Cathedral History Available to Pre-Order

 From A Grain of Mustard Seed by Cynthia Davis is the just completed history of St. John’s from the earliest meetings at a hotel in Old Town to current ministries. In this book you will find long forgotten stories brought to life through the observations of current and former members. Davis interviewed many clergy and lay members of the church to garner their recollections and observations of life at St. John’s over the years and culled pages of vestry minutes and records of other organizations to build the framework on which she is able to bring the first 125 years of ministry in this holy place to life. Photos of life and ministry at the Cathedral enrich the book and let you see how the area near the church has changed over the years.

You can read an excerpt from the book here. Some interesting facts about St. John's history are also below.  

St. John’s, The First 30 Years

 In 1859 the General Convention of the Episcopal Church recognized the need for ministry to the scattered settlements acquired through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. The area was assigned to the jurisdiction of the Missionary District of the NW. Bishop Joseph Cruickshank Talbot ventured south in 1863. He held services at Fort Union, Santa Fe, and Taos. Bishop Talbot then returned to Colorado and New Mexico did not see another Episcopal bishop for nine years. At that time the Rt. Rev. George Maxwell Randall visited the area. He confirmed three people in Santa Fe and then journeyed south along the Rio Grande to Las Cruces and Mesilla.

In 1874 the General Convention appointed William Forbes Adams as Bishop of the Missionary District of NM and AZ. Adams and his chaplain, the Rev. Henry Forrester, visited several cities. On March 4, 1875, the first Episcopal service in Albuquerque was held at the Exchange Hotel on Old Town Plaza. Nine people were present Due to a family emergency, Bishop Adams returned home. Chaplain Forrester took on ecclesiastical oversight at the request of Presiding Bishop Benjamin Smith. He established St. Paul’s in Las Vegas to serve as the ecclesiastical center of the area since the railroad made Las Vegas a hub of commerce.
Meanwhile in Albuquerque, a small group of faithful Episcopalians gathered to study the “Calvary Catechism,” the 1789 Prayer Book, and the King James Bible. On the rare occasions when Henry Forrester stopped in the small town, approximately eight communicants gathered for a service.

The arrival of first the telegraph in 1875 and, more importantly, the railroad in 1880 led to rapid growth in Albuquerque. Franz Huning started a new development east of the railroad. In 1880, the first convocation of the Missionary District was held at the Exchange Hotel in Old Town with Bishop George Dunlop at the helm.

In 1882 the Rev. Henry Forrester reported to Convocation that land had been purchased at 4th and Silver for $5000. The first service at St. John’s in November, led by Bishop George Dunlop, was attended by 33 people. When the Crash of 1884 left St. John’s struggling with a debt of $4500 at 12% interest, Bishop Dunlop helped get it reduced and refinanced at 6% interest.
Bishop Miles Kendrick was consecrated in 1889 to serve a Missionary District that encompassed NM, AZ, SW TX and Mexico, a district one-third the size of the United States! Ten clergy, including Henry Forrester at St. John’s, struggled to serve the 16 existing congregations in NM. Four years later, the Rev. William Githens became pastor of St. John’s and Martin Stamm started a housing addition in the area near the current CNM. Locals thought it was too far from town, since it was an hour’s buggy ride!

St. John’s, now debt free, was consecrated in 1894, a year after Albuquerque was incorporated as a city with a population of 3,785. The Rev. Frederick T. Bennett arrived in 1895. He established a youth choir, and chapters of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and Daughters of the King. Growth continued and St. John’s attained parish status on Jan. 24, 1900, three months after Robert Renison arrived. With an annual salary of $1500 he served a congregation of 183 communicants. The Resurrection Window was installed over the altar in 1909 to honor of Henry Forrester’s years of ministry in NM and at St. John’s.

