St. Mark’s Episcopal Church stands on Capitol Hill at 301 A Street SE in Washington, D.C., two blocks from the U.S. Capitol complex. It is known for a long tradition of worshiping in the round, a late-19th-century nave filled with stained glass, open Communion, and a wide-ranging ministry of music, family formation, hands-on service, and justice work. Its community of about 600 includes children, youth, and adults, with many people living on Capitol Hill and others traveling from Arlington, Takoma Park, Fairfax, Rockville, Annapolis, and elsewhere in the region. The church welcomes people wherever they are on their faith journey and describes itself as an open community that celebrates the gifts of God and engages life’s struggles with love, justice, and compassion.
Eucharist in the Round and the 10 a.m. Sermon Seminar
On most Sundays, St. Mark’s offers a full pattern of worship and reflection in its Nave. A 9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist is family-oriented and includes time for children to go to Children’s Chapel; the sermon preached at 10:00 follows a short break. At 10:00, a Sermon Seminar brings together the sermon and reflections from parishioners and friends. A second Holy Eucharist follows at 11:15 a.m. in the Nave and online, and the day concludes with a 5:00 p.m. Contemplative Eucharist. The 5:00 service often draws families with very young children and young single adults, and it includes Children’s Chapel. About five times each year, the late-afternoon service takes a different format.
Only the 10:00 sermon from the Sermon Seminar is livestreamed, not the discussion that follows. The 11:15 Eucharist is also livestreamed through Facebook and YouTube, with recent services and a wider collection available through the St. Mark’s YouTube channel. Morning Prayer is held on Zoom at 11:00 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. St. Mark’s also maintains an extensive sermon archive spanning years of teaching and preaching.
Communion is central, and participation is explicitly open. Before every Eucharist, the congregation says: “Wherever you are on your faith journey, whatever you believe or don’t believe, baptized or not, we welcome you to join us.” People are invited to share in Communion regardless of belief. The church’s motto, “Church of the Open Communion,” captures this welcome, while the movable altar and chairs allow the whole nave to gather around the Gospel.
From an 1867 Mission Church to a Nave That Keeps Changing
St. Mark’s began in 1867 at the Sewall-Belmont House, at Second Street and Constitution Avenue, as a mission of Christ Church+Capitol Hill serving government workers in the neighborhood. A market house and then a schoolhouse gave way to a frame church that stood from 1871 until it was razed for the present nave, completed in 1894. Baltimore architect T. Buckler Ghequier designed the building, now described as Late Victorian Neo-Gothic with Neo-Romanesque features. From 1896 to 1902, St. Mark’s served as temporary pro-cathedral for the new Diocese of Washington while the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul was under construction. A bronze plaque marks the building’s historic status and recalls the government’s failed 1971 effort to take the property for a Library of Congress addition.
The heart of the sanctuary is its stained glass. The 1888 Tiffany window over the baptistery is the only Tiffany window in Washington, D.C. that remains in its original location. Its center panel, “Christ Leaving the Praetorium,” depicts the moment after Pontius Pilate washed his hands. Large ground-level windows were made by Mayer of Munich, while smaller clerestory windows dating from 1905 through 1999 include works by Mayer and several American studios. Inside, restrained woodwork, wrought iron, mosaic tile, molded brick, and jewel-toned glass frame a sanctuary without fixed pews.
The 1965-1966 restoration removed the pews and installed interlocking movable chairs and a movable altar. Services have been held in the round ever since, allowing worshippers to face one another on all four sides. The same nave can be transformed quickly for wedding receptions, theatrical productions, dances, fundraisers, recitals, concerts, and community celebrations. A parish house was built in 1926, and an undercroft with permanent classrooms and a large meeting room was added in 1989, along with the garden that serves parishioners and neighbors. A major 2013-2014 renovation created additional meeting rooms, a choir room, a lounge, and a new kitchen. The Winged Lion Pub, begun in 1973, also reflects the church’s capacity to fold community life into worship.
Children and Youth Are Already Part of the Congregation
Children are welcome at every service. Nursery care for infants and toddlers is available in the Undercroft from 8:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Sunday mornings, with an experienced coordinator and assistants. Sunday School and Catechesis meet from 10:00 to 10:50 a.m. for PreK3 through grade 12, except on holidays. The elementary program uses Godly Play, a Montessori-based approach built around scripture, storytelling, wonder, discussion, individual work, and prayer. Middle and high school classes use the Generation Why? curriculum and emphasize games, team building, discussion, and the relevance of scripture to young people’s lives.
