lawsuit against the builders led the congregation to begin again, but only the first portion of the planned church was ever built. Even then, the cathedral is 185 feet long. The roof towers 65 feet above the floor.

The nave is Indiana limestone. For the chancel, the builders defaulted to a matching and more economical brick after the wall collapse. The Romanesque style of the chancel allowed the builders to incorporate the rounded windows salvaged from the first cathedral—predecessor of the current church—which had been destroyed by arson in 1903. The nave is a fine example of the Gothic Revival style. The two styles and the two building materials, limestone and brick, coexist harmoniously, and most people notice the disparities only when they are pointed out. The nave and chancel are separated by a wrought iron and brass rood screen, which, like the chancel windows, the carved wooden reredos, and the high altar, was salvaged from the former cathedral after the fire.

The history of those elements, as well as of the 45 aisle and clerestory windows, is documented in Ann Jones’s Glory in the Wilderness (see

Bibliography, p. 38). Most of the glass was created in England in the studio of Edward Frampton and, in Boston, by the Connick Studio. A small window above the central (liturgical) west door is Tiffany.

In 1927 the congregation added a detached parish house to hold clergy offices, a meeting hall, the women’s guild room, now the library, and a chapel. The architecture of this building reflects the efforts of Elisabeth Spalding, a daughter of Colorado’s first bishop, and Marion Hendrie, a Colorado artist and philanthropist. Together they persuaded the diocese to establish the Commission on Church Architecture and the Allied Arts “to encourage and guide parishes and missions in obtaining the best possible design in buildings and furnishings.” Named for Martin of Tours, the chapel is considered one of the finest buildings produced by the American Arts & Crafts movement.

Designed and executed by Colorado artists, the chapel includes works by Hendrie, John Thompson, Josephine Hurlburt, and Arnold Rönnebeck, the first director of the Denver Art Museum.9 Today the chapel is used for the Noonday Office and the daily Eucharist at 5:30 p.m., and for small weddings and funerals.

In 1956 a three-story building, intended primarily for education, was built to connect the cathedral to the parish house. It includes a children’s chapel dedicated to Saint Francis of

Assisi. That chapel has since been altered. The forward-facing pews were removed, and a folding partition, which separated the chapel from a sizable narthex, was taken down. The room is, in the style of the time, spare.

The cinderblock walls are inlaid with Venetian glass mosaics and fitted with stained-glass windows designed by Mina Conant and Edgar Britton. The Saint Francis Chapel continues to be used for the children’s Liturgy of the Word during the 9:00 a.m. Sunday Eucharist and for other occasional services. It is the only liturgical space at Saint John’s that is almost entirely flexible.

The cathedral grounds encompass two outdoor liturgical spaces. To the left of the north doors is a large plaza, beneath which are vaults for the burial of the ashes of the dead.

All Souls’ Walk is fitted with paving stones and brass plaques identifying the saints whose remains rest there.

Across the street a labyrinth, a replica in brick of the one at Chartres, fills an area called Dominick Park. In view of the crime on Capitol Hill, this devotional space is kept locked most of the week—an unfortunate, and we hope short-term, solution since it renders this devotional space unusable and therefore cries out for change. We are working with the Wartburg students and others to determine how best to use these spaces in view of the security challenges common to an urban parish.

Our Diversity MANY OF THOSE WHO HAVE MADE SAINT JOHN’S THEIR CHURCH HOME COME FROM OTHER FAITH TRADITIONS. During our listening sessions this past fall, these newer Episcopalians named ‘beauty’ as a chief draw, citing our liturgy, music, and architecture. They also invoked the ‘peace’ they experienced during meditation and worship.

Parishioners also approvingly cited the diversity offered at Saint John’s, marveling at different liturgies and the implied freedom, observing that no one was “telling them what to do.”

The Wilderness was singled out (“It changed my life” was a refrain during listening sessions), in addition to the acceptance parishioners said they experienced in being able to choose among diverse worship offerings.

Like the Episcopal Church more broadly, Saint John’s is home to former Roman Catholics and Mormons, former Presbyterians and Evangelicals, former no-church and some-church, high church and low. Many of our newer members are LGBTQ refugees from their less-inclusive church families of origin.

The diocese is large and varied as well, and it is a humbling responsibility to be a place where Episcopalians from across the church in Colorado can worship in the “beauty of holiness.”

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MUSIC

The music program at Saint John’s began in 1872 and consisted of “a decent boy choir and an efficient organist.” Since then the congregation has committed itself to excellence in church music. Today the choir program is divided into three youth choirs who train according to a scheme devised by the Royal School of Church Music, with which the cathedral has been affiliated for decades. Saint John’s has a total of six choirs designed to overlap across generations. The choirs sing at regular Sunday morning services.

E Choir

School—Saint David, Saint Cecilia, Probationers E Choir School Parents’ Association Cathedral Choir E Parish Choir E Organ task force E Saint Cecilia Music Guild The Cathedral Choir sings monthly Evensong; a guest musician plays a 25-minute prelude. This service attracts a number of worshipers from other parishes. The choirs also sing at annual services, among them Advent Lessons & Carols, Christmas Lessons & Carols, and five Christmas Eve masses.

Saint John’s is home to one of the finest and largest pipe organs in the western United States. Built by the Kimball Company of Chicago, the organ was given to the cathedral in 1938 by Mrs. Lawrence C. Phipps in honor of her father Platt Rogers, Denver’s mayor from 1891 to 1893.

Mrs. Phipps asked in return that all of the cathedral’s organ recitals be free to the public. The cathedral has faithfully honored this request, a gift to the city. After a 30-month restoration, the Phipps organ was rededicated in 2011.

With 96 ranks, the organ comprises nearly 6,000 individual pipes, some the size of drinking straws and others that

are 32 feet high. It plays 61 harp notes and 25 chimes—all powered by a 25-hp motor. To complete the original design of the Kimball, an antiphonal organ will be installed this year, a gift to Saint John’s from parishioners.

Concerts and recitals are held throughout the year and feature local, regional, national, and international performers. These events have brought innumerable choirs, including those from Canterbury, Gloucester, and Westminster Abbey. Chamber choirs sing here, among them the Tallis Scholars and Anonymous 4. Important organists perform here—Marilyn Keiser and Raúl Prieto Ramirez, to name but two. Many concerts are free. The public is welcomed by staff members, clergy, and the many music-program volunteers.

In listening sessions and informal conversation with parishioners, members of the Profile Committee have heard people say they are interested in hearing an expanded repertoire of church music.

Music of The Wilderness

Our Sunday evening community, The Wilderness, is supported by professional musicians who provide a distinctive worldbeat sound.

The music changes seasonally, drawing inspiration from the 1982 Hymnal, and also from root, folk, and pop standards and everything in between. Songs are rearranged and set with the meditative and mystical Wilderness service in mind. A lead vocalist helps the congregation with the melodies, while instrumentation ranges from piano and keyboard, to percussion of all sorts, upright and electric bass, electric guitar, zither, and other specialty instruments.

Recent seasons have featured music from the film soundtrack to “Interstellar,” modern Syrian rhythms with spoken word, ancient Chinese instruments, Celtic melodies, Simon and Garfunkel tunes, and more.

The music transitions smoothly between the liturgical seasons under the attention of our lead musicians and liturgist. After more than ten years, the music of The Wilderness continues to draw people to worship on Sunday nights.

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GIVING “TO BE FAITHFUL STEWARDS OF OUR CATHEDRAL BOTH NOW AND FOR GENERATIONS TO COME THROUGH GIFTS OF OUR TIME AND TREASURE.”

TREASURE

Saint John’s in the Wilderness enjoys significant assets in both its physical structure and its financial endowment.

The congregation must nevertheless address the physical maintenance needs of an aging historic-landmark structure and the reality of an aging congregation, both crucial steps if the cathedral is to survive beyond the 21st century. The congregation therefore has some internal work to do, foremost in addressing its perplexingly belowaverage annual pledging. We will need the next dean to be a confident and accomplished fundraiser.

Owing to the extraordinary generosity of some benefactors, Saint John’s has an endowment of about $25 million. While the endowment contributes to the financial security of the parish, we believe the existence of the endowment wrongly conveys

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the message that Saint John’s primary needs are covered and that pledge and plate merely augment our operational costs. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In 2013, responding to the congregation’s request for more care and support, the church leadership made a decision to invest in human capital. The vestry decided to increase the number of full-time clergy to five.

It also filled the then-empty positions of canon steward, himself a priest, and director of finance and administration.

(N.B.: As this Profile goes to press, our curate, whose term of service was three years, is departing, and our director of finance and administration has taken a position elsewhere).

The goal in 2013 was to revive the congregation and then to challenge it. The goal in 2016 remains the same: to revive and challenge the congregation. This investment is beginning to show returns, if not on our bottom line yet, then in our congregational life.

The “Big Bang” of 2013

In listening sessions in 2015, we began hearing a new phrase, the “Big Bang,” bubbling to the surface of conversation. “I remember the flow of energy,” one longtime parishioner recalls. Now in her 90s, she is teacher of centering prayer. “It was as if the wind of the Holy Spirit blew into the church, gracing us. There had been something of a slow and stagnant sense,” she added, “for some time. Then these dynamic, diverse, talented men and women suddenly appeared, and it seemed to me we came alive again.”

ANEMIC PLEDGING: A BRIEF HISTORY

In 2015 the average pledge to Saint John’s increased by $700 to $2,500 from 526 pledging units. Seventy-two of those 526 pledging units were new.

To be clear, this level of pledging at $2,500 represents a breakthrough. The congregation has historically given, on average, only about $1,800 per year.

Among Episcopalians nationally and in Colorado, the average is closer to $2,800 annually. Our anemic giving was the subject of at least two powerful sermons in the fall.

