Shutting the chapel doors

Mathis Winkler

BALBOA PENINSULA -- It will feel a bit like a funeral for a beloved

grandparent when parishioners at St. James Episcopal Church gather one

last time Sunday in their old place of worship.

For 54 years, the redbrick building on the corner of Via Lido and

Lafayette Avenue has served as the city’s first Episcopalian church. But

because only about 300 worshipers can fit into the chapel-like nave and

the parish has grown to include about 560 families, congregants decided

it was time to replace the New England-style church with a larger one.

“We don’t want to raise another generation of children without knowing

what the church looks like,” said Cathie Young, St. James’ director of

adult ministries. Due to the crammed space, which often forced worshipers

to stand in the back of the church, children attending Sunday school only

enter the church for a blessing or communion at the end of the service,

Young said.

While the new building won’t look like the old church from the

outside, Young said it’s the inside that counts.

“Once you come in and become part of the family, the exterior is not

as important,” she said, adding that the new church’s dark wooden

ceilings and furnishings would stay true to the look congregants have

come to cherish.

Before the existing building will be torn down at the end of January,

much of the furniture -- such as the altar, the pews, the lecterns and

the pulpit, as well as the stained-glass windows -- will be removed. To

provide a sense of continuity, they’ll be used in the new building, Young

said.

The church’s rector, the Rev. David Anderson, said the last service at

the old church would be filled with grief and joy. While many will mourn

the passing of a building that has been the place for their baptisms and

weddings, it will also be a time to give thanks for a change to move

ahead.

“We’ll give thanks to God for making provisions to have a larger

buildings,” said Anderson, who was visiting family in Atlanta. “When the

wind blows right now, it comes in around the stained-glass windows.”

Because all churches are consecrated, or dedicated to God, before a

congregation uses the building as a place of worship, Young said it is

equally important to mark the end of the church’s life.

“You wouldn’t necessarily want wood that’s consecrated wood to be used

to create an outhouse,” she said, adding that parts of the church might

be used to construct other buildings elsewhere.

“After 50-odd years, God’s presence is felt in the building,” she

said.

Within a year, and almost exactly 55 years after the existing church

was dedicated, congregants will move into the new building just in time

for next Christmas, she said, adding that a consecration service has been

scheduled for early next December.

The new church is part of a complete remodeling of the parish’s

buildings. A new parish hall, day school and administration buildings

already opened four years ago.

During a planning process that involved three daylong workshops,

during which members of the congregation were able to make comments and

changes to the design, an overwhelming majority decided to build the

church last because space for children was seen as essential to secure

the parish’s survival.

Since the new buildings opened, the congregation has grown by about

20%, making the construction of a larger church even more necessary,

Young said.

She added that about $1.8 million has already been raised to build the

church, which will cost about $3.4 million. The first phase of the

remodeling will cost about the same.

Until the new church is ready, services at St. James will take place

at a former bank across the street. That building will also be torn down

to make place for parking when the new church is open.

“It’s sort of like camping,” said Young, peeking through the makeshift

church’s glass doors into a still empty room. “We’ll make it work.”