Through sickness, war, and Depression St. John’s holds firm

The early 1910’s saw growth in both St. John’s and Albuquerque. Most members lived within a mile of the church, well inside the city limits that extended to 17th Street. Two years after NM became the 47th state in 1912 Bishop Frederick B. Howden took up residence on Park Avenue after establishing Albuquerque as the see city. The Bishop’s house cost $10,300. Half of the $2000 down payment was provided by St. John’s. Howden noted “St. John’s has a strong center of loyal and devoted Churchmen”. Women’s Auxiliary members including Mrs. George S. (Elizabeth) Valliant and Mrs. Howden remarked that their work included everything from janitorial duties to teaching Sunday School and even reading Morning Prayer.

World War I took a huge toll on the Episcopal Church in NM. Out of the 3000 registered communicants in the state, 1/3 were lost to the trenches of Europe. A role of the 31 lost from St. John’s, including one woman, is found in the back of the Nave on the Gospel side. The Rev. Dr. Ernest Bullock became rector at St. John’s in 1916. He encouraged his flock during the post-war Spanish flu epidemic. Parish records record few deaths from flu. Church guild members and parish women provided help for the stricken in homes and hospitals although church assembly was prohibited due to the flu. Between 1910 and 1924 approximately 1/3 of the deaths were from tuberculosis. This is not surprising due to Albuquerque’s many TB sanitoriums, including one run by St. John’s. Other causes of death included accidental gun shot and falls from buildings or trains. Interesting notes in the record include the scandalized comment that “she married a divorced man”.

Dr. Lynn Mitchell presented a petition from St. John’s vestry to Convocation in 1920 designating St. John’s as the Cathedral Church of the Missionary District of NM & SW TX. Although the petition was accepted on a one-year trial basis, it was three years later after new canons were adopted, before the decision was official. The Ven. William B. Allen was dean in 1923. (Winfred Ziegler served as conditional dean from 1920-22; before resigning to be Archdeacon over 14 missions, run St. John’s Sanitorium, and edit the SW Churchman.).

In 1920 Bishop Gallor of TN noted that for the first time the Episcopal church was “working as a whole [rather than] “a loosely associated group of parishes and diocese bound together by a mild adherence to historic Christianity and a high regard for social amenities.” Ratification of women’s suffrage led to many changes in church and society as women began attending coed colleges and holding more jobs. However, in 1925 a resolution to admit women to vestries was tabled by convocation.

In 1922 the Albuquerque Country Club Addition was begun, but only a few homes were built before the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Another addition was the nine-story First National Bank building at 3rd and Central. In 1924 when State National Bank of Albuquerque failed, George Kaseman bought the banks assets and started the Albuquerque National Trust & Savings Bank. By 1929 Albuquerque had a total of 53 miles of paved streets, compared to 60 miles of graded dirt streets at the beginning of the decade. Dean H.R.A. O’Malley oversaw fundraising of $30,000 and the start of the Cathedral house designed by John Gaw Meem, for parish and diocesan offices, before resigning on October 1, 1930.

The Rev. Douglas Matthews arrived to serve as dean on March 1, 19 31. Briefly the Rev. Donald Smith served as the first Canon of the Cathedral. He had to leave when the National Council cut support to Missionary Districts in 1931. Despite the Depression, by 1937, Cathedral debt is down to only $10,000. Parish records record 600 communicants and 55 confirmands that year. Some of the new parishioners were Army Air Force members stationed south of Albuquerque at the flight training base started in 1936. Others were people traveling west along the newly paved Route 66 who settled in the growing city as the Depression eased.

The World Changes and the Cathedral Expands

Bishop James Moss Stoney began his ministry in 1942 to a Diocese coping with the impact of war in Europe and Asia, especially the devastating news of the deaths of most of the NM National Guard captured when Bataan fell, including the Rev. Ted Howden, son of the former Bishop. The Women’s Auxiliary of St. John’s Cathedral (WOC), formed in 1938, was active in the war effort. Even before the USO came to town, they held dances for soldiers at St. John’s.

