Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral stands on the southwest corner of Loring Park in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, a 1910 Gothic-style church with a distinctive bell tower that chimes through the day and is washed in seasonal color after dark. It is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Church of Minnesota and the seat of Bishop Craig Loya. From this hilltop, a creative and progressive congregation offers Episcopal worship in English and Spanish, a serious choral music program, deep pastoral care rooted in Benedictine spirituality, and a wide circle of partnerships that bring the cathedral into the lives of its downtown neighbors.
From North Minneapolis Mission to Cathedral on the Park
The community that became Saint Mark's began in 1858 as a north Minneapolis mission of Gethsemane Church, ministering to immigrants. Within five years the mission building was hauled on sled runners by thirty-three yoke of oxen to the center of the growing city, and in 1863 the congregation was incorporated as a parish with H. T. Welles as its first Junior Warden. By 1870 a new church had been built on Sixth Street, but as commerce crowded in and members moved toward Loring Park and the lakes, the Sixth Street building aged and the neighborhood became harder to live in.
At the turn of the century, Bishop Samuel Cook Edsall set out to transform the struggling parish into a cathedral for the Diocese of Minnesota. He negotiated the purchase of part of the Loring Park estate of Jerusha Welles, widow of former Rector Thomas Bucklin Welles, and chose parishioner Edwin Hawley Hewitt, trained in the United States and abroad, as architect. Hewitt's New Gothic design - airy, light and warm, facing the park and the city - opened in 1910 and drew more than a thousand members to its rolls within five years. The parish was designated the cathedral of the diocese in 1941, on the eve of America's entry into World War II.
Saint Mark's has hosted several milestones in the wider Episcopal Church. The World Anglican Congress met at the cathedral in 1954, the first time that gathering was held in America. The 1976 General Convention in Minneapolis adopted the current Book of Common Prayer and first opened ordination to women; within a year, Mary Belfry was ordained to the priesthood at Saint Mark's and became the first woman to serve as a canon of the cathedral. Saint Mark's also hosted the Conference of North American Deans in 1991, and when General Convention returned to Minneapolis in 2003 the church celebrated the ratification of Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. A decade later, just after the state and Supreme Court rulings on marriage equality, Bishop Robinson returned to the cathedral.
Sunday at the Cathedral: Three Services, One Rhythm
The cathedral's Sunday program year runs from the Sunday after Labor Day through mid-May, and the building holds three distinct Sunday liturgies.
The day begins at 8:00 a.m. with Worship Service Rite I, a quiet service in traditional language with a spoken Eucharist. At 9:00 a.m., coffee, conversation and refreshments are served in the Community Room around the corner from the Cathedral Bookshop, and on most Sundays a Forum in the Banquet Room from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. covers parish business, stewardship and other topics.
At 10:30 a.m. the principal Sunday liturgy gathers in the Nave: Worship Service Rite II in contemporary language with a Choral Eucharist sung by the Cathedral Choir. This service is offered in person and is also broadcast live online, where viewers can join the chat through Boxcast. Children ages three through seven are invited to leave for Children's Worship at the Gradual Hymn and return at the Peace. The day ends with Choral Evensong at 5:00 p.m., a contemplative evening liturgy rooted in the Book of Common Prayer and sung by members of the Cathedral Choir or, on selected Sundays, a visiting choir. Evensong is also offered online.
Holy Eucharist and Communion
All baptized Christians, whatever their denomination or how long it has been since they last received, are welcome to receive communion. Visitors who are not baptized are welcome to come forward for a blessing from a member of the clergy. Communion is distributed at the altar rail, at a station in the nave, or brought to worshippers in the pews. There is always a station with gluten-free wafers and wine that has not had a gluten wafer dipped in it, though the cathedral notes that it is not certified gluten-free.
Midweek Worship and a Saturday Mass in Spanish
Beyond Sunday, the cathedral keeps a steady weekly rhythm of prayer. A spoken Holy Eucharist is celebrated in the Nave on Wednesdays at 12:15 p.m. Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. are given over to Contemplative Prayer. On Saturday evenings at 5:30 p.m., Santa Misa en Español gathers Spanish-speaking Episcopalians and neighbors for Mass in Spanish. Each of these services has its own character, and the cathedral encourages visitors to try them all.