Children’s Chapel is part of the 9:00 service and the 5:00 Contemplative Eucharist. On the fourth Sunday of each month, the 9:00 celebration becomes Family Eucharist, using language intended to be easy to understand, youth as readers, and a special reflection for children. The congregation also supports children through a PreK4-and-up Children’s Choir and Youth Choir, a Service and Social Justice Club for grades 4 and 5, and confirmation classes beginning in grade 8. Confirmation participants reflect on baptismal promises with a mentor from the congregation.
Youth activities continue beyond Sunday School. A monthly youth group brings middle and high school students together for outings, service projects, and social activities. The two-year High School Pilgrimage asks teenagers to design and undertake a trip that deepens spiritual exploration and commitment to service. Youth and families also help prepare meals for people who are unhoused, take part in mission trips, and join seasonal art projects for a family craft coffee hour. The result is a formation program in which children and teenagers participate in worship, learning, music, service, and adult community rather than being set apart from it.
Music and Arts Fill the Nave
Music is one of St. Mark’s strongest shared practices. Jeff Kempskie has served as Director of Music and organist since 2010, directing the Chancel Choir and overseeing the Boys and Girls Choir and Teen Choir. Judith Rautenberg leads the Children’s Choir, and the children’s and youth ensembles perform at least monthly at St. Mark’s and elsewhere. The building’s beauty, acoustics, and adaptable nave also make it a performance venue for classical and chamber ensembles, including the Washington Bach Consort, Folger Consort, 21st Century Consort, Chiarina Chamber Ensemble, The Thirteen, Russian Chamber Art Society, Washington Early Music Festival, Capital City Symphony, IN Series, and 18th Street Singers.
The arts extend well beyond the sanctuary. The Craighill Dance Studio offers classes for all ages and levels of experience, while the Cox Music Studio provides a soundproof space for voice, piano, and instrumental lessons. St. Mark’s Players uses participatory theater to explore life theologically and personally, and a Visual Arts program gives another outlet for creative work. The Meditation Center offers a contemplative setting, while the Yoga Center welcomes participants at different points in yoga and life, emphasizing breathing, asanas, relaxation, positive thinking, and meditation. St. Mark’s describes its Yoga Center as the oldest continuously operating yoga center in the Washington area.
The Dozier Library and a Legacy of Learning
The Verna J. Dozier Memorial Library carries the name of a educator and theologian whose life was closely bound to St. Mark’s. Verna Dozier joined the congregation in 1955 and became its first African American parishioner. A graduate of Howard University, she spent 34 years in Washington’s public schools as an English teacher, department chair, and curriculum administrator. At St. Mark’s she taught classes, preached, served on the Vestry, and became Senior Warden. Her work advocated for the ministry of the laity and took her to churches and theological schools across the country. She received two honorary doctorates and wrote eight books, including Equipping the Saints, Sisters and Brothers, The Authority of the Laity, and The Dream of God.
Friends raised funds in 1999 for a stained-glass window honoring Dozier. She chose an image of the prophet Amos calling for justice in the marketplace, with two women representing herself and her sister. The library contains books on Christian faith and other religions, education, spirituality, social justice, creation care, worship, psychology, and the arts, with a substantial collection for children and young adults. It also maintains a racial justice books survey. A Dozier fund awards a college scholarship each year to a graduating senior at Dunbar High School, extending Dozier’s emphasis on education and public witness into the life of the parish.
Care for Neighbors Across Washington
St. Mark’s mission comes alive in hands-on activities and partnerships throughout the capital region. Its regular local work includes:
- Food and hygiene supplies: Every Sunday, non-expired packaged food and toiletries are placed in baskets under the altar and delivered to the Lutheran Church of the Reformation’s emergency food pantry.
- Meals for people who are unhoused: On the fourth Sunday of each month, volunteers prepare about 150 bag dinners for the Salvation Army’s Grate Patrol. St. Mark’s also provides hot lunches for people visiting Everyone Home DC’s Shirley’s Place and snack bags for those served by Samaritan Ministry.
