A Parish on Deborah Drive, Rooted in the Lives of Northeast Louisiana
St. Alban's Episcopal Church stands on Deborah Drive on the north side of Monroe, Louisiana, a quiet residential street in Ouachita Parish. The parish calls itself a family that is "learning and growing in faith and welcoming all as we reach out to the world to share the Joy, Love, and Peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." That mission is lived out in three distinct but closely connected rhythms: a Sunday morning liturgy in English, a Wednesday noonday Eucharist, and a Sunday evening liturgy in Spanish shared with the bilingual mission congregation Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas.
The parish is part of the Diocese of Western Louisiana within The Episcopal Church and sits inside the Monroe Convocation, a grouping of congregations that includes St. Thomas on the Bayou, St. Luke's Grambling, and St. Patrick's. St. Alban's also keeps a working friendship with nearby Grace Episcopal, where the Great Vigil of Easter has been celebrated. The bishop of the diocese is The Rt. Rev. Jacob W. Owensby, PhD, DD - usually signed "+Jake" - who preaches and celebrates at St. Alban's several times a year and visits the parish for confirmations, baptisms, and the bishop's traditional visit on Easter Day.
The Sunday Liturgy in English
Each Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m., St. Alban's gathers for the Holy Eucharist. The service follows the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer and the appointed readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, which means the parish travels through the church year together - Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, and the long Sundays after Pentecost, often marked with their Proper numbers (Proper 14, Proper 21, and so on).
Most Sundays the liturgy is livestreamed on the parish's Facebook page so that members who are traveling, homebound, or simply unable to attend can follow along. A PDF leaflet of the service is posted before each Sunday so worshipers can print it or read it on a phone or tablet. The rector has often used seasonal collects and prayers from the prayer book as the basis for short devotions on the parish blog, including special prayers for Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and the Feast of St. Martin of Tours.
On the Sundays when the bishop visits, the liturgy is celebrated jointly with La Esperanza de Familias Unidas. On certain Sundays the parish gathers for Morning Prayer rather than the Eucharist, and lay readers such as Christian Eby have led those services. Baptisms are scheduled periodically; the parish has welcomed new Christians into the waters of the font on dates such as the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost and the Sunday after Christmas.
The Spanish-Language Sister Congregation: La Esperanza de Familias Unidas
St. Alban's partners with Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas, a Hispanic Episcopal mission congregation that shares the rector's pastoral care. La Esperanza celebrates La Santa Eucaristía (Rite Two) at 5:00 p.m. on Sundays in Spanish, gathering at the Cartagena house. The service is also livestreamed on the La Esperanza de Familias Unidas Facebook page. A welcome page on the parish's blog invites visitors in their own language: "Por favor, únase con nosotros en Santa Eucaristía el domingo a las 9:30 a.m. en Ingles."
The mission's Facebook presence, at www.facebook.com/LaEsperanzadeFamiliasUnidas/, is bilingual, and announcements, prayers, and seasonal reflections are shared in both English and Spanish. On the Sundays when the bishop visits, the English and Spanish congregations worship together at St. Alban's. The Episcopal welcome is explicit: "All baptized Christians are welcome to receive Holy Communion in the Episcopal Church." In Spanish: "Todos los bautizados están invitados a recibir la comunión en la Iglesia Episcopal."
Wednesday Midday Eucharist
In addition to its Sunday schedule, St. Alban's offers a brief Holy Eucharist at 12:10 p.m. on Wednesdays. The short weekday service gives downtown workers, retirees, and anyone who can slip away at lunchtime a chance to pray the collect, hear the scriptures, and receive communion in the middle of the week. On Epiphany the parish held a Wednesday noon Eucharist and used the proper readings for the feast, and the same pattern holds for other holy days that fall on Wednesdays during the church year.
Holy Week, Christmas, and the Bishop's Visits
Holy Week and Christmas bring the wider congregation together. The parish publishes a bilingual schedule each Lent and Advent, with services in English and a portion in Spanish.
The Holy Week schedule at St. Alban's includes Evening Prayer on Monday and Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. (in English), a Wednesday Holy Eucharist with some Spanish at 6:00 p.m., Maundy Thursday with foot washing and stripping of the altar at 6:00 p.m., a noon Good Friday liturgy and a 6:00 p.m. bilingual service followed by the Way of the Cross / Via Crucis, the Great Vigil of Easter held at Grace Episcopal on Saturday evening, and Easter Sunday Holy Eucharist at 9:30 a.m. followed by an Easter Egg Hunt for the children. Bishop Jake Owensby has joined the parish for Easter Day, preaching and celebrating.
