HISTORY OF ST. LUKE ANGLICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

On November 29, 1981, in Aldersgate Methodist Chapel, St. Luke Anglican Church celebrated its first Eucharist. The occasion was a joyous one for those seeking the spiritual sustenance of which, many felt, they had been deprived in their previous churches. St. Luke, appropriately named for the physician, in addition to being located in a city of a vast medical complex, would also provide that spiritual healing sought by its first parishioners. Among those present at that first service were Robert and Betty Stuntz, Tom, Sharon, and Kirk Weidman, Dorothy Wehn, Andrew and Monique Boyce, Marian McNair, Heard Robertson, Sarah Brown, Naomi Williams, Lane Allen, Jim Coombs, and a representative group from All Saints Anglican Catholic Church of Aiken, South Carolins. All Saints, who sponsored St Luke as a mission, provided a priest in-charge, The Rev. Dennis Washburn, along with gifts from charitable parishioners. St. Luke on that early November morning was on its way to become a full fledged parish

In 1982 St. Luke acquired, one block away from Aldersgate, property which was to become the site of the church. The Rev. Edward Keel, Jr., who had become the rector, held a monthly litany on this land which had once been a boathouse and carpentry shop. Parishioners' donations and two loans, one from a local bank and the other interest-free from All Saints, made the construction of the building possible. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held in October 1986; the first service in the new sanctuary followed on March 1, 1987. A local Lutheran Church had given St. Luke an altar. Benches had been purchased from a courthouse and Richard Wescott, a talented church member, had converted them into pews replete with hymnal racks. "The sanctuary, Father Keel said, "was built on love by a small group of dedicated Christians. They loved this sanctuary before it was ever built."

On Saturday, October 17, 1987, The Rt. Rev. William O. Lewis, Bishop of the Diocese of the South, officially dedicated the church. It was a glorious day for those members of St Luke who had worked so faithfully. The dream of a beautiful little sanctuary had become a reality.