We are Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, a merged congregation of three episcopal churches: the historic African American Episcopal congregations of St. Philip & St. Thomas as well as Epiphany Episcopal Church. Holy Trinity was originally formed from the merger of St. Philip and St. Thomas. The merged congregation was initially called St. Philip’s & St. Thomas Episcopal Church. After feeling that the two different names were pulling the merged congregation apart instead of holding it together, the Church was renamed Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on February 5, 2012. With the addition of Epiphany Episcopal Church in 2022, Holy Trinity truly became a trinity church. The name Holy Trinity Episcopal Church represents our desire to live out the oneness of the Triune God and foster inclusive, collaborative, and mutual relationships.
Church History
Prior to becoming a merged congregation, each congregation maintained an outstanding historic uniqueness in the Episcopal Church in Minnesota (more than 100 years) in serving the African American communities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. They share many similarities in history and the parallel development of their ministries. Each congregation began as a subset of another Episcopal church to serve “colored” Anglicans. Saint Philip began as a part of Saint Mark’s, calling themselves Saint Mark’s Guild (1888) before officially separating and becoming Saint Philip Mission (1895). At about the same time (1899), Saint Thomas became a mission of Gethsemane Church. Both were able to secure meeting space, begin their ministries, and expand their congregations. In 1901, Bishop Whipple sent a letter acknowledging St. Philip’s Mission.
In the early years (beginning sometime after 1905 and continuing until about 1934), the congregations shared a common priest. The Reverend Alfred Lealtad conducted services at Saint Philip on Sunday morning and at Saint Thomas on Sunday afternoon. It is said that he rode the streetcar between Saint Paul and Minneapolis each Sunday. Following his departure, The Reverend Edward James served both Saint Philip and Saint Thomas as priests for a few more years.
Both parishes secured their own long-serving priests about the same time. These priests brought needed stability. The Reverend Canon Louis Johnson served St. Thomas from 1947 to 1975, and The Reverend Denzil Carty served Saint Philip from 1950 to 1975. Both were devoted to their parishes, and under their leadership membership at their respective churches grew. During the tenure of these long-serving priests, each parish left mission status, built a new church, and raised up Reverend Earl A. Neil and the Reverend James Breedon to the priesthood. Both parishes were active in the local civil rights movements to secure rights and improve job opportunities for African Americans in the Twin Cities.
In the years since, each parish continued under the leadership of a succession of parish priests, interim and supply priests, and dedicated lay leaders and members. Amid the rapidly changing demographics and missional challenges of the 21st century, and because of their common histories, in 2006 the churches began a merger discernment process. On January 27, 2008, a merger decision was reached. The individual church buildings were sold, and Articles of Incorporation filed with the name St. Philip & St. Thomas Episcopal Church. The Reverend James N. Wilson, II became the Priest-in-Charge.
A Chronology of the Merger Process
2005–2008
The merger discussion process began in 2005 when Bishop James L. Jelinek, the VIII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese in Minnesota, appointed the Rev. Rex Mckee, Deacon, to carry out a spiritual discernment with St. Philip and St. Thomas Episcopal Churches. The four discernment sessions, held at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Roseville, were about God’s mission in the 21st century, which requires mutual missional relationship. In 2007, the Rev. James N. Wilson, II was called to continue the conversation. In 2007, a lot of work was done with the new missional vision of St. Philip & St. Thomas. An Alliance Steering Committee—comprising legal, finance, program and worship, membership, and marketing teams—developed the Strategic Plan for Building a Sustainable Future for the combined church. The Strategic Plan was presented and approved by Bishop James L. Jelinek on November 1, 2007. The Alliance Steering Committee was then replaced by an Implementation Committee, made up of the same teams, and was charged with the responsibility of implementing the new Strategic Plan of the church.
2008
On January 27, 2008, a proposed resolution to merge the two congregations was passed by each congregation at their respective annual meetings. On May 5 and 22, 2008, the respective consents to merge both congregations were given by Bishop Jelinek and the Diocesan Standing Committee based on Canon 104.6 for merger, consolidation, and dissolution. The church buildings were subsequently sold at the urging of Bishop Jelinek and de-consecration services held. In August 2008, St. Philip & St. Thomas congregation moved to Epiphany Episcopal Church, on Van Buren Avenue in Saint Paul, as a temporary worship space at the kind hospitality of Epiphany Church. In September 2008, the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws were filed with both Ramsey County and Hennepin County.
2009
In 2009, the process of finding a new church home began with James Garrett and his 4RM+ULA architectural firm with three options: build a new church, buy and renovate an existing church property, or buy and convert commercial property to a church home. The aim was to be in a central location between Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The church home search process continued until August 2017.
2010
In 2010, the audit of the 2008/2009 accounts of former St. Philip’s and St. Thomas churches was completed as an indispensable component of the merger process with profound gratitude to Charlie Hampel of the Gethsemane Episcopal Church. On April 6, 2010, a meeting with Bishop Brian N. Prior, the IX Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, was held regarding the merger process. On May 1, 2010, the legal dissolution of the former St. Philip’s Church and St. Thomas Church, together with their respective former vestries, took place at the vestries meeting held at the Center for Families, 3333 North Fourth Street, Minneapolis. The meeting was attended by Bishop Prior, Renee Carlson, Jim Pavlik, and the Rev. Debbie Brown.
2011 to present
After the dissolution of the former independent churches, the merged churches decided to call themselves St.Philip/St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Soon thereafter Bishop Prior directed the church to enter into a period of discernment. Both churches have long histories of social justice advocacy, pushing for community housing, job creation, equal employment opportunity, community food pantries, and racial reconciliation activities. The result of the discernment was a plan to continue previous advocacy activities within the Twin Cities community.
In 2012, the church decided to revise the name to reflect who we are today in the 21 st century. After numerous suggestions for a new name, the church decided upon Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, St. Paul.
Over the years, Holy Trinity continued to discern how to realize our church’s physical home. Ultimately, it was decided to try to directly purchase the church building we had been renting from Epiphany Church since August 2008. In August 2017, the sale was completed and the roles were reversed as the two congregations continued to share the building. With ownership of the building came a long list of needed maintenance and upgrade needs, from electrical and plumbing improvements to creating space for a priest’s office and general meeting area. (Holy Trinity had been renting office space a couple of miles away from the church.) We are pleased to report that the attached garage is being renovated into that priest’s office and meeting space, along with many other maintenance and renovation projects. Work on the building maintenance and upgrades began in late winter/early spring 2021. The garage renovation is imminent (shovels in the ground by spring 2021), with the goal of completing this phase of the work by late summer 2021.