While national averages tell us that most churches have as many attending families as pledging families, Saint John’s has a much higher-than-average number of pledging units. We are still analyzing this unusual pattern and weighing possible responses. At the same time, targeted giving has grown.

Parishioners recently gave gifts that have paid for state-of-the-art audio and teaching technologies, in both the nave and the parish hall. Gifts and grants for mission and outreach have made significant impacts on what we can do to serve the poor in the city, to improve the facilities, and to expand our music and liturgy.

Gifts and grants have not been able to bridge the gap in funding, however, and steep rises in health insurance and other staff expenses consumed a larger portion of the budget than we had planned for. Meanwhile, we know we want to increase the budget

for outreach and service—that fig tree, and the gardener, mentioned in the introduction. As a general matter, the cathedral has not made a capital reserve fund a priority. The 2016 budget includes such a fund, which we hope to maintain going forward. Possible grant monies from the Colorado State Historical Fund would cover the costs of some of the

Giving—Stewardship and Governance Building & Grounds Standing Committee Art & Architecture Archives Library Artisans’ Group Green Initiatives Landscape & Gardens Cathedral Bees Safety Vestry and Its Committees Executive Finance Investment Personnel Stewardship Art of Hosting Invitation Legacy Society Major Gifts

near-term repairs. But the congregation must pledge more to cover the balance so Saint John’s can pay its operating expenses and augment a reserve fund.

(See pp. 33 for a fuller discussion of our

finances.)

Four new stewardship groups have been formed since the arrival of our new canon steward in 2013.

• Planned Giving, which secures bequests and planned gifts.

• Invitation team members, who face out to the city to promote congregational growth.

• The Art of Hosting group, which trains members in facilitation and discernment.

• Major Gifts, which matches potential givers with missions and ministries.

The 2015 stewardship campaign had to maintain existing giving during a search for a new dean, a time of transition when giving generally dips.

And while Saint John’s saw pledges dip, new pledging units filled the gap; more than $1.3 million was raised in 2015 from a total of 526 donor families and individuals. In doing so, Saint John’s was able to maintain one large gift while increasing the average pledge to nearly $2,500—up from the 2012 average of $1,800. Our leaders, lay and ordained, also asked for, and received, six major gifts in 2015. These gifts have allowed Saint John’s to install a new sound system for the nave and new technology for teaching in the parish hall. Gifts to support the new antiphonal organ will make Saint John’s a preeminent host for events in Denver. More than 200 members have included Saint John’s in their wills. The intent is to encourage more parishioners to give in this way.

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Cathedral Work Days

What does it mean, really, to “take care” of something?

To loved ones, we give care.

No mysteries in the whys and wherefores of that. But when 50 or 60 people gather to take care of a building so immense in their lives, interesting things happen. Saint John’s in the past year has instituted Cathedral Work Days to help the Artisans’ Group with its ministry of repair and upkeep. They have been a huge hit.

What is so striking at first glance is the level of effort every participant puts forth.

The amount of expended elbow grease is amazing. But then other telltale signs indicate this is a good day: halting introductions and forging of friendships; occasional outbursts of cheer and laughter; amiable conversations over lunch; sharing of personal stories.

Cathedral Work Days at Saint John’s offer solutions that parishioners know they themselves have the power to provide. In a large, old facility that daily taxes both staff and budget, an army of members giving one day’s work reduces those burdens while also building bridges between clergy, staff, and members. In the three Work Days held over the past year, volunteers have performed well over $35,000 worth of cleaning, painting, repairs, and odd jobs. What’s more, by performing simple tasks together in fellowship, those members have invested more deeply in Saint Johns than their checkbooks alone ever could. They understand how the care they put into their church is the care they also get back.

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TIME AND TALENT

The work of the church at Saint John’s requires more than generous annual pledging. Also essential are the ministries of welcome, hospitality, and compassion (see “Pastoral Care,” p.

20) that help to make the church One Body. Maintaining a historic-landmark structure, likewise, requires wellpopulated ministries of preservation, upkeep, and beauty. These are challenges at Saint John’s. A few do most of the hard work of maintenance,

and they admit to needing time for refreshment. Most parishioners freely offer their administrative and governance skills. But we need artisans and tradespeople too.

There is percolating the idea that leaders, both lay and ordained, could set an expectation that everyone needs to lend a hand instead of assuming it will be taken care of by “someone else.” So the new dean may want to lead by example, getting their hands as dirty on Cathedral Work Day as

everyone else. Pitching in, like family, no matter one’s ability, is an ethic most homeowners understand when faced with the need to keep their house in order. Given the right leadership at Saint John’s, we could change assumptions about how best to care for our buildings and grounds.

The pro bono work of the many white-collar professionals at Saint John’s is also a vital ministry.

Pro Bono Time and Talent

John’s. The Court ultimately made the preliminary injunction permanent. On two separate occasions, the protesters appealed the decision to the Colorado Court of Appeals, the Colorado Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court of the United States. At each stage, the courts affirmed the injunction. During the summer of 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the protesters’ final attempt at appeal. The permanent injunction that allows all the parishioners of Saint John’s to freely worship remains intact today.

Throughout the nearly ten-year process, a number of attorneys gave freely of their time and talent. The matter was tried and defended, on a pro bono basis, through all appeals by dedicated parishioners and friends of Saint John’s working at some of Denver’s most prominent law firms.

This litigation was a substantial risk for the cathedral. The case, in all its twists and turns, could have been decided differently. The courts could have simply added fuel to the protesters’ angry fire.

But one thing drove Saint John’s to march on—all of those attending Saint John’s should be able to freely worship, regardless of their age, or gender, or sexual orientation. That care for the entire congregation ultimately won the day.

Saint John’s did not simply coin a motto, “welcoming and inclusive of all,” and let it go. The congregation has been called to create and secure that welcome, sometimes under harrowing circumstances.

Saint John’s was the target, for over a decade, of organized, graphic protesting on Palm Sunday and Easter. A local group of anti-abortion and anti-gay protesters gathered at the cathedral at least twice a year to express their views. They preferred protesting during Palm Sunday and Easter services because they knew they would benefit from exceptional attendance numbers and a captive outdoor audience, including many young children holding Easter baskets.

The protesters gathered along the sidewalk, on the street, and on top of their cars, holding aloft 4’x6’ posters that portrayed images too horrible to describe here. It was unrelenting. Inside the cathedral walls, the protesters’ shouts drowned out the service.

In the spring of 2004 a group of attorneys in the congregation resolved that Saint John’s had endured enough. On behalf of the cathedral and its parishioners, and with the bishop’s support, they sought an emergency temporary restraining order against the group.

After months of argument and filings with the Court, culminating in a weeklong trial, the Court granted Saint John’s a preliminary injunction that restricted protesters’ ability to interfere with religious services at Saint

NURTURING “TO BE A COMMUNITY WHERE CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND ADULTS KNOW EACH OTHER BY NAME AND ARE SUPPORTED THROUGH EDUCATION, FELLOWSHIP, AND PASTORAL CARE.” LISTENING SESSIONS RESONATED WITH APPEALS FROM PARISHIONERS FOR MORE CHRISTIAN FORMATION, THE GREATER NURTURE OF OUR YOUTH, AND PASTORAL CARE FOR OUR ELDERLY. BUT STAFF CHANGES AND BUDGET CUTS HAVE REDUCED THE NUMBER OF STAFF WORKING WITH YOUTH. THE HOPE IS THAT A NEW RECTOR WILL BRING ENERGY TO AND PASSION FOR YOUTH MINISTRY, DEMONSTRATING THAT SAINT JOHN’S IS A WELCOMING HOME WHERE FAITHFUL FAMILIES CAN GROW TOGETHER AND WHERE, TOO, LATER IN LIFE OUR ELDERS WILL HAVE CONNECTION AND NURTURE THROUGH FAITHFUL COMPANIONING, COMMUNION, AND PASTORAL VISITS.

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FELLOWSHIP

The fellowship extended at Saint John’s, especially in smaller groups, is evident on Sundays, as parishioners and friends infuse coffee hour and other community events with the nurture of friendship. But fellowship is evident throughout the week, not least every Wednesday, when parishioners gather for Cathedral Nite. Parishioners arrive at 5 p.m. or so in the parish hall and congregate in twos and threes, with coffee, while volunteers set up tables. A 5:30 p.m. Eucharist in Saint Martin’s Chapel precedes the blessing and supper, when tables fill with parishioners.

The parish survey found that this ministry of nurturing, one of our core values, could be strengthened. The welcome and integration coordinator organizes social events by ministry interest and demographic. But just as Jesus’ disciples struggled with the definition of ‘neighbor,’ we too need more discernment around whom we welcome and how we welcome them.

(See pp. 21 for a fuller discussion of the 2014 parish survey.)

Cathedral Nite and the Kitchen Crew On most Wednesdays during the program year a fellowship of cooks and kitchen helpers convenes in the Saint John’s kitchen. Their mission? Prepare a Cathedral Nite supper for as many as 150 souls attending formation classes that night.

This midweek kitchen ministry is an entry point for a number of newcomers.

The group is organized by the lead cooks, who plan, shop, and coordinate their food-prep and cooking teams.

Lead cooks mostly learn on the job. The Nursery is open, so young parents are able to join us. People bring their joys. Sorrows are shared. Food is on the buffet table by 6:15 p.m., and everyone, including the children, sits down to eat together. Then it’s time for classes and, finally, cleanup.

FORMATION FOR

camp and conference center of The Episcopal Church in Colorado. See cathedralridge. org

ADULTS

In addition to offering an adult formation hour on Sunday mornings (the Dean’s Forum, which has been thronged this year), clergy and lay leaders also offer Education for Ministry (EfM), book clubs, parish retreats, and instruction on scripture, prayer, and the Christian life throughout the year, usually at our midweek Cathedral Nite. The recent resurgence of interest in teaching was foreshadowed in the 2014– 15 program year, when we together read and studied “The Story” during the week to discuss on Sunday at the Dean’s Forum. Our parish hall was packed every Sunday and tables hummed with conversation and excitement.

