Although many “old-timers” had remained loyal to the church, the St. James that had become the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Chicago was a far different congregation from what it had been in the past. A smaller congregation caught between shifting generations and a dramatically evolving neighborhood threw off one of the last historic burdens when it abolished pew-rentals in 1957 (very late for most American churches). The great changes to sweep across the America of the 1950s had finally begun to catch up with St. James.

One change to St. James that came soon after becoming the Cathedral that has had a lasting impact on the physical structure was the renovation of 1960. Aimed at bringing St. James into the modern age of church liturgy and design, the eventual results of this effort were mixed at best. Complete removal of much of the older furnishings and addition of a marble floor and altar totally changed the chancel, the focus for Sunday worship. What remained of the design and decorations from earlier days were replaced with modern elements and the great window above the west doors was replaced with a vast modern window representing Christ the King. The changes were controversial.

Irrespective of aesthetic opinions, the dramatic changes to the St. James physical plant reflected both the spirit of the time and an investment in revitalizing and engaging a “new” home for a renewed Diocese. The Chicago of the 1950s and 1960s was a fascinating, turbulent time, and this was no less true at the corner of Wabash and Huron. Among the many forces churning in Chicago was racism’s deep-seated injustice and hatred, just as had resulted in the civil rights movement across the country.

Highly segregated Chicago and its suburban communities are still far from free of the taint of racism, but the situation during the civil rights movement years was appalling indeed. Reflecting the Episcopal Church’s commitment to combating racism and its resulting injustice, Bishop Gerald Burrill and his suffragan bishop, Bishop James Montgomery were active leaders in diocesan and ecumenical efforts working for justice and equality. Bishop Montgomery, who became diocesan bishop when Bishop Burrill retired in 1970, was a founding member and later chairman of the executive board of the Chicago Conference on Religion and Race (CCRR), an organization created after the 1963 national conference of Christian and Jewish leaders held in Chicago.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. brought the national spotlight to civil rights in Chicago when he arrived to help lead efforts to test the effectiveness of the city’s 1963 fair housing ordinance, and the political leadership’s commitment to real progress. When Dr. King and his colleagues began to prepare a protest march through Cicero, tension threatened to explode throughout the city and suburbs. In his role as CCRR’s chair, Bishop Montgomery stepped forward and offered St. James as “common ground,” a neutral place where peace could be built.

So in August 1966, a blue-ribbon panel of civil rights, business, labor, and other community leaders came together with Mayor Richard J. Daley and city officials at the Cathedral for what became known as the Summit Conference. From their intense discussions, the Summit Conference’s leaders produced a plan to ensure enforcement of civil rights laws and monitor city government that was ground-breaking for its time. These advances dramatically changed the climate, and when Dr. King and his team called off the Cicero march just days before its scheduled date, peace was at hand. Though the work of building a more equal, more just Chicago is still not yet complete, St. James remains proud of its early and abiding commitment to combating racism in all its forms.

Within the Church, liturgical reforms of the 1960s were followed by the ordinations of women as priests in the mid-70s, and these challenges to tradition caused rifts throughout the Episcopal Church. But at St. James, Deans William Maxwell and James Carroll provided strong pastoral leadership for a small but healthy congregation active in many community ministries and controversy was largely avoided. St. James was not alone in experimenting with a variety of services and programs to attract new and younger members, in common with most American churches that saw their memberships drop dramatically during these decades. But the era of guitar-masses did keep the Cathedral vibrant as a place where the “old” and the “new” could meet.

The 1980s were a boom-time for Chicago and the nation, and the increases in the values of the endowment funds so generously donated by past parishioners allowed St. James to support a wide number of organizations and ministries across the city. Cathedral members and funds were important in the early years of several social services agencies such as Deborah’s Place and Central City Housing Venture, and parishioners were also active in ministry to and with people with HIV / AIDS very early in the pandemic’s history. St. James Summerfest’s noon-time music programs on the Cathedral Plaza increased our interaction with the neighborhood and Cathedral clergy were active in a number of ecumenical and interfaith programs.

In tandem with Dean Charles Greene, Bishop Montgomery’s many years of leadership at St. James culminated in the huge-scale restoration of the late 1980s, when much of the Cathedral was returned to the glory of its 1880s/1890s Arts-and-Crafts/Victorian Gothic Revival design. Renewing the hand-stenciled designs of original artist E.J. Neville Stent, the campaign to renew and restore St. James to its former beauty came at a critical time in the life of the Cathedral. When Frank T. Griswold became diocesan bishop after Bishop Montgomery’s retirement in 1987, the restored church and small but active congregation were at the beginning of a powerful renaissance. When Dean Greene retired not long after Bishop Montgomery, the Revd Jean Parker Vail, provost during the search for a new permanent Dean, led the Cathedral Chapter and congregation through an intensive self-study and discernment of where God was calling St. James.

