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A letter from the Rev. Dr. James Herbert Cooper, Rector.

Things are really happening in Hudson Square. With important new leases signed, the area is becoming a neighborhood that brings a fuller experience of life to those who work and live there.

While we’re looking ahead to great things, we can also look back to see the history of this important neighborhood. An excellent new exhibit in the Trinity Museum at Trinity Church points the way.

“St. John’s Chapel on Hudson Square” tells the story of a former Trinity chapel and its nearby park. Both were beloved. But as the city changed throughout the nineteenth century, the park was destroyed and the chapel torn down. Former Trinity rector Morgan Dix lamented at the time, “Grace and beauty passed away forever.”

Talk to our archivist, Gwynedd Cannan, and she’ll say that the story of the chapel and square is one of “class, immigration, industrialization, and the relentless push ‘uptown.’” All too true. I would add that it is also the story of a parish – our parish – trying to find the right balance of ministry in a changing world.

Sound familiar?

If you have the chance, I invite you to visit the exhibit, which runs through August 31. Taking the exhibit in feels to me as much a meditation as it does a lesson in history. While you look at the photographs and read the stories of the past, be inspired to think about the future. Ask yourself, “What will be my role in this parish’s work?”

With God’s grace, together we will work for renewal in Hudson Square, in the neighborhoods you live in, and in neighborhoods around the world.

Faithfully,
The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, Rector