Saint John’s also has a well-loved library stocked with more than 4,500 books. It is open weekdays and Sunday morning and has a number of works on church history, prayer, spiritual life, the Bible, other religions, and art and architecture. It is a quiet place to study and meditate as well.

We have recently offered a series of three- to six-week classes, with two or three class options. We also offer a Catechumenate program for adults preparing for Baptism, Confirmation, or Reception that runs September to May. Combined attendance for the Sunday and Wednesday programs is between 250 to 300 adults.

A number of fellowship groups offer church-based activities by demographic (see them in the text box, below). These include an annual all-parish retreat at Cathedral Ridge, the

Formation

All-parish, women’s, and youth retreats Catechumenate Cathedral Camp Cathedral Nite formation classes Dean’s Forum Education for Ministry (EfM) Godly Play Nursery Sunday School, children and youth Fellowship Cathedral Kitchen Crew

FORMATION FOR CHILDREN

SOWhAT Mural

Younger children, preschoolers, and kids (K–3d grade) are taught in small sections through Godly Play, a curriculum that reveals God inviting us into, and pursuing us in the midst of, scripture and spiritual experience.

Godly Play sessions are offered on Sunday mornings and Wednesday afternoons.

This is an important subcommunity at Saint

John’s.

SOWhAT (Stories, Outreach, Wonder, Arts, & Theology) is a program for fourth- and fifth-graders that was developed at Saint John’s. It builds on the Godly Play stories, helping children to respond artistically and understand themselves as part of the parish community. The children engage in service and create legacy projects.

Concurrent with the Liturgy of the Word during the 9 a.m. Sunday Eucharist, children ages three through grade 3 may attend Children’s Chapel, which offers a lesson and an age-appropriate homily, a modified Creed, and Prayers of the Children. Many children stay with their parents for the adult service. The others rejoin their parents in the cathedral shortly after the Peace to take part in worship with the rest of the community.

Cathedral Nite 14th & Clarkson (intergenerational) Saint Martha’s Guild SOAR (Seniors on a Rampage) 20s & 30s Wilderness Community Health & Wellness ministries Blood-pressure screening/Parish Nurse Living Compass courses Recovery groups Saint Luke’s Health/Wellness Fair Pastoral Care Blessings for newborns and

families Cathedral Bakers Clergy home communion visits Grief groups Lay Eucharistic Visitors Nursing-home masses Pastoral counseling 24-hour emergency pastoral on-call priest

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Children and Youth Formation Through Singing and Music Education The formation of children and youth lies at the heart of the choir school at Saint John’s. They are formed as Christians through singing and education. They read scripture and theological texts. They learn to deal with failures and success. They learn to strive for excellence, together.

An adaptation of the RSCM training scheme teaches young singers to use their voices and gradually master music theory. Through their increasing mastery of skills and knowledge, the children grow in confidence and the esteem of their fellow singers. They are valued as contributing members of the community.

FORMATION FOR YOUTH

On Sunday mornings, middle-school youth transition to discussion- and activity-based learning about God, with an emphasis on communal and personal rules of life. High-school youth engage in separate discussions that address questions of faith, the Bible, and Episcopal identity and prepare them to leave home for college. Our bishop confirms youth aged 15 years and older. In recent years we have merged preparation for Confirmation with our regular Sunday formation.

One of our strongest programs for children and youth is Cathedral Camp, offered every summer for a week at Cathedral Ridge, the camp and conference center of The Episcopal Church in Colorado. Cathedral Camp hosts up to 65 children, in addition to the approximately 20 youth who serve as junior and senior counselors.

Cathedral Camp has been called a “magical week” when “reality is suspended and some of the best conversations of our lives take place.”

Many of our teens stay engaged at Saint John’s because of Cathedral Camp. This is a week that builds community and involves children in 20

daily prayer.

Recent listening sessions with members of the youth group revealed their desire that church be “a safe place” for young people to talk about “the hard stuff of life.” They want clergy who are there for them “no matter what.” And they want recurring service opportunities. In the past few years Saint John’s has responded by offering more mission trips and participating more in diocesan mission and retreat activities. The youth describe these as valuable experiences, and they have expressed a desire for increased funding and staffing for mission trips,

pilgrimages, diocesan retreats, and youth programming.

Pastoral Care

We are called as Christians to visit with our neighbors and members who are ill, convalescing, or elderly.

We have 17 Lay Eucharistic Visitors (LEVs) who take up some of this work.

After reviving a moribund program in 2010, a lay leader administers it still, with clergy oversight. We are able to bring communion once a month to our parishioners in need.

RESPECTING “TO HONOR THE DIGNITY OF ALL PERSONS AND EMBRACE DIVERSITY AS ESSENTIAL TO THE BODY OF CHRIST.”

SPIRITUAL INVENTORY OF A DIVERSE CONGREGATION In the fall of 2013, Saint John’s began to discuss the need to commit the congregation to an exploration of its spiritual practices. Leaders found RenewalWorks, a planning tool that provided a process for: • Assessing the spiritual vitality of a congregation; • Training a task force of congregational leaders to interpret the results; • Examining the life of the congregation in light of the survey results to

determine how better to meet congregants’ spiritual needs; and • Challenging the congregation to support its spiritual health through practices such as regular worship, study of scripture, personal prayer, and service to people in need.

The inventory went live two years ago and garnered a response rate of more than half the congregation—51 percent, or 350 members. Large congregations generally have response rates of 20 percent. During the weekslong process, the congregation hummed with energy, some of it critical, as respondents observed that the survey language was suited more for an evangelical megachurch. With the excellent response rate, however, lay leaders persisted in forming a strong community. They shared their faith stories and trained together to analyze the data coming in.

What We Mean When We Say ‘Diversity’

Saint John’s is a church like no other. It is a church like any other. It attracts different people seeking different things. In our Sunday bulletin, we say we are a “Community of Communities.”

This range of people and interests is a kind of diversity.

Does it make us stronger? We don’t know. Does it make us more interesting? Certainly. Some of us participate in a number of church-based social activities on top of our regular attendance. Others come only on Sunday, attend their service, and leave immediately afterwards.

Still others pursue their faith more deeply through study, prayer, or service, and sometimes all three. Some experience their faith through our choral music. Others come for the clouds of incense and rising chant— experiencing with their senses the beauty of the divine presence. Others see smoke and head for the door, coughing and muttering into their handkerchiefs.

We wrangle about liturgical issues, and we come from a number of different places—spiritually, income levels, and neighborhoods. Some of us live on Capitol Hill and walk to church, while others drive in from their

suburban homes. We have parishioners whose great-great grandparents worshiped at the first cathedral. The present writer is one of those parishioners. Others are new to the Christian faith and to church and were baptized last Easter.

Some folks speak up boldly and expect to be heard. They sit on the vestry and hold powerful committee posts. Some sit in the back pews, say little, and expect not to be heard when they do speak.

We all want to worship, though, in this beautiful cathedral in its scruffy neighborhood among an interesting congregation.

“For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” —Romans 12:4–8

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Saint John’s has a spiritually young congregation, according to the inventory’s continuum for spiritual development. Nearly 20 percent of the cathedral’s members said they were exploring a life with God, while nearly 60 percent responded that they were growing that life. Nineteen percent of the respondents said they were deepening their life with God, while only 4 percent of the congregation replied that God was at the center of their lives. In short, 77 percent of the respondents said they were in the earliest stages of their faith journeys— exploring or growing their lives with God. It may be important to note, in this context, that it was not clear to the congregation how these terms were developed and statistically normed for this particular inventory of our spiritual practices. In other words, our data may not mean quite the same thing as in an evangelical congregation.

For example, exploring may not be associated with quite the same spiritual profile when applied to Episcopalians, where challenging authority and being encouraged to question are seen as spiritual and personal strengths. Maybe we’re not ‘young’ Christians at all.

Perhaps we see ‘exploring’ as a sign of spiritual maturity.

In any event, the inventory determined scores across a dozen beliefs and attitudes on faith. In 9 of the 12 categories, the percentage of those at Saint John’s who “strongly agreed” with the listed beliefs and attitudes was below the norm for The Episcopal Church. For example, according to the matrix, strong agreement with the phrase, “I am willing to risk everything that is important in my life for Jesus Christ,” is considered the best indicator of spiritual health. Only 10 percent of Saint John’s respondents expressed strong agreement with this statement.

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The 80 Percent Challenge: Basic Christian Formation We have said this elsewhere, but there is emphasis in repetition: Our new dean will need to be an accomplished teacher of basic Christianity. We need help, too, in developing a culture of listening, encounter, and dialogue as a way of being better and more loving Christians.

This was clear from the listening sessions during the fall of 2015, which revealed a church terrain with significant obstacles to conversation, only some of the difficulties rooted in the size of the congregation. A real obstacle to conversation is the lack of basic knowledge of our Christian faith.

When nearly 80 percent of respondents in a parish survey say they are in the earliest stages of their faith, then we have a significant teaching and formation challenge.10 The good news is that the congregation has demonstrated a hunger for learning, as evidenced by its recent and doting attendance at the Sunday adult formation hour (the Dean’s Forum), where our interim dean has this past year taught basic Christian doctrine (for example, on baptism and the Eucharist) and Anglican history and liturgy.

We hope, in fact, that this season of discernment and transition will continue under our new dean with a continued and sustained period of teaching and learning, and help to inaugurate a new culture at the cathedral enjoining the congregation to a new culture of encounter, dialogue, and transformation.

Respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the following areas at Saint John’s: • Helping me feel like I belong.

• Helping me in my time of emotional need.

• Church leaders modeling and reinforcing how I can grow spiritually.

• Prioritizing my spiritual growth over my church membership.

• Church leaders being authentic about their own struggles.