Music at the Heart of the Liturgy
Music is central to life at the cathedral, and the schedule of preludes, service music, anthems and postludes each month draws on a deep Anglican and Episcopal repertoire. The Cathedral Choir sings for the 10:30 Choral Eucharist most Sundays, and on a typical month its work includes Howells psalm preludes, Vierne postludes, anthems by Parry, Vaughan Williams, Bairstow, Holst and Haydn, and communion motets by Gjeilo and Oldroyd. Choral Evensong features the Cathedral Choir in full or in section - sopranos alone have sung the responses and canticles, on other Sundays the section leaders take the Evensong - and visiting choirs are invited on selected Sundays. The Saint Mark's Music Series presents additional concerts and performances throughout the year, with bulletins posted in advance so visitors know what they will hear.
Pastoral Care in the Benedictine Tradition
Pastoral Care at Saint Mark's is grounded in Benedictine spirituality, summed up in Saint Benedict's instruction to "listen with the ear of the heart." A team of lay ministers and clergy offers prayers at the Prayer Station, brings communion to people who cannot come to church, visits homes, hospitals and care facilities, sends handwritten cards, and makes telephone calls to members of the community who do not connect by email. The Prayer Station is named after Enmegahbowh, the first Native American Episcopal priest, and offers healing prayers, anointing and laying on of hands during and after Sunday Eucharist.
A number of smaller pastoral ministries grow out of this work. The Encouragement for Caregivers group meets virtually twice a month for people caring for a loved one. A devoted group of knitters has produced more than 500 prayer shawls over the years, alongside hundreds of scarves and hats for charities around the Twin Cities and baby blankets for newly baptized members. The Calling Ministry reaches those who do not connect through email. Eucharistic Visitors are trained and licensed to take consecrated elements to those who are ill or homebound. The cathedral also connects those in grief with the Downtown Minneapolis Coalition for Grief Support, a coalition of downtown congregations that meets weekly on Saturday mornings.
Discernment and training for pastoral ministers follows the Community of Hope curriculum, a ten-week program in spiritual formation rooted in Benedictine and Anglican tradition. Saint Mark's has offered this training since 2016.
Children, Young Adults, and Families
Children and families are honored at every service, and the sound of "loud and wiggly kids" is treated as part of worship. Family seating is reserved directly in front of the lectern with baskets of soft toys and books, and families are welcome to sit anywhere in the nave that suits them. During the program year, children ages three through seven are invited to Children's Worship at the 10:30 service; they are accompanied from the nave during the Gradual Hymn, gather in the Library for age-appropriate activities around the Gospel, and return at the exchange of the Peace.
Young Adults at Saint Mark's is a collaborative group of people in their twenties and thirties who meet on the second and fourth Thursday evenings in one another's homes to eat, talk and learn together, with occasional outings and service projects. It is intentionally a welcoming space for people working through deconstruction and reconstruction of faith.
Men's, Women's, LGBTQ+, and Knitting Ministries
Three small, long-running ministries keep regular rhythms through the month. Men's Ministry gathers on the fourth Saturday of the month from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. in the Library for conversation, refreshments and the Eucharist, and from time to time helps with events like the pancake breakfast and picnic, and with occasional service projects. Women's Ministry meets on the second Thursday afternoon for fellowship and informal conversation. LGBTQ+ Ministry is a visible part of parish life and a long-standing witness to radical inclusion in the Episcopal Church; the parish invites those who wish to be in touch to email its dedicated address.
The Knitting Group meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the Library. New knitters are welcome at any skill level. Over the years the group has made more than 500 prayer shawls, hundreds of scarves and hats donated to Twin Cities charities, and baby blankets for newly baptized members.
Liturgical Ministries and Formation
Worship at the cathedral is carried by laypeople as much as by clergy. Acolytes (both adult and youth) lead processions, light candles and set the altar. The Altar Guild cares for vestments, vessels and linens and arranges flowers. Eucharistic Ministers bear the cup at communion. Lectors read scripture on a rotating schedule that means each lector reads about once every six months. Ushers welcome worshippers at the 8:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and Evensong services, gather the offering and guide people to communion. Vergers act as the masters of ceremony for services and help train other lay ministers. Formation and Gospel Based Discipleship round out the cathedral's teaching ministry, with classes, small groups and dinner-table conversations offered throughout the program year.