The Very Rev. Todd D. Smelser was named Dean in 1991 and continued to focus the congregation on living out the mission it had defined for itself, focused on worship, music, congregational development, and outreach. Dean Smelser’s time in St. James saw marked growth in membership and an increase in both congregational ministries and activities in the wider community. Examples of the Cathedral’s witness to the city included hosting Chicago's first-ever large-scale ecumenical service for persons with HIV/AIDS which welcomed local Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Greek Orthodox leaders for a powerful time of prayer and healing.

The Cathedral’s commitment to outreach was further underscored by the successful campaign to create a new home for the Cathedral Counseling Center, a not-for-profit member agency of Episcopal Charities & Community Services created in the 1970s by Cathedral staff priest the Rev. Anthony Henllan-Jones. A complete renovation of the Cathedral’s virtually unused Undercroft resulted in a magnificent new setting for this important agency serving people in need. This was a vast improvement over the warren of tiny rooms in the Diocesan Center’s basement next door where the CCC had formerly been working. By 2006 the Counseling Center had outgrown its space in the undercroft and moved to a new facility in Chicago's Loop in March 2007. The undercroft will be remodeled to house classrooms and meeting space for the Cathedral, and will serve also house the Cathedral's offices during the redevelopment of 65 East Huron. 

St. James’ long-standing heritage of musical excellence, highlighted by the contributions of renowned musicians and composers such as Dudley Buck and Leo Sowerby, was underscored by an extensive $500,000 renovation of the main organ that began toward the end of Dean Smelser’s tenure and ended after Frank Griswold’s 1998 election and installation as Presiding Bishop of the national Episcopal Church. Interim Dean, the Rev. Helen Moore and the new Bishop, The Right Rev. William D. Persell, led the celebration of the completion of the organ campaign, which had been made possible by generous contributions from a great number of parishioners.

After September 11, 2001, St. James became a place of solace and healing for hundreds of employees in the airline industry. St. James organized a healing service for flight attendants, pilots and other staff from United Airlines and American Airlines, initiated by a parishioner who led one of the airline employee unions. Over 700 people attended the ecumenical service.

St. James has always been a place where the wider Chicago community can come together to celebrate, to mourn, and to witness for justice. From the hundreds of people who packed St. James for the September 11th service, to a memorial service for Princess Diana of Wales, to a visit in 1996 by the Most Rev. Dr. George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, to an ecumenical gathering to protest the war in Iraq, St. James Cathedral remains a vibrant center for prayer, praise and witness.

The Very Rev. Ralph T. Blakman served as Dean from 2001 to 2006. During his tenure a new Diocesan Center and Cathedral Office building became a reality and several major programs, especially Rush Hour Concerts at St. James Cathedral and Summer in the City, grew. Dean Blackman left in July 2006 to become Rector of St. George the Martyr Anglican Church in Victoria, British Columbia.

In March 2007 the Bishop of Chicago and people of St. James called The Rev. Dr. Joy Edith Rogers to serve as Provost and, God willing, future Dean of the Cathedral. She begins her minsitry on May 15, 2007.  

As the people and ministries of St. James celebrate more than 50 years as the Cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, we invite you to join with us in experiencing the life and work of this venerable, eclectic, and inspiring church and congregation.

In 1960 Bishop Burrill announced the decision to have architects Mackie and Roark alter the Cathedral's sanctuary (the area around the altar) in accord with contemporary liturgical practices. (A $2.5 million restoration would be undertaken in the 1980s to return most of the Cathedral to its 1890s Arts-and-Crafts / Victorian Gothic design.)






The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was met by reporters as he left St. James Cathedral House at the close of a 1966 Summit session.
(Photo courtesy of the Chicago Sun-TImes)









In the 1960s, Dean William Maxwell delivered controversial sermons on political and social issues. He told parishioners to extend their liturgical actions outside the walls of the church, and to take Christ's message seriously.

Mayor Richard M. Daley (left) celebrated the centennial of the rebuilding of St. James Cathedral after the Chicago Fire of 1871, with James Winchester Montgomery (middle) and Gerald Francis Burrill (right) the eigth and ninth bishops of Chicago.

 

Deans of the Cathedral

Howard M. Kennedy
1955-1964

Willliam F. Maxwell
1964-1972

James E. Carroll
1972-1978

Charles R.Greene
1979-1990

Jean Parker Vail
Interim 1990-1992

Todd D. Smelser
1992-1999

Helen M. Moore
Interim 1999-2001

Ralph T. Blackman
2001-2006

Joy E. Rogers
Provost 2007-