The respondents expressed satisfaction with the following statements about Saint John’s: • Encouraging me to be respectful and welcoming to people of other faith traditions.

• Engaging me in the sacraments in ways that help me grow spiritually.

• Providing liturgy that encourages encounter with God in worship.

• Providing liturgy and music that feeds my spirit.

• Providing worship that is challenging and thought-provoking.

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANS, AND QUEER (LGBTQ) INCLUSION Saint John’s affirms and welcomes laity and clergy who identify as LGBTQ, embracing their full inclusion as members of Christ’s Body and sharers in Christ’s eternal priesthood.

The road to full inclusion at Saint John’s has a more than 30-year history, dating to the late 1970s with the acceptance of openly gay and lesbian individuals as members, and

In their self-assessments, members talked about wanting to root themselves in a relationship with Jesus Christ and with one another to study scripture and to cultivate skills to help them think more theologically through both action and reflection.

The following programmatic shifts were undertaken to support the congregation’s spiritual growth: • • • •

Large-group study Outreach (Faith in Action) Personal spiritual practices Small-group study

In addition, the All-Parish Weekend, held at Cathedral Ridge every August, now focuses on one spiritual theme. In 2014 retreat-goers focused on prayer; forgiveness was the theme in 2015.

The arrival of the heritage edition of The Saint John’s Bible in 2014 gave the parish a yearlong opportunity to encounter the Bible in imaginative ways. There were workshops on manuscript illumination. “Seeing the Word” visio divina studies were held on Cathedral Nite (Wednesday) and

to some degree as couples. During the 1990s, the then-dean encouraged LGBTQ members and friends to help raise awareness of their presence and ministry in the church. The ensuing, facilitated dialogue spurred on the process toward full inclusion. There were setbacks and recalibration following the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson, when Saint John’s leadership assumed a more cautious approach to building a base for full inclusion. Since the turn of the 21st century, however, Saint John’s

after the Sunday night Wilderness worship service. Saint John’s also reencountered scripture in a parishwide study of The Story at the Dean’s Forum, an undertaking that routinely packed the parish hall. Finally, responding to the expressed need for greater engagement in outreach, the parish added a missioner-in-residence to develop the Faith-in-Action ministry of service and Christian formation.

has consolidated its policies of full inclusion. LGBTQ individuals are active in a variety of Saint John’s ministries.

They serve in leadership positions as clergy, committee chairs, and members of the vestry, and they are now married in the cathedral in accordance with the laws of the State of Colorado.

The congregation could nevertheless benefit from greater awareness around its majority-culture assumptions about people who are more fluid in expressing their gender or cultural identities.

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RECONCILING “TO SEEK COMMON GROUND WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH THOSE OF OTHER FAITHS AND WORK TOWARD A SOCIETY OF JUSTICE WHERE GOD’S LOVE IS REFLECTED IN THE HEALING AND RESTORING OF RELATIONSHIPS.”

parishioners because of our leadership in this area. In view of the sometimeshateful rhetoric surrounding religious identity and recent immigrants, Saint John’s is investigating ways to reconnect parishioners with the work of the Abrahamic Initiative. See abrahamicinitiative.org to learn more.

INTERFAITH INITIATIVES

ADVOCACY

The mission of The Abrahamic Initiative (AI) is to foster mutual understanding and appreciation among Abrahamic faith traditions through education, dialogue, and action. It was founded in the spring of 2001 by parishioners who noted the isolation of Denver’s growing Muslim community, while the cathedral’s once-strong friendship with the Jewish communities had frayed. After 9/11 the program was therefore positioned to convene adherents and religious leaders from the three faith traditions for dialogue, advocacy, and good works.

AI became a resource not only to Denver but also to statewide organizations, then nationally and internationally as religious communities, nonprofits, and government leaders began to ask AI leaders for help in developing programs in their own communities.

With time it was agreed that an interreligious steering committee, rather than cathedral staff and parishioners, should assume AI’s leadership. The program flourished, and the steering committee appointed an imam to serve as its first director.

Major Denver foundations funded the work of AI, which also attracted new

24

“Reconciliation involves doing what is just and what is right,” says our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, “and reordering the way we live together so that none has need. . . .”

A group of parishioners has been meeting to see how Saint John’s might make reconciliation, advocating what “is just and right,” a part of the parish’s faith practice. The group’s discernment involves study, prayer, and community conversations, led in part by the missioner-in-residence. The group has marched as a parish in Colorado’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade, which in Denver is called “The Marade,” attended advocacy-group meetings, and taken part in interfaith actions. Saint John’s could accomplish many things through a more active ministry of advocacy, including the deepening of our faith; renewing our sense of urgency about the need for justice, engagement, and hope; addressing systemic problems in Colorado; empowering lay leaders; and partnering with other parishes, churches, and interfaith groups. Finally, we could develop a greater awareness of our social location as a people of, for the most part, privilege.

RECONCILING IN A TIME OF

TRANSITION

Our catechism states that the “mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (BCP, 855). Our interim dean, The Very Rev. Dr. Patrick Malloy, has exemplified the call to restore the community to unity with God, accomplishing this through pastoral presence, thoughtful conversation, and teaching focused on the fundamentals of the faith. We have not always had the opportunity, at Saint John’s, to engage in communitywide conversations regarding our common life and our spiritual lives.

Imagine lifting the lid off a steaming pot of water and watching the escaping, rising energy. You have imagined Saint John’s over the past year. During that time we have move toward each other with more compassion. Our interim dean has focused us on the basics of our faith: baptism, liturgical practice, and the theology of the Eucharist.

With teaching and through facilitated conversations, the congregation has practiced being in conversation, practiced respectful disagreement, and asked questions arising from genuine curiosity. By revisiting the fundamentals of our Christian faith in the Episcopal tradition, the congregation is coming to master a common lexicon. With this shared language, working with our next dean, we believe we might continue to recognize Christ in one another, joyfully, in spite of, and through, our differences.

Denver, Colorado.

The view from City Park.

DENVER AND CAPITOL HILL CALLED “THE MILE-HIGH CITY” AND “QUEEN CITY OF THE PLAINS,” DENVER, TO THE PEOPLE OF SAINT JOHN’S CATHEDRAL, IS SIMPLY HOME. AND IT IS BOOMING.11

At first a forlorn supply town to the gold camps in the mountains, a day’s ride west, Denver has grown to be more than a frontier depot, more than a state capital, and more than a place to spend the night before the family camping trip in the mountains.

Denver is the region’s supply town for arts and entertainment, the hub for government, commerce, bio-tech, oil and gas, education, and, of course, urban-ag innovation rooted in a legal, billion-dollar cannabis industry filling the city’s tax coffers.

Denver’s sunny economy has been brightening U.S. business news for the past few years: Colorado hit bottom in the mid’80s when energy prices collapsed.

Nearly a third of the office space in downtown Denver, the state’s oil-andgas headquarters, sat empty. Many of the city’s cultural institutions teetered, and a cloud of brown smog smeared the horizon. Now the brilliant blue skyline is punctuated with red cranes,

and Denver’s soundtrack includes the steady thrum of power drills operated by hard-hatted construction workers who are putting up office buildings and housing at a feverish pace. . . . What Denver and its surrounding cities share with other boomtowns is an appealing environment for a skilled workforce, which has increasingly meant the difference between prosperity and stagnation.12 Integral to Denver’s history and identity, Saint John’s is many things to the city: cool Gothic structure, neighborhood chapel, host for state funerals. Dogs chase balls on the shaded lawns, people sit quietly, remembering the departed interred at All Souls’ Walk. Others hurry into their recovery groups, retrieve their CSA shares (Community-Supported Agriculture), attend $5 yoga classes, go to free concerts, run into friends, and make new ones. Despite city ordinances that ban camping on sidewalks and private property, and our own cathedral security protocols, the Saint John’s lawns are also home to impromptu encampments of people who are homeless.

The City and County of Denver has a diverse ethnic population including 11.1% African American; 31.7% Hispanic; 2.8% Asian and 1.3% Native American.

Metro Denver has an ethnic population of 5% Black; 18% Hispanic; 3% Asian; 1% Native American and 3% multiracial.

(See hometodenver.com/stats_ denver.htm)

25

A message chalked on the east wall of the Roberts Building, perhaps after a spigot people were using to shower with was deactivated.

26

The campus sits on nearly two city blocks, called Cathedral Square (bounded to the south by 13th Ave. and the north by 14th) and Cathedral Square North bounded to the north

by Colfax (15th) Ave. and by 14th Ave. to the south. The Office of the Bishop and the cathedral complex occupy Cathedral Square. The Wartburg West Apartments sit at the southeast corner of Cathedral Square North. The St. Francis Center Apartments will rise from the parking lot along Washington Street; Slice Works Pizza and Argonaut Liquors front on Colfax.

Saint John’s is located on historic Capitol Hill, in 2015 ranked one of the ten most beautiful neighborhoods in the United States.13 Extending east from the steps of the state capitol building, just five blocks away, the neighborhood includes state government office buildings, coffee shops and diners, grocery stores, apartment buildings, Victorian mansions, halfway houses, and restaurants, and, of course, the tattoo parlors, liquor stores, comedy clubs, strip joints, and entertainment venues along Colfax., a block north of

Saint John’s. Also known as U.S. Route 40, Colfax is said to be the longest continuous commercial street in the United States, celebrated in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.

Mixed in with the old Denver are newly arrived Millennials who have brought a hipster arts-and-culture vibe to the neighborhood. There is also blight and suffering. In 2012 the City Council passed a camping ban that criminalized homelessness, mentioned above. The offenders were moved east, away from the 16th Street pedestrian mall where they were close to service providers. Saint John’s and our neighbors on Capitol Hill have had to accept the brunt of this movement of people. Tensions in the congregation, and the neighborhood, have grown around the need for Saint John’s to be a safe place for those who worship, work, and serve at the cathedral while being “welcoming and inclusive” of all, including our neighbors who have been dispossessed of nearly everything.