- Rescued food: Volunteers with Food Rescue US collect surplus food from businesses and restaurants and deliver it to local charities and day programs.
- Material support: Clothing, food, toiletries, and other necessities are collected and sorted for migrant families and other neighbors in need.
For more than 50 years, St. Mark’s has supported Everyone Home DC, which provides services to families and single adults in crisis. Its partnership with Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington dates to 1986, when St. Mark’s joined 11 other churches to create a program of compassion, coaching, and accountability. Samaritan Ministry’s Next Step Program helps adults set manageable goals for employment, housing, health, and education. Caseworkers and trained volunteers offer counseling, skills training, help with résumés and job applications, referrals, tutoring, and basic education. Many participants are returning citizens, people experiencing homelessness, or adults with chronic health conditions.
St. Mark’s contributes to the Washington School for Girls, which serves students in grades 3 through 8 in Southeast Washington, and it works through the Washington Interfaith Network on affordable housing, public safety, economic justice, and environmental justice. The church has also hosted an annual vigil for all survivors of gun violence for more than a decade, joining organizations that seek to reduce gun violence. Stewardship is central to sustaining this work. Annual pledges support the church’s operating budget, while one-time and recurring gifts can be made through online giving.
Justice and Partnership Beyond Capitol Hill
The Green Lions, St. Mark’s environmental group, works to sustain creation through education, advocacy, local cleanups, attention to climate change, and protection of the Anacostia River. The group has also encouraged wise use of resources, non-toxic cleaning practices, and sustainable choices in church life. A Justice in Palestine group focuses on advocacy, education, action, and solidarity for Palestinian people and others in the Holy Land. It works with Friends of Sabeel North America, Christians for Ceasefire and Just Peace, and other partners, while maintaining a relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. St. Mark’s Good Friday offerings and special offerings have supported educational and health care institutions in Gaza and the West Bank.
St. Mark’s also supports Afghan and other refugee families through Good Neighbors Capitol Hill. Its Bed, Bath and Beyond team gathers bed and bath linens, toiletries, furniture, small appliances, cleaning supplies, and groceries. Together, Good Neighbors teams have furnished more than 165 homes. The parish’s refugee support extends to help with rent, tuition, English language learning, medical and dental expenses, driver’s licenses, and visa advice. Its migrant support work includes meals, clothing, essential assistance, summer camps for children in shelters, accompaniment to immigration check-ins and court appearances, court watching, and care for families separated by detention.
International partnerships began with a youth trip to Honduras in 1989. Over the decades, young people and adults have worked alongside Honduran farmers, schools, and communities, building classrooms and homes, planting trees, and supporting sustainable agriculture. The Trinidad Conservation Project now supports families in five villages as they protect forests and water resources, improve nutrition, and strengthen their livelihoods. In Navajoland, St. Mark’s has developed an ongoing relationship with St. Christopher’s Mission that includes education programs and in-person engagement. These partnerships connect the neighborhood life of Capitol Hill with long-term relationships abroad rather than treating mission as a single project.
A History of LGBTQ Inclusion
St. Mark’s history includes a long public record of LGBTQ inclusion. In the early 1960s, the Mattachine Society, described as the first gay men’s group in Washington, D.C., received permission to meet in the parish hall. The Vestry initially rejected a request for a dance in 1966, but allowed a jointly sponsored dance in November 1970 that drew almost 200 people. In 1982, St. Mark’s hosted the first public concert of the Washington Gay Men’s Chorus after other venues declined. The parish formed an AIDS Task Force in the late 1980s, and a fundraiser for Episcopal Caring Response to AIDS grew into a diocesan-wide effort. In 1990, Rector James R. Adams preached “A Christian Response to AIDS,” the first pulpit discussion of AIDS and the church.
Gay parishioners and allies formed the Lavender Lions in 1991, later renamed Lambda Lions. The parish continued to reconsider its policies and practice. Adams testified before a House subcommittee in support of domestic unions in 1992. The Vestry called an openly gay interim rector in 1996, and gay parishioner Rob Hall became the first openly gay Senior Warden in 1997. A policy declaration supporting the blessing of same-sex unions was approved in 1999, followed by the first two liturgical blessings in July 2001. After same-sex marriage became legal in the District of Columbia, St. Mark’s clergy performed a same-sex wedding in 2010 that is believed to have been the first recognized by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington as a regular church marriage. The Vestry later called openly gay priest Michele Morgan as interim rector and then rector. St. Mark’s continues to welcome LGBTQ members and visitors, celebrate committed same-sex couples, and support Lambda Lions as an affinity group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people and their allies.