Beginning with 7 neighborhood groups, the WOC formed into guilds, including St. Martha’s, San Carlos, Howden, and Matthews. The Business & Professional Women’s Guild started in 1949. The Kate Clarke Guild for mothers paid $.25/child for babysitters. On several occasions the WOC provided funds to pay salaries and make repairs at the Cathedral, through money raised from bazaars, teas, fashion shows, and parish events like Mardi Gras. Besides parish work including calling on newcomers and the sick, the WOC sent funds to San Juan Mission, sponsored a leper child in the Belgian Congo, and local clinics. The 1941 missionary box sent to the wife of the priest in Alaska included a lady’s black coat, six pairs of silk stockings, and 1 pair of kid gloves.

A $100,000 bequest, received in 1943, from Margaret Medler was used for repairs at the Cathedral and to start St. Mark’s. The Reconstruction and Advance Campaign under Dean Lloyd Clarke, in 1945, continued the work. A total of $18,900 was pledged to cover salaries of $7500 and other expenses. Efforts to increase attendance included a radio broadcast of one service a month.

In 1946 the Young People’s Service League of Episcopalians formed under the leadership of Mrs. Stoney. The youth met in the Bishop’s house and held summer camps at Camp Shaver in the Jemez Mountains thanks to donations from Mrs. George Kaseman and the diocese.

Change impacted the city, Diocese and Cathedral in the 1950’s. Diocesan status was gained, St. Michaels was planted north of the city, and Albuquerque’s population topped 100,000 with the annexation of Old Town. Construction boomed as both the Methodists and Episcopalians built new sanctuaries and the modern Simms Office Building, the El Rey Theater, and homes went up. St. John’s planned to enlarge the Day School to serve more 3-6 year olds who enjoyed daily worship, play, and activities; and to triple the nave seating to accommodate the 1,181 members, many of whom lived in the Nob Hill area near that convenient shopping center. Dean Clarke noted that despite statistics, it was important to “feel the unseen on Sunday morning…in which people gain insight into the meaning of life.”

Dean Edwin Skipton arrived in 1955. A year later Bishop Charles Kinsolving took up the reins of the Diocese. When both Dean Skipton and Canon Brendan Griswold resigned in May 1958, the Bishop filled in until Frederic Croft came in September of that year. Croft immediately made several changes, including forming a parish council of all the organizations. He stated that his work would be “devoted to the church rather than the community.” Croft also approved the establishment of a Thrift Shop run by the WOC.

The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

Church and country were affected by the war in Vietnam, civil rights, rock and roll, the Jesus Movement, and other counter-cultural changes of the 1960’s, but the Cathedral continued to maintain a traditional focus.

In 1961, after only two years of operation, the Cathedral Thrift Shop, located at 322 Silver SW, boasted an income of $500/month. Dean Croft initiated having weekday Eucharists and reported that “it has been most worthwhile…people are urged to come on…important landmarks of their lives.” A new choir room, chapel, classrooms and other repairs made the building more attractive. The Women of the Cathedral (WOC) provided furnishing and funds for many of these projects.

Albuquerque continued to grow toward the mountains. Winrock Center on Louisiana, the first enclosed shopping mall in NM, provided convenient shopping when it opened in 1961. A couple of years later work started on a new airport south of the city.

Dean Kenneth Kadey arrived in 1962 to serve in the new Cathedral, designed by John Gaw Meem which was consecrated at 1962 Diocesan Convocation. Kadey told a WOC meeting that learning to ‘be Cathedral’ was essential, including making room for Diocesan offices, help for the less fortunate, child care, and a book store. He took the radical step of approving women’s attendance at vestry meetings.