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN COLORADO

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN COLORADO HAS 114 WORSHIPING COMMUNITIES COMPRISING 30,000 ACTIVE MEMBERS.

We take our call to God through Jesus Christ seriously, with joy and curiosity, exploring the truth of our faith in community, together proclaiming that: • We are followers of Jesus in our lives, every day.

• We are here to bring the Kingdom of God to the complex and uncertain world.

• We look for common ground from our different places on a common spiritual path.

• We are open to and we welcome differences in their many manifestations; we stand, as Jesus would, with the world.

• Our way is discipleship, servanthood, and proclamation.

• Being Episcopalian means being engaged with each other in love.

It does not mean we agree on everything or are perfect in every way. We don’t agree on everything, and we’re not perfect.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry tells us: We are part of the Jesus Movement, and he has summoned us to make disciples and followers of all nations and to transform this world by the power of the Good News, the gospel of Jesus. I don’t care who you are, how the Lord has made you, what the world has to say about you. If you’ve been baptized into Jesus, you’re in the Jesus Movement and you’re God’s.

What if you don’t call yourself a Jesus follower? We welcome you here to explore, participate, learn, and grow. Your formation matters to us. Although discipleship to Jesus defines who we are, we welcome everyone to join in the conversation and the journey.

THE RT. REV. ROB O’NEILL, TENTH BISHOP OF COLORADO The Right Reverend Robert (Rob) J. O’Neill came to Saint John’s in June 1982, where he was ordained a transitional deacon. In December of that year he was ordained as a priest— also at the cathedral, which is now his seat. He served here for 10 years as canon educator before being called as rector to the Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester, Mass.

O’Neill is the tenth bishop of The Episcopal Church in Colorado. Elected as Colorado’s bishop coadjutor on June 21, 2003, he was consecrated on October 4, 2003.

During O’Neill’s tenure as bishop, The Episcopal Church in Colorado has established a number of Jubilee Ministries, the Congregational Development Institute, two chapters of the Colorado Episcopal Service Corps (Denver and Steamboat Springs), and a disaster preparedness and recovery office.

Bishop O’Neill was the driving force in 2011 behind the acquisition of Cathedral Ridge, the church’s camp and conference center in the mountains near Pikes Peak. A capital campaign will fund its development and expansion. Most of the cathedral’s summer programs take place at Cathedral Ridge.

27

OUR HOPES FOR THE TENTH DEAN AT SAINT JOHN’S CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS WE BELIEVE JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD AND THAT HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND THAT HE OFFERS US NEW LIFE NOW AND THE PROMISE OF RESURRECTION. FOR TO BELIEVE OTHERWISE, AS SAINT PAUL TELLS US, WOULD MEAN “WE ARE OF ALL PEOPLE MOST TO BE PITIED” (1 CORINTHIANS 15:19). WE FULLY EXPECT THAT OUR NEW DEAN WILL PREACH THE FULLNESS OF THIS LIFECHANGING TRUTH.

In our listening and praying during the transition, we learned that the congregation is craving spiritual leadership, a pastor who will guide us to a clearer, deeper understanding of our baptismal covenant and a stronger commitment to living that covenant among ourselves and in the world beyond the parish walls. We need our next dean to be primarily a parish priest and then the dean of the cathedral.

We expect that the next dean will see how these two roles can nourish each other. We need our next rector (and dean) to be ambitious for us and for our formation into mature Christians. Our next dean will be kind to everyone— kind to themselves, kind to their staff, and kind to the volunteer in the hallway.

It is a long hallway.

The next dean will enjoy working with our bishop and engage with civic and religious leaders, working to promote mercy, justice, and reconciliation.

28

We have significant financial challenges, which we describe elsewhere in the Profile (see pp. 33).

The next dean will therefore need to have embraced stewardship as part of their ministry and will possess experience with leading a capital campaign. The next dean will want to work with the canon steward to raise these monies annually and to help secure major gifts for capitalimprovement projects. And the next dean will have to work with the vestry and staff to exhort parishioners to increase their giving. Asking for increased giving is at root the work of relationship.

To thrive as a leader at Saint John’s, our next rector (and dean) will have and demonstrate a well-developed sense of self and have and be accountable to a spiritual director. We have heard from the congregation that it desires a rector (and dean) who both likes and knows how to plan and delegate. This means knowing how to assemble and bring out the best in a team.

The next dean will be skilled at hosting safe, loving conversations that yield growing relationships and growing Christians, even when those conversations are difficult. The next dean will have done personal, spiritual, and emotional work. The next dean will be able to demonstrate success in bringing together a diverse community of believers, fostering individual and personal spiritual growth, and helping to build a stronger community of faithful Christians.

The next dean may find it necessary to address our need for congregational formation, which is to say that the

worshipers at our three morning services, along with the Wilderness congregation, manage to avoid each other. It’s nothing intentional and is perhaps the inevitable sprawl of a large congregation. But we do not seem to have a common language or shared iconology. And so we are what we say we are in our Sunday bulletin, “A Community of Communities,” rather than a congregation with a clear, shared identity.

Most of all, we want our next dean to be present with us, placing the needs of the parish and its people above a desire to be active in the broader church. This is not to say the tenth dean of the cathedral will not or cannot be connected to the broader church.

Rather, we believe the next dean will know how to strike a balance between being present with us and being connected, elsewhere. We recognize that this balance may shift with time.

What is right in the first year of the next dean’s ministry may not be right in the tenth year of their ministry. We will find the right balance with experience and dialogue.

Finally, our next dean will have the gift of priestly leadership—possessing that ability to call together a diverse body of the faithful so they hear and respond to the Word of God and offer, with joyfulness and hope, their own gifts. Our longing is that our many gifts can be paired with God’s great offering in Christ and consecrated for the feeding and service of the holy people of God who are everywhere around us.

St. John’s Church

OUR RECTORS AND DEANS: A SHORT HISTORY THE CONGREGATION HAS CALLED NINE DEANS SINCE BISHOP JOHN FRANKLIN SPALDING DECLARED SAINT JOHN’S A CATHEDRAL CHURCH IN 1879. IN 1860 THE DENVER FLOCK HAD NO CATHEDRAL, NO BISHOP, AND NO DEAN. ON JANUARY 29, 1860, THESE VENTURESOME EPISCOPALIANS HAD ONLY A LOG CABIN IN WHICH TO WORSHIP, EACH OTHER, SOME PRAYER BOOKS, AND A SHARPFACED PARISH PRIEST WHO HAD JUST STEPPED OFF A STAGECOACH. HE WAS JOHN H. KEHLER, OF SHARPSBURG, MARYLAND, FATHER OF THE COUNTY SHERIFF.

Surveying the High Plains to the east and the Rocky Mountains to the west, vestry members agreed their new church would be “Saint John’s in the Wilderness,” meaning John the Baptist. Nineteen years later, when the bishop incorporated his system as “the Bishop and Chapter of the Cathedral of Saint John,” Spalding substituted John the Evangelist, placing H. Martyn Hart as the dean in charge of the chapter.

To this day the congregation’s patronal saint remains John the Baptist. John the Evangelist is the cathedral chapter’s saint.

Hart drew up plans for a Romanesque Revival cathedral, by most accounts the third or fourth Episcopal cathedral to be built in the United States. Hart recalled in his memoirs how “Eastern Clergy”

Dean H. Martyn Hart

disparaged the cathedral “as a piece of impudence,” and for years Hart was the bemused recipient of scornful, unsolicited mail from American clerics, “including bishops,” he wrote in his memoirs. Denver clergy from Emmanuel and Trinity Memorial, neither of them self-sustaining, piled on, rejecting the bishop’s vision for a cathedral system. Bishop Spalding had envisioned all Denver clergy serving as cathedral canons. They spurned the dean as well. “They were in no mood to take the slightest direction from me,” Hart recalled.14 These conflicts were rooted in notions of power and independence, not whether liturgies were high church or low church or broad church or skinny church. Bishop Spalding, a high churchman, and Dean Hart, an Englishman and member of the Evangelical wing of the Anglican church, were practical men.15 The bishop wanted a cathedral system for its organizing power.

He saw the need for stronger episcopal oversight throughout the church, particularly in a fractious missionary district like his, encompassing Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.

Hart, for his part, had been called to pastor a congregation that had already raised money for a cathedral. He would help them build one and fold in any clergy who would be canons to lead the Daily Office on a rotation, to sit as canons in their chancel stalls, and to help lead the parish of Denver.

At the time there was “no settled opinion as to what a cathedral was, or as to what a cathedral dean did, not to mention a cathedral located in the Wild West.”16 With no chapter of

First St. John’s Cathedral fire

canons to lead as primus inter pares, Hart focused on building the cathedral his congregation wanted. The first service was held on November 7, 1881.

Meanwhile, church planters went on a spree—before the Saint John’s vestry was able to retire the building debt. Three homeowners, not wanting to walk the seven blocks to the cathedral, lobbied the bishop for a pretty stone church on their block of Lincoln Street. The bishop indulged them, and so Saint Mark’s was built. Dean Hart recalls his dismay: “It has always appeared to me to be reasonable never to build a church in a neighborhood which will not supply a congregation of at least three hundred; a smaller church under the most favorable circumstances cannot adequately support its pastor and must prove an incubus on the Diocese.”17 And so it happened that a number of Episcopal parishes cluster in Denver’s first neighborhoods, close by Cherry Creek. Many of these parishes survive to this day. Saint Mark’s is now a nightclub called The Church.

In 1903 arsonists burned the first cathedral to the ground—the culprit was never found. The congregation rebuilt in the Gothic Revival style, relocating the cathedral to Capitol Hill, then Denver’s most fashionable neighborhood. The congregation worships here today.

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After the death of the “Great Dean” in 1920, a period of uncertainty set in, but in 1924 the congregation called Benjamin Dagwell, and building recommenced. The congregation added a parish hall and an Arts & Crafts jewel-box of a chapel called Saint Martin’s. A decade later, after Dagwell was elected bishop of Oregon, the congregation called Paul Roberts. Remembered as a preacher, civic leader, and pastor, Roberts led the congregation through the end of the Depression and World War II into the late 1950s. He oversaw the installation of the Kimball organ and the construction of the education building, named for him. Parish rolls grew to 3,000 members. Some recall affectionately that the worship style at the time and into the 1960s and 70s was “lower than a snake’s belly.”

After Roberts retired in 1957, Dean Herbert Barrall arrived to lead the cathedral. The 1960s and 1970s brought disaffection, felt deeply in Denver and at Saint John’s. Longtime members left their downtown neighborhoods, decamped to suburban churches, or stopped attending church altogether. Dean Barrall was active in politics, protesting among other things the Vietnam war and segregation.

Then came the 66th General Convention (1979), held, as it happens, in Denver. On the last day of the convention, delegates voted in favor of women’s ordination and a complete and historic revision of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. The cascading disruptions proved too much.

Sunday attendance plummeted, as it did in Episcopal churches across the country.

In 1981 Donald S. McPhail was called as dean. Our liturgy became high church, in keeping with the revisions of the Prayer Book, and the congregation began to grow again, along with a notable music program.

The appointment of a new canon educator, Robert J. (Rob) O’Neill, was auspicious. Today O’Neill is bishop of Colorado (see pp. 27). The sudden departure of Dean McPhail, who had been a charismatic leader, caused distress for the congregation, and the effects reverberate to this day.

Arriving as the eighth dean of Saint John’s in 1991, Charles E. Kiblinger brought emphasis to formation and instituted the Catechumenate. After leading the congregation through a major renovation and celebrating the congregation’s 140th anniversary in the year 2000, Kiblinger accepted a teaching position at Virginia

President Clinton visiting Theological Seminary.

In 2001 the congregation called Peter Eaton as the cathedral’s ninth dean.

Cathedral governance, administration, and worship styles underwent notable changes. Lay worship leaders devised an alternative Sunday evening Eucharist, called The Wilderness, now emulated in a number of Episcopal parishes. The institution of Cathedral Nite five years ago renewed programs of adult fellowship and Christian formation, while outreach ministries like the Women’s Homeless Initiative flowered and worship space was extended to the Sudanese Community Church.

Eaton was elected bishop coadjutor of Southeast Florida in January 2015 and seated as bishop in January 2016.

Sunday School, circa 1954 30

First St. Luke’s Hospital

EARLY WOMEN LEADERS OF SAINT JOHN’S ONE COULD ASSUME FROM READING THIS SHORT ACCOUNT OF OUR DEANS (ABOVE) THAT SAINT JOHN’S IS THE SOLE PRODUCT OF WHITE MEN, MOST OF THEM LONG DEAD. WERE SHE WITH US TODAY, LAVINIA SPENCER SPALDING (1840–1929) MIGHT RESPOND IN HER STRONGEST POSSIBLE LANGUAGE, “NONSENSE!”

The wife of our first bishop, Lavinia would tell you about the women of Saint John’s. Father Kehler and Bishop Talbot would agree. They both singled out for praise the women in their frontier congregations. Writing in his history of The Episcopal Church, Robert Prichard notes that Talbot’s “first seven confirmands in Colorado were all women.” Father Kehler reported that the most “important sources of financial support for his parish [Saint John’s] was a group of ‘devout women always given to good works’ who had ‘secured $165’ through a mite society.”18 Although the 19th-century engines of church finance and good works, their husbands on the vestry mere figureheads,19 women were nevertheless ineligible to vote in civic elections, Lavinia would remind us, until 1893. Nor were they allowed to usher, serve as lectors, hold a chalice, carry the offertory, or lead worship.

They could not preach or celebrate the Eucharist. The women could and did, however, raise families, run households,

care for the sick, comfort the dying, take in orphans, hold teas, incorporate societies, wield Robert’s Rules, and provide tuition to university scholars.

Dean Hart recalls the generosity of one lady who put thirty-four young men through college and stayed in touch with each of them.20 The women could serve, persuade, cajole, and bake. When hens were donated to the hospital, and then a cow, for fresh milk, the women had a poultry house and then a pen built.

They raised funds, staged charity balls.

“They are ‘receptions,’” Lavinia would say, “not ‘balls.’” They hired doctors and supervised accounts, created a school to credential nurses, and then they ran a great hospital as full members of the Board of Managers.

When Gilded Age homeowners on Capitol Hill secured a city ordinance against hospitals, decrying them as a “public nuisance,” the Honorable Moses Hallett, chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court and a member of the parish, closed his courtroom to argue the case in Police Court. He won and the church ladies prevailed. The morning after the building’s cornerstone was laid, “to the indignation and dismay of the hospital authorities,” it was found covered with black paint, the work of vandals. The paint was removed, Sarah Griswold Spalding recalls, “but showed for many years in the letters.”21 Saint Luke’s Hospital was built at 19th and Pearl, an intersection that today still anchors Denver’s downtown healthcare

infrastructure.

The women knew the demands of their Christian faith and were not averse to reminding the men of theirs. The Saint John’s men once hesitated to help the hospital with improvements, saying there was “no money.” The women “had more initiative,” Bishop Spalding’s daughter recalls: Mrs. Henry Hanington was a very active member of the Ladies’ Aid Society and also its secretary, and at the same time she was a member of the [Saint Luke’s] Board of Managers and on its Executive Committee. The Ladies were very eager to have some needed improvement made but the men did not think the hospital could afford this expense. But at a dinner of the Board one night Mrs. Hanington brought up the subject again and in answer to objections said, “If each of you here tonight would give a thousand dollars, we would have the money.” This appeal struck a responsive note and the needed money was subscribed then and there.22 “We must not yield to the temptation,” Lavinia wrote in 1924, “to dwell on the past. We must link the past to the present, which is full of opportunity for our work, and our influence, and our money, believing that as long as life lasts, we have our part to do in building up the Kingdom of Christ’s Righteousness on Earth.”23

31

Organizations, Laws, and Movements of the Cathedral Ladies The Ladies’ Relief Society The Ladies’ Hospital Aid Society Visiting Nurses’ Association Home for Old Ladies The Craig Colony for Consumptives The Women’s Christian Association Saint Luke’s Hospital The Denver Orphans’ Home The Jacob Downing Home for Aged Couples The Charity Ball (Saint Luke’s annual fundraiser) Charity Organization Society [United Way, Denver] Public Playgrounds Matron in the City Jail Prohibition Child Labor Law Beautiful City Parks [the “City Beautiful” movement] Parent-Teacher Organizations Housewives’ Leagues Eight-hour Laws for women And now “of course” the Red Cross work This list is Lavinia Spalding’s own, taken from her Recollections and Reflections: Denver 50 Years Ago. Bishop John F. Spalding and Lavinia Spalding Papers, WH738, Western History Collection, The Denver Public Library.

32

SAINT JOHN’S CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS FINANCES AND DEMOGRAPHICS In 2013 Saint John’s began a sevenyear strategic plan to invest in its human capital, that is, its clergy and senior staff. We spent much of the previous five years—following the Great Recession of 2008—realigning our staffing structure, believing it was time to grow to meet increasing demand for a mission-shaped church.

The only way to make this investment was to run a budget deficit for several years as the new clergy and staff established relationships in the parish, gained some traction with new programming, and found new ways to raise money. The expectation was that membership growth, increased

Our strategic initiatives for 2016 are:

1. Buildings and Grounds—we have repairs that cannot wait. Our Buildings and Grounds Standing Committee will submit a prioritized list of repairs and recommendations to the vestry by June 30.

2. Employee Benefits and Compensation—a task force has been assigned to devise a plan that balances the compensation and benefits we must offer to attract the best clergy and staff available with what we can afford. The Personnel Committee is working with the task force and will have recommendations to vestry by June 30.

3. Cathedral Staffing Structure—the interim dean, senior warden, and the Personnel Committee are working on the optimal staffing levels for the cathedral. The vestry will review their recommendations by June 30.

pledging, and improved fundraising would increase our income and offset the additional costs. Although some of this did happen, expenses, many of which were unexpected, mushroomed, and by 2015 we knew our plan needed revisions.

We have a strong Finance Committee that works well with the vestry. They agree as to the serious nature of the deficit and the need to properly address it and return to an annual net surplus. With discernment and prayer, we developed a set of five strategic initiatives, which Saint John’s believes will yield a reasoned and sensible path. This multifaceted approach encourages us to continue the positives but manage the negatives.

4. Revenue Growth—We are trying to identify new revenue streams and opportunities for increased giving. The vestry will review the recommendations not later than September.

5. Strategic Matching of Mission and Resources—the senior warden and several members of the vestry are reviewing our current offerings and will create a process for evaluating all that we do in terms of time, talent, and treasure in relation to our mission. The information and findings will be discussed throughout the year.

Below is a 12-month budget for 2016, although spending has been approved only through June 30 to ensure we are on target to meet expense reductions.

We have begun to address the deficit, reducing it by $62,000 in the middle of an ecclesial transition.