Groups for Learning, Friendship, and Support
St. Mark’s jokes that it is the “Church of the Holy Activity,” and its calendar of ongoing groups reflects that character. The 20s and 30s group meets monthly after the 5:00 service for discussion of life and faith, often using podcast excerpts. Third Agers, for people aged 60 and above, hold potluck luncheons with speakers and seasonal field trips. The men’s group, Woman to Woman, and the Women’s Investment Group provide distinct opportunities for conversation and fellowship. The reading group meets in the Dozier Library every third Wednesday, while the film club gathers every third Friday to watch and discuss a classic film.
Support groups are part of the same community life. A caregivers’ support group meets on Zoom on the first Wednesday of each month for people helping family members or friends with serious illness, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or other difficulties. Widows and widowers meet on the first Friday, while trained parishioners offer the laying on of hands during Communion on the first and third Sundays. These gatherings, along with shared meals, music, arts, and Sunday hospitality, give the large worshipping community many ways to build relationships beyond the sermon and service.
Clergy, Staff, and a Vestry of Volunteers
The Rev. Michele Morgan is Rector. An Indigenous woman and the seventh of nine children, she served congregations in Minnesota as a priest and transitional rector before joining St. Mark’s. Her ministry emphasizes connection, justice, mercy, joy, and the renewal of communities. The Rev. Caitlin Frazier, Associate Rector, previously worked in HIV prevention and outreach to homeless youth before pursuing ordination. Ordained in 2024, she focuses on preaching and pastoral care with people who have experienced grief or trauma. The Rev. Patricia Catalano, Liturgy and Pastoral Associate, was born in Colombia and works as a simultaneous interpreter; she also leads a Centering Prayer group. Seminarian Rebekah Taylor brings a focus on creation care and environmental justice to her parish ministry and studies Anglican Studies at Virginia Theological Seminary.
Jeff Kempskie leads the music program, and Lisa Ramish directs Children, Youth and Family Ministries. Ramish previously taught children and trained teachers through KIPP DC and received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. Judith Rautenberg, born and raised in Germany and trained in Austria, directs the Children’s Choir. The Vestry is the parish’s volunteer governing board. The rector presides, two wardens serve as chief lay officers and oversee major responsibilities, and nine members are elected by voting members. Officers and the associate rector participate but do not vote. Meetings are typically held on the fourth Tuesday and are hybrid.
Finding St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill
St. Mark’s occupies the corner of Third and A Streets SE. Capitol South Metro Station on the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines is a few blocks away, while Eastern Market and Union Station are each within a 15-minute walk. Drivers will find the church two blocks from Pennsylvania Avenue and near I-395 and the Southeast-Southwest Freeway. Two Capital Bikeshare docking stations are nearby, one near Pennsylvania and Third and another at East Capitol and Fourth. The church has entrances on A Street and Third Street, plus a courtyard entrance at the end of the garden walkway. The main entrance is beneath the arch beside the Nave, reached by the ramp next to the A Street garden. An elevator provides access to the second floor, Undercroft classrooms, nursery, library, and meeting rooms.
Street parking is limited because the church sits in a residential neighborhood, and regulations are enforced. Cars without residential stickers may park on adjacent blocks for a maximum of two hours from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Along the east side of Third Street between Independence Avenue and A Street, the two-hour limit runs from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Metered parking on the west side of Third Street allows two hours from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with additional paid parking until 10:00 p.m. Parking is free on Sundays. Masks are optional at worship and other regular church activities, though N95 or KN95 masks are recommended; people with symptoms should stay home, and individual groups using the building may set additional requirements.
From 1867 to a Church of the Open Communion
St. Mark’s remains a church whose story moves between continuity and change: a mission founded for government workers, a temporary cathedral, a sanctuary configured around the congregation, and a contemporary community serving Washington and partners around the world. Its historic nave, open Communion, music, family formation, learning, and service are not separate attractions. Together they form the life of a Church of the Open Communion on Capitol Hill.