Christmas follows a similar pattern. The parish gathers for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, then offers two Christmas Eve liturgies - an early afternoon Holy Eucharist and a late night Mass with hymns beginning at 10:45 p.m. - and a Christmas Day Holy Eucharist at 10:30 a.m., celebrated jointly with La Esperanza de Familias Unidas. Christmas and Holy Week services are livestreamed, with PDF bulletins made available beforehand.
Birthday and Anniversary Brunches, and a Parish That Eats Together
One of the small but consistent traditions at St. Alban's is the monthly Birthday and Anniversary Potluck Brunch, held after the 9:30 a.m. service on the last or near-last Sunday of the month. The June brunch followed a baptism; in July the parish celebrated a baby's arrival in October with a baby-shower brunch; and on the Sunday nearest the Feast of St. Alban (June 22), the parish gathers around the table after worship. Members bring something to share, and the rector's posts encourage anyone who is new to come and join in. The brunches take place in McLean Hall, the parish hall that also hosts adult forums, Lenten studies, the Reading Luke class, the Senior Citizen Initiative, and the food-drive basket each November.
Bible Study, Adult Forums, and the Reading Luke Class
St. Alban's offers adult Christian formation in McLean Hall. The most fully documented is the Reading Luke series, devised by Father Frank Hughes and co-led with Father Whit Stodghill. The four-week class was held on Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., with coffee, drinks, and refreshments provided. Rather than a set of lectures, the format was interactive, walking through three major themes of Luke's Gospel: "Jesus According to Luke," "God's Salvation in Jesus Christ is for Everybody," and "The Compassion of Jesus Christ and the Compassion of Christ's Church." Attendees were asked to bring a Bible.
Lenten and seasonal studies have met in McLean Hall as well, and the parish has hosted an Education for Ministry (EfM) group, whose members helped lead Evening Prayer during Holy Week. Each fall the parish enters the stewardship season with its "Simple Giving" campaign, asking members to prayerfully consider their financial pledges for the coming year.
Canterbury@ULM: The Episcopal Presence at the University of Louisiana Monroe
St. Alban's helps support Canterbury@ULM, the Episcopal campus ministry at the University of Louisiana Monroe. The Canterbury community is one of the links listed in the parish's sidebar alongside the Anglican Communion, The Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Western Louisiana, the Episcopal Mission of Northeast Louisiana, and Bishop Jake Owensby's Substack blog. Members of the parish who attend ULM, along with Hannah Hill (whose home parish is identified as St. Alban's and St. Thomas-Monroe) and Ivy and Lila Napoli (Grace and St. Alban's-Monroe), have been selected as diocesan delegates to the Provincial Youth Event.
Camp Hardtner and the Provincial Youth Event
The parish takes its young people seriously. Each year the diocese celebrates Camp Hardtner Sunday, and St. Alban's members are asked to be generous in supporting the diocesan camp that sits on the grounds of the former Camp Hardtner in north-central Louisiana. The parish also sends high-schoolers to the Provincial Youth Event (PYEC), a multi-provincial gathering hosted by the Episcopal Church in Colorado. Twelve students from across the Diocese of Western Louisiana attended the most recent PYEC at the University of Denver, where workshops, worship, and fellowship explored what it means to be an "empowered disciple" in the Episcopal tradition.
Caring for the Community: Food Drive, School Supplies, and Senior Initiative
St. Alban's reaches beyond its walls through several seasonal outreach efforts:
- Food Bank of NELA Food Drive (November). Each November the parish hosts a food drive for the Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana, with a large basket set out at the church. Members can also give financially through the parish; the Food Bank notes that every $1 provides three meals. A "Most Needed Items" list is published to guide donations.
- Diaper and Wipe Drive (Advent through Epiphany). The Advent-to-Epiphany project of 2025-2026 was a diaper and wipe drive supporting families in the area.
- School Supply Collection (mid-summer). Supplies gathered on a Sunday in July were donated to the Children's Coalition Super Saturday Back 2 School Bash, which distributes backpacks and supplies to area students.
- Senior Citizen Initiative (SCI). McLean Hall has hosted Senior Citizen Initiative presentations. A recent session brought the Monroe Police Department, Monroe Fire Department, and parish seniors together for a morning covering fire prevention, financial crimes and scams against the elderly, traffic laws, and Crime Stoppers.
The parish has also hosted funeral liturgies for members and their families. The Burial of the Dead: Rite Two with Holy Eucharist has been celebrated at St. Alban's with the rector presiding, with visitation beforehand and a livestream of the service.
Blessing of the Animals and the Seasons of the Calendar
One of the most beloved moments of the year is the Blessing of the Animals, held in early October in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. Parishioners bring their dogs, cats, and even the occasional more exotic pet to the church grounds for a short liturgy of blessing. The parish also marks the Day of Pentecost by wearing red to church on Whitsunday, joins in the broader diocesan observance of Thanksgiving Eve at Grace Episcopal, and observes a quiet Epiphany celebration with a Wednesday noon Eucharist that uses the proper readings for the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.
Giving, Stewardship, and Online Resources
St. Alban's uses Tithe.ly as its online giving platform. Members can make one-time or recurring gifts by credit/debit card or ACH, and can opt to "cover the fees" so that the entire gift reaches the parish. The Tithe.ly web link is listed in the parish sidebar, and the parish has produced a step-by-step guide to creating an account and setting up recurring giving on the Tithe.ly mobile app for iPhone and Android.
The parish's blog functions as its ongoing bulletin and devotional companion. Each week the rector posts a short reflection, the Sunday's collects, a downloadable bulletin PDF, and links to the lectionary readings. Seasonal reflections have explored the meaning of Advent, the Collects for Labor Day and Independence Day, the story of the New Colossus on the Statue of Liberty, the prayer for Memorial Day's heroic service, and reflections on the Beatitudes for September 11. Blog posts often close with the names of the parish's clergy: "Dawnell+, and Whit+" or, in earlier years, "Dawnell+, Rita+, Rob+, and Whit+," reflecting the team of priests who served together.
The Rector and the Team
The rector of St. Alban's is The Rev'd T. Whitfield Stodghill, III, who goes by "Whit+" in his weekly blog posts. He is the parish's primary voice online, sharing Sunday announcements, pastoral reflections, prayers for the diocese and the wider world, and homiletic notes. He is the one who presides at the bishop's visit, the Easter Vigil at Grace, the diocese's pre-convention meetings, and the funeral liturgies that take place at the parish. The blog is signed by him throughout.
Other clergy referenced in the parish's weekly posts include Dawnell+, who shares announcements with Whit+ on Sunday blog posts; Rita+ and Rob+, who appear on the Monday schedule at other Monroe convocation churches; and the retired clergy and lay ministers who lead Morning Prayer when the rector is away. The parish is small but remarkably generous with its priestly and lay leadership: lay readers like Christian Eby lead Morning Prayer, and members host parish brunches, organize the food drive, and teach Sunday formation.
Who's St. Alban?
The parish is named for St. Alban of Britain, the first recorded Christian martyr in the British Isles, whose feast day is June 22. Alban was a pagan soldier in the Roman army who gave shelter to a Christian priest fleeing arrest. After days of conversation with the priest, Alban became a Christian himself. When Roman officers came looking for the priest, Alban met them wearing the priest's cloak. They mistook him for the priest and arrested him. He refused to renounce his new faith and was beheaded, becoming the first Christian martyr in Britain, around the year 304. The parish extends a quiet invitation: "Join us at St. Alban's as we work to strengthen our faith."
How to Find St. Alban's
St. Alban's Episcopal Church is located at 2816 Deborah Drive, Monroe, Louisiana 71201. The phone number is 318-323-3139, and the email address is saintalbansmonroe@gmail.com. The rector can be reached at his AOL address, listed in the sidebar. A Google Map is embedded on the parish's "Find Us" page.
The parish is a small congregation that worships in English each Sunday and Wednesday, shares its ministry with a bilingual Hispanic mission, supports the diocesan camp and the Episcopal campus ministry at ULM, and keeps a regular rhythm of seasonal outreach - food drives, school-supply collections, and parish brunches that turn a Sunday service into a true family meal. Whether someone is visiting for the first time or returning after years away, St. Alban's makes the same welcome that the rector posts at the bottom of every Sunday bulletin: "We hope to see you all on Sunday!"