Who We Are "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." - Isaiah 56:7 The Cathedral Church of St. James (our official name, but we usually call ourselves "St. James Cathedral") is one of Chicago’s oldest churches, and from its founding in 1834 has represented a microcosm of this uniquely American city. Although for many years the parish of St. James represented much of Chicago’s business and civic elite, this has always been a "hands-on" place of ministry, where privilege and position have yielded to service and witness. No matter at what point in our life, we have sought to know and serve God. What was a very “upscale” congregation of over 1,000 white, upper-middle class and wealthier Chicagoans 130 years ago has evolved into a richly diverse and perhaps even more engaged and vibrant congregation of about 400 active parishioners and many weekly visitors.  The people who constitute the membership of St. James are of many racial and ethnic backgrounds: White, Black, Latino, and Asian, as well as those of more than one identity. St. James has a long history of working for civil rights, fighting racism, and welcoming all people. The Cathedral’s members include immigrants from every continent and their children, as well as people whose families built Chicago from the ground up. We are many kinds of people: “classic” American families with children, as well as single people of all ages and descriptions. We are rich and much less so; we are CEOs and socialites; at the same time we are unemployed or homeless. Our parish family welcomes gay and lesbian members on equal terms with straight ones, and we are honored to have hosted the first ever service for the founding of Integrity, the Episcopal Church’s lesbian/gay caucus, in 1976. Our parishioners also live far beyond the traditional geographic “parish” boundaries, from literally across the street to Hyde Park, Edgewater, and even far-away suburbs. What makes this all possible is that at the center of our life together is one of the most important lessons we have learned from our history: That which divides us is far less important than that which unites us in Christ. At Sunday services, the Cathedral’s pews are filled with members, visitors from other diocesan parishes visiting their “second parish church” and visitors from all over the globe. Many languages are spoken in our homes as well as our pews, as manifested every Pentecost when the Gospel is proclaimed in a multitude of tongues. At that service, visitors might marvel at a Nigerian woman in traditional dress dancing to South African music, before hearing a tenor of Japanese-American heritage sing a solo in a Palestrina anthem -- all of which and more can be experienced in ten minutes on any Sunday at St. James Cathedral.

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