By the mid ‘60’s there were 600 families at St. John’s. The church school was bursting at the seams with 155 students in cramped space. For the first time the Cathedral budget topped $100,000. Staff included John Middleton, who remained as sexton until his death, Canon Richard Williams, and support staff. Outreach included WOC support of $3000 to a variety of projects. The St. John’s Coffee House teamed with the Alcoholism Research & Training project, by distributing 200 lunches/week for the 1968 program.

Organizations, like Alianza Federal de los Pueblos Libres led by Reyes Lopez Tijerina, approached the National Church for aid. Bishop Kinsolving responded by withholding Diocesan payments to ECUSA when a $40,000 grant was given to Tijerina in 1968.

A new era arrived in 1971 when John B. Haverland was elected dean. He would minister until 1989. The same year Bishop Richard Trelease came to the Diocese. He endorsed the new Prayer Book of 1979 and the ordination of women and doubled the number of men and women in Holy Orders in the diocese renamed Diocese of the Rio Grande. The Rev. Virginia Brown, first woman priest in the Diocese, was one of the 90 ordained in 1977 nationwide.

Dean Haverland oversaw construction of a new Cathedral house and the Biblical garden designed by Rosalie Doolittle. Under Haverland, the Cathedral became more active in the life of the diocese and the national church. The 200th Anniversary of the Episcopal church was celebrated with fife and drum and an honor guard from Kirkland to post the colors during the Sunday service. A Festival Service for the NW Region of the Diocese for 23 confirmands was led by 175 members from youth choirs around the diocese. The 1976 National Liturgical Conference was attended by 100 and in 1980 the Cathedral hosted both the YCRG Convention and the North American Dean's Conference.

In 1978, worldwide news focused on scientists from Los Alamos who conducted tests to determine the age of the Shroud of Turin. General Convention for the first time condemned the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups, building on the 1976 condemnation of apartheid in South Africa and investigation of racial inequity of clergy placement.

Growth, Change, and Challenges

The 1980’s saw the birth of the video game when PacMan appeared. At the Cathedral, Dean Haverland hired the Rev. Ken Clark to build the Christian Education program. Even though it was not quite as exciting as video games, the St. John’s Curriculum allowed students to work at their own speed by using filmstrips and cassettes of Bible stories. Soon his program was in use nationwide.

When Dennis Schmidt was hired in 1981 as organist/choirmaster, Canon Geoffrey Butcher took on pastoral care of St. John’s 1500 members. With 750 services a year as well as 20 service, student, and social groups, the Cathedral was a hub of activity downtown and even hosted the 1981 St. Andrew’s Day memorial service for fallen police and fire officers, an ecumenical Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal service, and a meeting of 30 diocesan women to discuss, with Bishop Trelease, the possibility of a Diocesan women’s organization.

The Albuquerque area was growing rapidly. Between 1980 and 1990 the population grew by 50,000 people and membership at the Cathedral grew by 2%. In 1981, the Rev. William Howden was elected the first mayor of the small town of Rio Rancho NW of the metro area. Construction of a Diocesan Center at Louisiana and Carlisle was approved by the Standing Committee, in 1982, moving the diocesan offices out of the Cathedral.

By the end of the decade, Albuquerque had a convention center and newly renovated international airport. On the global front, the Cold War ended when the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989. The same year the Cathedral bid farewell to Dean Haverland at a retirement gala arranged by the vestry and Women of the Cathedral who also hosted the reception following the consecration of Bishop Terence Kelshaw. The remaining staff, consisting of Canons Butcher, Sims, and Williams; was led during the interim by Sub-Dean Ken Clark, until David Puckett was called to ministry in 1992.

By the early 1990’s the personal computer, or PC, and internet had opened the way for vast changes in the way we process information and communicate. Dean Puckett’s first years at the Cathedral were marked by many new ministries; including a Communications Ministry that began to look at ways to use this new technology. A YMCA Day Care was housed in the Sunday school area one year. In 1991 Laura Lee Moore was the first woman Senior Warden to serve at the Cathedral, following in the footsteps of Letitia Creveling, the first woman in the diocese to be elected to a vestry, and of Hester Eastham who served as Junior Warden from 1974-76. The 1993 needs assessment resulted in a “Vision” capital campaign to raise $1.3 million for much-needed repairs and renovations including roof, carpet, lighting, and kitchen work. In his 1995 report to the parish, the Dean noted that “when next you stumble into the Nave and find scaffolding…know that this is all part of our obedience to His plan to rebuilding [the Cathedral’s] spiritual life and journey.”

Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995 and a pipe bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, left nerves ragged across the country. Changes in ministries at St. John’s called for new staff by the mid ‘90’s. Bruce Barber, as organist/choirmaster, started lunch concerts with an average attendance of 25. Susan Butler took over Christian Education and the Rev. Rhonda McIntire provided pastoral care, outreach, and leadership to the laity. The Cathedral Gift Shop was under volunteer leadership for the first time, but still provided a tithe of $15,000 to Cathedral operations.

Although both Dean Puckett and Bishop Kelshaw suffered from serious illnesses in 1997, the Cathedral started a Food Pantry to serve 25 families weekly. The Christmas Angel Tree provided gifts for 72 families. However, pledges were down and the vestry vowed to develop a plan for sustained stewardship and improved communication with the parish. By 1999, while pledges averaged $1000, they did not entirely meet the budget of $1 million needed to support the dean, two canons, and a paid staff of thirteen.

New Beginnings

The world entered a new millennium amid concerns that many computers, including those operating power grids and security systems, would crash resulting in total chaos. Relief when this did not happen created a feeling of endless possibilities in the nation and even at St. John’s where a series of “Hors d’ oeuvres with the Dean” events brought the congregation together and set the stage for the annual stewardship campaign. Meanwhile the CORE project raised over $500,000 for work to upgrade the Cathedral organ. Visits by Bishop Herbert Donovan if New York, Bishop Roger of Milwaukee, and Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold as part of the McDougall Lectureship series, between 2000 and 2002, brought people from around the city and Diocese into the Cathedral.

Terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 sent shock waves throughout the world. Parishioners who found themselves stranded far from Albuquerque when flights were cancelled, resorted to all possible means to return to their families. Fears of further attacks, Dean Puckett’s announcement that he was leaving to accept a call to a church in Houston, and the deaths of several long time Cathedral clergy and staff cast a pall over St. John’s during the fall.

When Dean Emeritus John Haverland took up leadership in January of 2002, many in the congregation felt relief. During his 21-month interim, further staff changes, including search processes for directors of both Cathedral Music and Christian Education occurred. The Rev. Gary Meade was ordained to the priesthood in February of 2002 and with the departure of the Rev. Martha Honaker, became an invaluable asset to the Dean and staff.

The call of Alan Dennis as dean in 2003 seemed to signal a new beginning with the implementation of a strategic planning group, a review of staff job descriptions, plans for the Cathedral to resume a greater roll in diocesan leadership, and a portfolio system of Vestry involvement in parish affairs.

There were new beginnings in Diocese and Cathedral in 2005. The Right Rev. Jeffrey Steenson became bishop of the Diocese and Dean Dennis accepted a call to NYC. A search started for the next dean started, with Dean Gary Kriss from the Diocese of Albany acting as interim. With Bishop Steenson, Dean Kriss presided at the funeral of Dean Emeritus Haverland on December 2, 2006. Also present were all the Cathedral Canons who faithfully served and supported the church throughout the myriad changes over the years.

Mark Goodman accepted the call to be the twelfth dean of the Cathedral in August 2007. He came to a congregation in the midst of a million dollar renovation on the physical plant, seeking to understand its role in the light of church-wide changes and challenges, and hoping for new, vibrant ministry opportunities. Under his leadership the cathedral parish enters its 125th year of ministry, anticipating an active roll in diocesan life, as well as outreach to Albuquerque and beyond.