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BALANCE SHEET Operating Fund

Fixed Assets

CSBT Checking Accounts

(151,478)

CSBT Restricted Savings

-

CSBT Clergy Discretionary Checking Account

Temp. Restricted

Total All

Columbarium

Fund

Endowments

(58,387)

39,870

294,445

106,064

230,514

-

-

87,805

-

87,805

16,304

-

-

-

-

16,304

Petty Cash

1,500

-

-

-

-

1,500

Deposits in Transit

25,568

-

-

800

-

26,368

(108,106)

(58,387)

39,870

383,050

106,064

362,491

76,784

-

-

468,647

-

545,431

76,784

-

-

468,647

-

545,431

Accounts Receivable

-

50,000

-

-

-

Total Net Capital Campaign Pledges Received

-

44,121

-

261,591

76,784

-

-

468,647

-

545,431

56,406

-

-

-

-

56,406

56,406

-

-

-

-

56,406

CSBT SJC Investment Account- Endowment

-

-

-

-

21,133,355

21,133,355

Accrued Interest and Income- Endowment

-

-

-

-

6,591

6,591

Cathedral Ridge

-

-

-

-

1,308,800

1,308,800

1,810,019

1,810,019

634,596

634,596

-

-

-

-

24,893,361

24,893,361

-

1,935,439

-

-

-

1,935,439

2,863

10,108,393

-

-

-

10,111,256

ASSETS CASH

TOTAL CASH

INVESTMENTS Colorado Episcopal Foundation

TOTAL INVESTMENTS

RECEIVABLES

TOTAL INVESTMENTS

50,000 305,712

OTHER ASSETS Prepaid Expenses

TOTAL OTHER ASSETS

ENDOWMENT ASSETS

Clergy Houses External Endowment- Herzan A. Johnson Trust

TOTAL ENDOWMENT ASSETS

FIXED ASSETS Land Buildings

-

3,800,979

-

-

-

3,800,979

2,863

15,844,811

-

-

-

15,847,674

27,947

15,880,545

39,870

1,113,288

24,999,425

42,061,075

Current Liabilities

110,363

12,766

50

-

-

123,179

Accrued Expenses

145,074

-

-

-

-

145,074

(1,957)

-

-

-

-

(1,957)

985,000

-

-

-

-

985,000

Furniture, Fixtures, & Equipment

TOTAL FIXED ASSETS

TOTAL ASSETS LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS LIABILITIES

Due to/ (Due From) Clarkson Corp Note Payable- Line of Credit Loan Payable- Wartburg (Kimberly Pipe Repair)

-

26,375

-

-

-

26,375

1,238,480

39,141

50

-

-

1,277,671

27,947

15,880,545

39,870

1,113,288

24,999,425

42,061,075

Beginning Balance with Current Year Adjustments

(365,063)

15,493,323

27,503

1,433,550

26,040,349

42,629,662

Total Net Surplus/ (Deficit)

(845,472)

348,082

12,317

(320,262)

(1,040,925)

(1,846,260)

TOTAL ENDING NET ASSETS

(1,210,535)

15,841,405

39,820

1,113,288

24,999,424

40,783,402

TOTAL LIABILITIES TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS

34

OPERATING REVENUES AND EXPENSES REVENUES Pledges, Bequests and Other Contributions

2013-2016

2016 BUDGET

2015 PRE-AUDIT

2014 AUDITED

2013 AUDITED

1,566,750

1,523,579

1,489,474

1,399,996

Programs and Services

62,275

138,545

116,551

109,247

Investment

10,000

2,930

31,312

59,103

Other Revenue

90,540

138,935

252,807

130,162

1,210,928

1,157,637

1,113,110

1,054,118

221,775

163,248

174,599

202,423

TOTAL REVENUES

3,162,268

3,124,874

3,177,853

2,955,049

EXPENSES Worship and Ministry

Endowment Draw Funds Released from Restriction

1,314,845

1,541,662

1,291,831

1,201,768

Faith in Action and Outreach (1) (2)

216,295

209,302

282,823

330,493

Music

452,981

447,539

396,002

365,895

Christian Formation

224,910

205,552

209,710

214,820

Stewardship

227,259

303,932

267,516

45,014

Communications

257,983

134,802

170,241

135,596

Administration

526,174

502,905

567,599

498,445

Buildings and Grounds

725,595

624,651

491,571

495,591

TOTAL EXPENSES

3,946,042

3,970,345

3,677,293

3,287,622

BEGINNING NET ASSETS

(1,210,534)

(365,153)

144,740

477,313

NET SURPLUS/(DEFICIT)

(783,774)

(845,472)

(499,440)

332,573

-

91

(10,453)

-

(1,994,308)

(1,210,534)

(365,153)

144,740

1 - Direct Outside Organization Support

96,500

93,060

24,608

68,492

2 - Direct Family Assistance

25,000

16,785

33,295

45,514

TRANSFERS ENDING NET ASSETS

STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES

for the period of January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 UNRESTRICTED

TEMPORARILY RESTRICTED

OPERATING FUND

FIXED ASSETS

Temporarily Restricted

1,523,579

-

179,928

1,700

-

1,705,207

138,545

-

-

-

-

138,545

2,930

-

(3,296)

-

108,677

108,311

138,935

30,000

9,937

13,750

-

192,622

1,157,637

-

-

-

(1,157,637)

-

163,248

12,126

(175,374)

-

-

-

TOTAL REVENUES

3,124,874

42,126

11,195

15,450

(1,048,960)

2,144,685

EXPENSES Worship and Ministry

REVENUES Pledges, Bequests and Other Contributions Programs and Services Investment Other Revenue Endowment Draw Funds Released from Restriction

Columbarium

Endowment

Total All Funds

1,541,662

-

-

-

-

1,541,662

Faith in Action and Outreach (1) (2)

209,302

-

-

-

-

209,302

Music

447,539

-

-

-

-

447,539

Christian Formation

205,552

-

-

-

-

205,552

Stewardship

303,932

-

-

-

-

303,932

Communications

134,802

-

-

-

-

134,802

Administration

502,905

-

-

3,037

16,964

522,906

Buildings and Grounds

624,651

500

-

95

-

625,246

3,970,345

500

-

3,132

16,964

3,990,941

TOTAL EXPENSES TRANSFERS BEGINNING NET ASSETS ADJUSTMENTS TO NET ASSETS NET SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) ENDING NET ASSETS

-

(306,456)

331,456

-

(25,000)

-

(365,063)

15,493,323

1,447,594

27,503

26,040,349

42,643,706

-

-

(14,043)

-

-

(14,043)

(845,472)

348,082

(320,262)

12,317

(1,040,925)

(1,846,260)

(1,210,535)

15,841,405

1,113,288

39,820

24,999,424

40,783,402

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APPENDIXES WORSHIP SERVICES: A LIST SUNDAY 7:45 a.m.: Rite 1: A simple, quiet, said service with organ prelude and hymns.

9: a.m.: Rite 2: A sung service that offers the pageantry of a cathedral service with full choirs, banners, torches, bells, and occasional incense.

11:15 a.m.: Rite 1: A choral Eucharist that offers the pageantry of a cathedral service with full choirs, banners, torches, bells, and occasional incense.

3 p.m.: Monthly Evensong; 25-minute musical prelude 6 p.m.: The Wilderness, a contemplative service Summer: Two morning services are offered in the summer: 7:45 a.m. and 10 a.m. Hospitality is offered on All Souls’ Walk. The Wilderness is at 6 o’clock in the evening.

WEEKDAY SERVICES Noonday Office, Monday–Friday, Saint Martin’s Chapel Daily Eucharist, Monday–Thursday, 5:30 p.m., Saint Martin’s Chapel; a Wednesday morning (7 a.m.) Eucharist is also celebrated.

Cathedral Nite (September–May) 5:30 p.m., a sung Rite 2 Eucharist with incense 6:15–8:30 p.m. Supper, Catechumenate, and Christian education 8:30 p.m. Compline and Benediction

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CATHEDRAL CHAPTER AND SPECIAL SERVICES Advent Lessons & Carols Christmas Lessons & Carols Christmas Eve 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 8 p.m., and 11 p.m.

Christmas Day 10 a.m.

Ash Wednesday 7 a.m., noon, 7 p.m.

Palm Sunday—all Sunday services Holy Monday Holy Tuesday Tenebrae Maundy Thursday Good Friday—12 noon & 7 p.m.

The Great Vigil of Easter 7 p.m., with brass & timpani Easter Day—7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., & 11:15 a.m., with brass & timpani Spring (usually the first Sunday in May) Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan 11:15 a.m., with Denver & District Pipe Band Pentecost Saint John’s Day Saint Francis Day Blessing of the Animals All Souls’ Requiem mass Thanksgiving mass

STAFF Patrick Malloy, interim dean Liz Costello, curate Jadon Hartsuff, canon Robert Hendrickson, sub-dean and canon Elizabeth Marie Melchionna, canon

Stewardship

Charles LaFond, canon steward

Liturgy

Billy Baker, worship coordinator Ian Thompson, worship assistant

Music

Alberto Guttierrez, music administrator Lyn Loewi, assistant organist Stephen Tappe, organist and director

Christian Education

Kim McPherson, director

Facilities

Dalton Kreh, assistant manager Phillip Moore, sexton David Porterfield, sexton

Staff Support

Annie Croner, cathedral administrator Michelle Geurin, assistant to the dean and canon steward Kris Jenkins, business office administrator Seth Reese, interim communications coordinator

2016–17 VESTRY The Very Rev. Dr. Patrick Malloy, interim dean Tom Keyse, senior warden Amy Davis, junior warden Andrew Britton, treasurer David Abbott, clerk CLASS OF 2019 David Barr, Neil Burris, Suni Devitt, Elizabeth Springer CLASS OF 2018 Andrew Britton, Leigh A. Grinstead, Ned Rule, Jane Schumaker CLASS OF 2017 David Abbott, Jack Denman, Tamra d’Estrée, Mike McCall

DEAN SEARCH COMMITTEES Scott Barker and Susan Chenier, cochairs; David Abbott, David Ball, Anna Pendleton, 2015 vestry liaisons; David Barr, Timmy Case, Kathleen DeMars, Barbara Gillett, Patti Howell, Ann Jones, Tyler Mahan, Bill Murane, Mark Queirolo, Angie Thomson, committee members; Mary Laird Stewart and Kris Stoever, scribes

Interview:

Diane Barrett and Jay Swope, cochairs; Mike McCall, vestry liaison; Larry Kueter, Lise Barbour, Jim East, Jack Finlaw, Heidi Harris, John Lake, Carolyn McCormick, Michael Vente, committee members

Hospitality:

Brad Case and Sandy Mazarakis, cochairs; Jack Denman, vestry liaison; Leo Carosella, Margaret and Michael Cawthra, Roz Greene, Abby and Bill

Humphrey, China Kent, Mike Koechner, Laurie MacArthur, William McMechen, Linda Paysinger, Susi Tattersall, committee members

Integration:

Carolyn Daniels and Tom Stoever, cochairs; Tamra d’Estrée and Beth Springer, 2016 vestry liaisons; Sue Abbott, Jen Courtney-Keyse, Newt Klusmire, Pamela Kniss, committee members

THE DEAN SEARCH LISTENING SESSIONS, FALL 2015 The Profile Committee was appointed in August 2015 and began its work in September, after an orientation given by the canon to the ordinary. Comprising 20 parishioners, broadly representative of the parish, the committee was bolstered by three vestry members and a cleric who belongs to Saint John’s.

