The Episcopal Church: St. James, South Bend, and St. Paul’s, Mishawaka

Occasional Episcopal services in South Bend from 1840 — St. James organized December 15, 1867 — organized as a parish July 28, 1868 — St. James made the cathedral of the Diocese of Northern Indiana in 1957

The county’s first parish was Mishawaka’s: The oldest formally organized parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana is not in South Bend but in Mishawaka. On April 20, 1837, two Michigan clergymen, the Rev. Charles B. Stout of Edwardsburg and the Rev. Henry F. M. Whitesides of Constantine, held an organizational meeting for an Episcopal church on the outskirts of Mishawaka, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church began on that date. St. Paul’s, Mishawaka, is a separate parish from South Bend’s church, and it later served for a time as the diocese’s pro-cathedral.

Occasional services at the bend: The Episcopal Church in St. Joseph County has its South Bend origin as early as 1840, when visiting clergy conducted occasional services in the town. On August 7, 1840, the South Bend Free Press noted that “the Rev. Mr. Manna of the Episcopal Church will preach at the Presbyterian Church in this town on Sunday at 3 o’clock p.m.” Bishop George Upfold, the first bishop of Indiana, also made occasional visits. No parish resulted.

The organization of St. James: The parish dates from 1867. In the summer of that year the Rev. Frank M. Gregg, rector of St. Paul’s, La Porte, visited South Bend and conducted services on Sunday afternoons at Shively Hall. As winter approached, Bishop Upfold dispatched the Rev. Richard Brass of St. Paul’s, Mishawaka, to hold afternoon services at the Dutch Reformed Church, a half block north of the present cathedral. Brass organized St. James Episcopal Church informally on December 15, 1867, appointing a committee to act as an informal vestry, with Hiram Doolittle as senior warden and George S. Reed as junior warden; the name of St. James was chosen three days later. Howard’s county history gives the formal side of the same founding: St. James’ Episcopal Church was organized as a parish on July 28, 1868, with the Rev. George P. Schetky as rector. Through the munificence of Judge Powers Green a church building was erected in 1869 on the north side of Wayne Street, a little east of Lafayette. The present field stone church, one of the most elegant and commodious in the city in Howard’s description, was erected in 1886 but not occupied until 1887.

The cathedral: St. James did not become the cathedral of the diocese until 1957, during the episcopate of Bishop Reginald Mallett. St. Paul’s, Mishawaka, had served as the pro-cathedral during Bishop Gray’s episcopate; in 1950 that designation ended, and at the Annual Council meeting in South Bend in 1956 Mallett announced that he had accepted the offer of St. James Parish to become the new cathedral. The diocese’s parish list carries the congregation today as the Cathedral of St. James, South Bend, alongside two other South Bend congregations, the Church of the Holy Trinity and St. Michael and All Angels.

Sources:

1. Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives, Cathedral of St. James, South Bend, parish history — the 1840 occasional services and the Free Press notice, the 1867 Gregg and Brass services, the December 15, 1867 organization and wardens, the choice of the name, and the 1957 cathedral designation.
2. Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Mishawaka — the April 20, 1837 organization, the oldest formally organized parish in the diocese, and the pro-cathedral period ending in 1950.
3. Timothy Edward Howard, A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (1907), Sec. 6 — St. James organized as a parish July 28, 1868, Schetky as rector, the 1869 Wayne Street building, and the field stone church of 1886, occupied 1887.
4. Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives, Parishes and Missions list — South Bend, Cathedral of St. James; South Bend, Church of the Holy Trinity; South Bend, St. Michael and All Angels; Mishawaka, St. Paul’s.