Faith in Action: Food, Shelter, and Welcome
A great deal of Saint Mark's life together is lived outside its walls. The cathedral partners with First Unitarian, Plymouth Congregational and other local faith communities to serve Sunday Night Supper on the second Sunday of each month, gathering in the afternoon at the Groveland Food Shelf in the Plymouth basement and welcoming neighbors to a hot meal from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Volunteers of every ability are welcome.
Saint Mark's is a founding congregation of the Groveland Food Shelf, a non-profit that distributes emergency groceries and serves about 5,000 clients each month; the cathedral sits on the food shelf's board and supports it with donations and volunteers. The cathedral also supports Agate Housing and Services, which combines the former House of Charity and St. Stephen's Services into a continuum of care for people facing housing instability. First Nations Kitchen, Climate Justice, Casa Maria and the Migrant Support Fund round out a constellation of partnerships with organizations working on Indigenous food sovereignty, environmental stewardship, immigrant hospitality and welcome for newcomers. A land acknowledgment on the cathedral's walls names the Dakota, Anishinaabeg and others whose land the cathedral occupies and commits the parish to the work of learning and repair.
Visiting Saint Mark's
The cathedral is easy to reach on foot, by car or by transit. The Welcome Center doors are the entrance and exit for everyone; the Carriage and Narthex doors are reserved for emergencies during construction. The Welcome Center has an accessible door and an elevator to the Nave level. Accessible parking is reserved in the lot next to the Welcome Center, with additional accessible spaces along the side of the building; worshippers and visitors do not need to pay to park in the cathedral's lot. Street parking is available, and the Walker Art Center is nearby.
Fellowship is served in the Community Room every Sunday at 9:00 a.m. After the 10:30 worship, a docent offers a tour of the historic Nave - meet underneath the Pulpit. The Nave is also open for self-guided tours during building hours, with tour booklets available throughout the building.
Welcome Center hours are Sundays 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Wednesdays 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are by appointment; the cathedral is closed on Fridays. People are welcome to come as they are and dress however they prefer.
The Building and Its Spaces
The 1910 building is at the heart of everything that happens at Saint Mark's, and its spaces are put to use throughout the week. The Nave itself holds up to 900 people beneath limestone, stained glass and wood pews, with the organ at the west end. Hewitt Chapel, which opens onto the Nave, seats up to 45 for an intimate ceremony, with intricate carved oak and hand-painted panels. Whipple Chapel, with rustic beams, hand-painted ceilings, stained glass, a Steinway piano and balcony seating, holds up to 80. The three Banquet Rooms seat about 30 each or 120 together. The Community Room, with oak paneling, a fireplace and direct kitchen access, seats 120 for a reception or meeting. The Heritage Room, Library, Dining Room, Parlor, Kitchen and a Lounge with three hair and makeup stations round out the cathedral's rentable spaces.
Weddings and Funerals
Saint Mark's welcomes opposite-sex and same-sex couples for Christian weddings and blessings, and the rite is treated as a covenant of commitment between two people, God and the gathered community. At least one member of the couple must be a baptized Christian, and the canons of the church require premarital counseling, which qualifies a couple for a discounted marriage license in Hennepin County. In addition to clergy approval, the cathedral asks that weddings be booked at least six months in advance. The cathedral also ministers funerals and offers its spaces for receptions, retreats, meetings and concerts. The Cathedral Bookshop is open Sundays 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Wednesdays 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Supporting the Cathedral
The cathedral's ministry is sustained by the pledges and offerings of its members and friends. Annual Giving supports the operating budget; Capital Giving funds larger restoration, repair and renovation projects; the Legacy Circle provides for the cathedral's endowment; and the Foundation of the Cathedral holds long-term funds for the building and grounds. Gifts can be made online, by check, by stock transfer, by bank bill-pay or in the plate during worship.