About St Luke & St Simon Cyrene
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The Church of St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene is an historic, but also forward looking and acting congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester. We are located on the westside of downtown, on Fitzhugh St. between Main St. and Broad St.
Our mission is
to be a school for justice, a healing place for souls, and a welcome table for all.
Hospitality is one of our watchwords, in fact we say it is, "Job One." We welcome all, and all truly means all. We are black and white, young and old, male and female, poor and not so poor, gay and straight, you name it. We believe God loves everybody and needs everybody to build the new creation.
If you do not know about the Episcopal Church, it has its roots in the English Reformation (yes, Henry VIII and all that, although there's much, much more to that story!). Our structure and worship are very much like our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers, although with a lot more flexibility. We have women who are priests and bishops; LGBT people as well, and most of our priests are married.
The heart of our life is our weekly Worship together, which is sacramental and liturgical, but again with much flexibility. We like to think that we worship with one foot deep in our long tradition and one foot firmly in the present, pointed in the direction of the future. We love music of all kinds and we love to sing (except those of us who go to the 8 am Service where there is no music).
We sometimes call ourselves "Two Saints" for short. The "two saints" come from two congregations that merged twenty years ago--one the old, predominantly white parish, and the other the only African-American Episcopal Church in Rochester. The merger was an historic meeting of cultures, and it has worked beautifully.We are majority African-American, but not so much that the white folk look like an oddity.
Our current leader is the Rev. Michael W. Hopkins, who began as our rector on October 1, 2004. Michael came to us from 15 years in the Diocese of Washington (DC), although he was raised just south of Rochester, near Bath, New York. His special interests are preaching and teaching, trying in particular to make faith not belief in a doctrine, but participation in an experience. He has been a leader nationally for the inclusion of LGBT people in the Episcopal Church, and in our Diocese he has re-started an anti-racism program. His spouse of twenty years, John Clinton Bradley is also very active in the Church.
There are so many things you can get involved in at Two Saints (besides taking your place in the worshiping assembly, which is the first and foremost job of everyone). Here are a few:
Benedictine Way Group Choir Welcome & Inclusion Team
Right On School Acolyte St. Stephen's Sunday Suppers
Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network
Saints Urban Garden Ambassadors (Sunday and/or weekday)
Reading Groups Worship Readers & Communion Ministers
Men's Association Rochester ACTS (Community Organizing)
Nursery Volunteers Sunday School Teachers
And more!
We are waiting to welcome you!
