Calvary-St. George's Parish

40.73888°N 73.98669°W / 40.73888; -73.98669

Calvary-St. George's Parish is an Episcopal parish in Manhattan, New York City. The current Rector is Jacob Smith, who came to the parish and was ordained as a presbyter in the fall of 2006 and installed as Rector in 2017.[1] The other priests are Molly Jane Layton, Janet Broderick, and Nancy Hanna.[2] Kamel Boutros, a former singer with Metropolitan Opera, is music director.[3] In 2021, it reported 625 members, average attendance of 139, and $749,025 in plate and pledge income.[4]

Calvary-St George's was the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous.[5][6] It also served as the launch point for Let My People Go, a non-profit organization that teaches churches how to fight human trafficking,[6] and sponsors Out Not Down, an LGBT youth homelessness prevention program.[7] A soup kitchen ministry serves meals to approximately 125 people on Thursdays at noon.[8] The parish also hosts a children's Christmas pageant open to "[w]hoever shows up at church," according to Wall Street Journal.[9]

After a May 1, 2016 fire burned neighboring church Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava,[10] members of that parish temporarily used the St George's sanctuary to gather.[11] St George's also hosts St. Ann’s Church for the Deaf, the first church for the Deaf in the United States,[12] and Sea Dog Theater, a non-profit off-Broadway theater troupe.[13]

During the early days of New York's 2020 coronavirus lockdown, New York Post reported on the church's bells, which played "Amazing Grace" and other hymns four times a day.[14][15] Calvary-St George's connection to Harry Thacker Burleigh,[16] one of the first African-American composers to incorporate spirituality into music, was subject of a February 2021 PIX11 Black history moment.[17]

History

The parish was formed in 1976 by the merger of the parishes of three churches which were in close proximity:

With all three parishes facing dwindling enrollment and financial problems, the combined parish deconsecrated the Church of the Holy Communion and sold the church buildings to Odyssey House, a drug rehabilitation program, in order to raise money and pay down their debts.[18][19] Odyssey House, in turn, sold them to nightclub entrepreneur Peter Gatien, who opened the New York Limelight club there in 1983. The buildings are currently the location of an upscale boutique mall called the Limelight Marketplace. The other two sanctuaries of the combined parish both remain in use.[20]

See also

References

Notes

  1. Wilmot, Judith (October 4–10, 2006). "New priest feels right at home at pulpit in the city". The Villager. New York. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  2. "Clergy and Staff". The Parish of Calvary-St. George's. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  3. "Neighbor and friend". WORLD. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  4. "Explore Parochial Trends". Episcopal Church. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  5. "Alcoholics Anonymous : A Biography of Sam Shoemaker". aa.org. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  6. "Let My People Go — Spring 2017 Southern Seminary Magazine". Southern Equip. March 31, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  7. Slovacek, Randy (June 18, 2019). "A Pride Flag For Homeless LGBTQ Youth". Instinct Magazine. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  8. Br, Carly (April 6, 2020). "Coronavirus NYC Food Resource Guide: Lower East Side/Chinatown". NYC Food Policy Center (Hunter College). Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  9. Ansberry, Clare (December 23, 2019). "Introducing the Pop-Up Christmas Play: 'We Have a Ladybug in the Manger.'". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  10. Stack, Liam; Correal, Annie (May 2, 2016). "New York City Serbian Orthodox Church Is Gutted in Fire". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  11. Lewis, Danny; Brown, Stephen Rex (May 8, 2016). "Worshipers at Manhattan Serbian Orthodox church hold first service since devastating fire". nydailynews.com. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  12. "» St. Ann's Church for the Deaf". Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  13. Clement, Olivia (March 25, 2019). "5 Off-Broadway Shows With Limited Runs in April". Playbill. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  14. Lewak, Doree (April 4, 2020). "NYC church has a unique way of lifting the city's spirits". New York Post. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  15. Morris, Andrea (April 5, 2020). "'Hope is Rising, Even in the Midst of Tragedy': NYC Churches Pray God Will Bring Many to Jesus in This Crisis". CBN News. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  16. Jones, Randye (February 10, 2016). "Harry Thacker Burleigh Biography". Afrocentric Voices in "Classical" Music. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  17. DeSilva, Amanda (February 19, 2021). "Highlighting Black History in NYC: St. George's Episcopal Church". PIX11. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  18. "Calvary St, George website". Retrieved May 19, 2010.
  19. Mendelsohn, Joyce (1998), Touring the Flatiron: Walks in Four Historic Neighborhoods, New York: New York Landmarks Conservancy, ISBN 0-964-7061-2-1, OCLC 40227695, pp.88–89
  20. Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12543-7. pp.36–37
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