Listening sessions were held on two Sundays following each of the four services, on four Wednesday evenings as a breakout session on Cathedral Nite, and with nearly all of the cathedral’s interested constituencies and affinity groups. The sessions were conducted by two to three members of the Profile Committee—one to lead the session and another to take notes. The sessions used skills from Art of Hosting and some of the spiritual practices set out in the book Grounded in God. Moderators posed a two-part question to listening session participants: (a) what brought them to Saint John’s and (b) why had they stayed. Second, they asked what traits parishioners wanted to see in the

new dean. In addition, they published four questions in the Sunday bulletin and the Cathedral Voice soliciting replies. The questions overlapped slightly with the focus-group questions: Q1: Why is Saint John’s important to you?

Q2: What drew you to St. John’s; what keeps you here?

Q3: What are your longings for St. John’s?

Q4: What skills and gifts do you believe are essential for the new dean?

Please list up to four qualities, one or two words each. (Examples: able administrator, open heart, learned teacher, guide and pastor.)

Finally, Profile Committee members met to summarize the findings, identifying six major categories of challenges facing the cathedral. Saint John’s faced needs, they said: • for transparency and truth-telling • for long-term lay engagement in mission • for effective and sustained teaching and communication • to commit time and treasure to sustaining the building • for effective leadership and pastoral care • to deal realistically with our financial situation.

We have endeavored to treat each of these challenges, which are significant, in writing the Profile, above.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND USEFUL LINKS Allen DuPont Breck, The Episcopal Church in Colorado, 1860–1963 (Denver: Big Mountain, 1963).

Suzanne G. Farnham, Stephanie A. Hull, and R. Taylor McLean, Grounded in God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Group Deliberations, rev. ed. (New York: Morehouse, 1996).

Leigh A. Grinstead, Molly Brown’s Capitol Hill Neighborhood (Denver: Historic Denver, 1997).

John Howard Melish, Franklin Spencer Spalding: Man and Bishop (New York: MacMillan, 1917). The Rev. Melish was rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, New York.

“Mustard Seeds” blog, Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral, sjcathedral.org/ Serve/TheMustardSeedsBlog Robert Prichard, A History of the Episcopal Church, rev. ed. (Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehouse, 1999).

Henry Martyn Hart, Recollections and Reflections (New York: Gibb Bros. & Moran, 1917).

Lavinia Spalding, Recollections and Reflections: Denver 50 Years Ago. Bishop John F. Spalding and Lavinia Spalding Papers, WH738, Western History Collection, The Denver Public Library.

Ann Lindou Jones, Glory in the Wilderness: The Art of Saint John’s Cathedral, Denver, Colorado, 1911– 2011 (Winter Park, Colo.: Guest Guide, 2011).

Sarah Griswold Spalding, “A History of Saint Luke’s Hospital,” typescript. Bishop John F. Spalding and Lavinia Spalding Papers, WH738, Western History Collection, The Denver Public Library.

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Robert Irving Woodward, Saint John’s Church in the Wilderness: A History of Saint John’s Cathedral, 1860–2000 (Denver: Prairie, 2001).

Abrahamic Initiative, abrahamicinitiative.org Cathedral Ridge, camp and conference center, cathedralridge.org Community of the Cross of Nails (Saint John’s Cathedral is a CCN member), coventrycathedral.org.uk/ccn/homeeng/ Denver Public Library, “A Neighborhood History of Capitol Hill,” history. denverlibrary.org/capitol-hillneighborhood-history The Episcopal Church in Colorado, coloradodiocese.org Matthew Bloch, Shan Carter, and Alan McLean, interactive “Mapping America: Every City, Every Block,” New York Times, projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/ map

NOTES Pew Research Center, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, May 12, 2015: pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/ state/colorado/ 2 The Episcopal Church’s Strategic Vision for Reaching Latinos/Hispanics: episcopalchurch. org/files/strategic_vision_7-09.pdf 3 Jenn Fields, “Here’s What’s Bringing Millennials Back to Churches,” Denver Post, Nov. 29, 2015.

4 Jenn Fields, “Landmark St. Paul Methodist Church Closing After 156 Years in Denver: Uptown Church Will hold Its Closing Worship Service May 22,” Denver Post, April 10, 2016, denverpost.com/news/ci_29749372/ landmark-st-paul-methodist-church-closingafter-156 5 Melanie Rodden, parishioner, “The Call to Saint Francis,” The Mustard Seeds Blog, sjcathedral.org/Serve/TheMustardSeedsBlog/ PostID/573 6 Phone conversation, The Rev. Poulson Reed, rector, All Saints’ Episcopal Church and Day School, Phoenix, Arizona, March 3, 2016.

7 Dean H. Martyn Hart is credited as one of the original founders of what later came to be called The United Way: “Recognizing their city’ s welfare problems and the need for cooperative action, four Denver clergymen got together to work out a plan for organization: Rev. Myron W. Reed, who had worked in Indianapolis with the Rev. McCulloch in establishing the COS [Charity Organization Society]; Msgr. William J. O’Ryan, who had worked in England and was familiar with English fund-raising methods; Dean H. Martyn Hart of St. John’s Episcopal Church, and Rabbi William S. Friedman. Their activities and plans resulted in establishment of the Charity Organization Society, launched in 1887 at a public meeting of agency representatives and other interested persons. The Rev. Mr. Reed was elected president.” Allen D. Breck, chairman, Department of History, University of Denver, letter to Kenneth W. Miller, executive director, Mile High United Fund, May 28,1962. socialwelfarehistory.com/organizations/ united-way-pioneers/ This account does 1

not name two women, one of Lavinia Spencer Spalding, the wife of the bishop, also responsible for the formation of this agency.

8 Since 1989 the Eucharist has generally been celebrated at a freestanding, west-facing altar set midchoir. Occasionally the high altar has been used, with the priest at times facing liturgical east. The congregation values liturgical stability in addition to explanation and teaching around innovations and the insights to be gained from the creative use of its liturgical space.

9 Stan Cuba, The Denver Artists Guild (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2015).

10 James W. Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning (San Francisco: HarperOne, 1981), p. 173.

11 Katie Hearsum, “Denver, Number One, 2016 Best Places to Live Rankings,” US News & World Report, realestate.usnews.com/places/ colorado/denver 12 Patricia Cohen, “The Cities on the Sunny Side of the American Economy,” New York Times, March 31, 2016, nytimes.com/2016/04/01/ business/economy/cities-where-us-economy-is-thriving.html?rref=collection/ sectioncollection/us&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=22&pgtype=sectionfront 13 Gianni Jaccoma, “The Ten Most Beautiful Neighborhoods in America, Ranked,” Thrillist Travel, April 9, 2015. thrillist.com/ travel/nation/america-s-most-beautifulneighborhoods-hyde-park-beacon-hill-andcentral-park-west 14 Henry Martyn Hart, Recollections and Reflections (New York: Gibb Bros. & Moran, 1917), p. 119.

15 Hart.

Writing home in 1888 from General Seminary, the bishop’s son Frank, calling himself a “’High Churchman’, like my father,” described torturous encounters with fellow students, who were themselves, Frank noted, “new Episcopalians” and recent converts, as well, to an extreme branch of the Oxford movement: “They seek me out in my rooms at night,” taunting him as “a Methodist” and, worse, “a Presbyterian,” for he was a Princeton man. His father told him to read Kip’s Double Witness of the Church for solace, and ammunition. See, for an account of young Spalding’s “spiritual Gethsemane,” John Howard Melish, Franklin Spencer Spalding: Man and Bishop (New York: MacMillan, 1917), p. 35, and chap. IV, “Theological Student.” Melish was rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, New York, which the diocese closed during the cold war because of perceived Communist sympathies. He had admired the younger Spalding, an outspoken socialist.

17 Thomas J. Noel, ed., The Glory That Was Gold (Denver: n.p.), p. 56.

18 Robert Prichard, A History of the Episcopal Church, rev. ed. (Harrisburg, Penn.: Morehouse, 1999), p. 162.

19 Prichard, p. 162.

20 Hart, p. 127.

21 Sarah Griswold Spalding, “History of Saint Luke’s Hospital,” typescript. Bishop John F. Spalding and Lavinia Spalding Papers, WH738, Western History Collection, The Denver Public Library.

22 The congregation was notable at the time for the enormous wealth of many of its members. In 2016 $1,000 would be about $24,000. Spalding, “History of Saint Luke’s Hospital.”

23 Lavinia Spalding, Recollections and Reflections: Denver 50 Years Ago. Bishop John F. Spalding and Lavinia Spalding Papers, WH738, Western History Collection, The Denver Public Library. ¬16

39

1350 Washington Street Denver, Colorado 80203 sjcathedral.org.