PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2023

S P O T L I G H T

ST. PAUL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH RETOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY After a painful break in the Episcopalian Church and a pandemic, St. Paul’s expands its mission and its outreach

BY LINDA SMITH BROWN PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

W ith a church built to seat 500 but a post-pandemic attendance of 100 on any given Sunday, the co-rectors of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church see community partnerships that go beyond the traditional role of a church as a means of serving their neighbors. Indeed, the church is utilizing its ample size to serve the community. Mul tiple classrooms on two levels became vacant when the Montessori School of Peoria moved out of St. Paul’s to another location. Looking to the church’s history of supporting the arts — the house of worship is an architectural gem in its own right — those empty classrooms are now serving as artist studios. Meanwhile, during the pandemic, St. Paul’s kitchen was licensed and now is open to food entrepreneurs. One of the latter has opened Radish Kitchen, a restaurant near Bradley University. It’s indicative of a necessary evolution for many religious institutions seeking to surmount their challenges and fulfill their missions through creative means that weren’t on anyone’s radar, once upon a time.

the Anglican faith. Five years later, the remaining churches of the Diocese of Quincy merged into the Diocese of Chicago. As it has since 1959, St. Paul’s contin ues to operate out of the sanctuary at 3601 N. North St. fronting War Memo rial Drive, where it stands not only as a spiritual beacon but as one of central Illinois’ finest examples of Mid-Century Modern architecture, designed by St. Louis architect Frederick Dunn. The Rev. Jenny Replogle and the Rev. Jonathan Thomas, co-rectors at St. Paul’s, arrived to lead the church eight years ago, just months after the diocesan merger. By 2008, the Episcopal church at-large had ordained a gay bishop and a female bishop. “The Diocese of Quincy did not ordain women, allow same-sex mar riage or queer people to be ordained,” said Replogle. “The bishop at the time did not allow any of that, whereas it had become common in the Episcopal Church. Over marriage equality and female ordination, he led the Diocese of Quincy to leave the Episcopal church.” St. Paul’s chose to remain.

The Rev. Jenny Replogle and her husband, the Rev. Jonathan Thomas

‘I JUST FEEL WE NEED TO BE A PART OF THE 21ST CENTURY’ Once the cathedral of the Diocese of Quincy, St. Paul’s was one of only eight churches left in the diocese after a schism resulted in 15 churches leav ing the Episcopal Church and joining

64 OCTOBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE