On a quiet block just a few blocks from the Fox River in St. Charles, Illinois, the parish of St. Charles Episcopal Church gathers each Sunday morning at 9:30 for a sung Holy Eucharist, surrounded by an organ, a choir, and a small but determined community of faith that has been feeding its neighbors since 1985. The congregation belongs to the Diocese of Chicago within the Episcopal Church and to the broader Anglican Communion, and it carries on a long tradition of combining classical Anglican worship with hands-on service to the Fox Valley.
From Holy Rood Mission to a Parish on Fifth Avenue
The story of St. Charles Episcopal begins on Holy Cross Day, September 14, 1948, when 34 original parishioners signed the charter of Holy Rood Mission. The name echoed the Anglo-Saxon word "rood" for cross, and the new mission worshipped for its first months in a house at 515 Walnut Avenue, given through a gift of $1,000 from Bishop Wallace E. Conkling's Advance Fund. An altar came from Cathedral Shelter, a cross was borrowed from the children's chapel of a parish in Kankakee, and repurposed brocade curtains became the dossal. The first services were not held until December 12, once the living and dining rooms had been turned into a sanctuary.
Within a few years, the mission outgrew its borrowed rooms. In 1950, the parish launched a building fund campaign with the quiet declaration that not every new church had to look permanent or attractive from the start, but it was time. Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Norris presented the mission with property on North Fifth Avenue, and groundbreaking services were held on May 20, 1951, at the exact site of the future altar. The Rev. Frederick Ludtke was appointed priest-in-charge that October, and Bishop Conkling dedicated the new building as St. Charles Church, named for Charles I of England, on May 11, 1952. By the church's twenty-fifth anniversary in 1973, the parish counted 158 families and 532 members. A parish hall, kitchen, library, offices, and church school rooms followed in 1968, the mortgage was burned in 1962, and Fr. Ludtke retired in 1984 after guiding the parish for more than three decades.
The years since have brought a steady succession of rectors: the Rev. John McCausland from 1985 to 1992, the Rev. Steven Winsett from 1993 to 1998, the Rev. William Nesbit from 2000 to 2014, and the Rev. Stacy Walker from 2017 to 2022. In the summer of 2026, the parish welcomed its newest rector, the Rev. Brian Petersen, a graduate of Azusa Pacific University, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary, and Church Divinity School of the Pacific, a US Marine Corps veteran, and a former church planter who began his work at the church on August 1, 2026.
The Sunday Service and the Liturgical Year
Worship at St. Charles Episcopal is shaped by the Book of Common Prayer. The Sunday gathering is a Classical Holy Eucharist, sung by the parish choir and accompanied by the church's 21-rank organ. The celebrant chants portions of the liturgy, and the choir leads hymns, chants the psalms, and offers choral anthems. Lay Eucharistic ministers and acolytes of all ages assist at the altar, and Holy Communion is a central part of every service. All baptized Christians are welcome at the rail; gluten-free wafers and grape juice are available by request, and those who prefer a blessing may cross their arms across their chest when they come forward.
The parish moves through the Christian year with deliberate attention. Advent is marked by a four-candle wreath and the choir's hosting of Advent Lessons and Carols on a Sunday afternoon in early December. Christmas is celebrated on the evenings of December 24 and the morning of December 25. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday services in the sanctuary and Ashes to Go offered in the morning to commuters at the Geneva Metra Station. Holy Week includes Palm Sunday, a Maundy Thursday service recalling the Last Supper, and Good Friday observances. Fifty days of Eastertide end at Pentecost. The church also hosts a Blessing of the Animals each year on the first weekend of October in honor of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
Special services of Baptism, Confirmation, Weddings, and funerals are arranged through the parish office. The 9:30 service is livestreamed each Sunday on Facebook and YouTube, and service bulletins are posted online. Coffee and other refreshments follow each service in the parish hall.
Music as a Form of Prayer
Music holds a central place at the parish. The St. Charles Choir, open to adults and high-school-age singers in all voice parts, rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:15 to 9:00 and sings for the Sunday Eucharist during the program year, offering anthems, psalms, and hymn leadership. New members receive regular training in vocal technique, sight-reading, and solfège.
Instrumentalists of all kinds are invited to take part in the liturgy, and the parish also maintains a handbell ensemble that often rings at the 9:30 service. The 21-rank pipe organ was installed in 1978 after a campaign led by parishioner Larry Engel raised $100,000. Music Director Mark Downey, who joined the staff in January 2015, brings advanced music degrees from the Royal School of Music in Croydon, England, and Roosevelt University in Chicago, and serves as organist and choral director.
Beyond the Sunday choir, the parish offers occasional Taizé services, simple repetitive songs and prayers rooted in the ecumenical community at Taizé in France.
Four Decades of Feeding the Fox Valley
If music is one expression of the parish's vocation, feeding the hungry is the other. The congregation's four feeding ministries together reach hundreds of people every month, and several of them have been running for more than thirty years.
The Free Spaghetti Dinner began in 2008 in response to the recession. Two organizers who called themselves "Two Guys" wanted to make sure that everyone in the area had a hot meal at the end of the month, when family funds were often depleted. Guests are still seated at tables and served a sit-down meal, with carryout also available, on the last Sunday of every month from 4 to 6 p.m. The number served has grown from fewer than fifty meals at a time to more than two hundred. Portillo's of Batavia is among the regular donors.
The Sandwich Board, based at Trinity Episcopal Church in Aurora, has been serving lunch on Thursdays to those in need for thirty-eight years. St. Charles assists six times a year by organizing, preparing, and serving bagged lunches for about 150 people, a cooperative ministry of several Episcopal parishes.
The parish's partnership with Hesed House in Aurora is its longest-running feeding ministry, now more than thirty years old. Once a month, St. Charles volunteers staff the overnight shelter, serve a hot breakfast, and send guests out with a bagged lunch.
Since 2023, the parish has also been providing meals twice a month for Lazarus House in St. Charles, with a group or family preparing a complete dinner for thirty early in the month, and the Free Spaghetti Dinner sending another thirty meals at month's end.
The parish supports the Tri-Cities Salvation Army Food Bank through ongoing donations and seasonal food drives, and rings the bell at Salvation Army kettles each Christmas season.
Racial Justice and Sacred Ground
The parish takes part in the Episcopal Church's long-term Becoming Beloved Community vision, a framework introduced by the national church's leadership in 2017 that links racial healing to the church's calling. St. Charles has hosted three Sacred Ground circles, an eleven-part film and readings dialogue series on the history of race and racism in the United States, grounded in faith. The parish's Sacred Ground participants are now moving from study into action, building partnerships with neighbors in the Fox Valley, identifying local needs, and growing their advocacy work.
The Diocese of Chicago's resolution on antiracism, F-185, is part of the parish's published record on this work.
Formation for Every Age
Christian formation is woven through the week. Youth Formation uses Godly Play for pre-K through grade 3 and the Connects curriculum for grades 4 through 6. Grades 7 and 8 follow a two-year Confirmation curriculum. High-schoolers organize food drives, fundraisers, and service trips, including summer mission trips with the Christian Appalachian Project in Kentucky. Every four years the youth make a pilgrimage together, with past destinations including Scotland, Alaska, and the Grand Canyon.
For grown-ups, a Tuesday morning Adult Bible Study meets on Zoom at 1:30 with a rotating set of books. Education for Ministry (EfM), a four-year program developed by the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, takes participants through the Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, and Theology and Ethics. The rector leads occasional Newcomers classes on the history, life, and worship style of the Episcopal Church. The Order of the Daughters of the King, an international women's order devoted to prayer, evangelism, and service, holds a chapter at the parish named for St. Catherine of Siena.
Prayer, Pastoral Care, and Recovery
Prayer undergirds everything at St. Charles. The Healing Prayer Ministry offers prayers for healing, laying on of hands, and anointing at all services on the third Sunday of each month. Home Eucharistic Ministers bring communion to the sick, the homebound, and anyone who cannot attend in person. The Prayer Shawl Ministry knits and crochets shawls, afghans, and baby blankets to mark marriages, births, graduations, and losses; lessons are offered to anyone who would like to learn.
The parish opens its buildings to the wider community. Alcoholics Anonymous meets there on Mondays at 5:30 p.m., Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m., Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m., Fridays at 7:30 p.m., and Saturdays at 8:00 a.m. Al-Anon meets on Fridays at 5:30 p.m. Many parishioners are involved in outside organizations such as the Fox River Valley Initiative.
Weekly gatherings for prayer and study include Scripture Study on Tuesdays at 11:00 a.m. on Zoom, a Men's Group on Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom, and Compline on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. on Zoom.
The Labyrinth, the Columbarium, and the Building
The parish grounds hold three quiet treasures. The outdoor Labyrinth, created in 1997, is modeled on the labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral in France and is open to the public for walking, reflection, and meditation. An indoor canvas labyrinth can be unrolled for use in inclement weather and is available to rent to other organizations. The Columbarium Garden offers a place of remembrance for those who have gone before, and a setting for quiet social gatherings. The parish Library serves as a meeting and reading space.
The parish is led by the Rev. Brian Petersen as rector, with the Rev. Deacon Steve Lowe supporting outreach to Hesed House, Lazarus House, and the Trinity Soup Kitchen. Mark Downey directs music, and Shellie Morgan serves as office administrator. Sue Riffer and Robin Weaver lead the Vestry as Senior Warden and Junior Warden.
St. Charles Episcopal is a member parish of the Diocese of Chicago, in the Aurora Deanery, in Province V of the Episcopal Church. It is listed as an Affirming Church. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and can be reached at 630-584-2596 or info@stcharlesepiscopal.org. Online giving is available through the parish's giving portal.