
Trinity Church, in
Midtown Houston
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
,
[There are separate boundaries for the Midtown Super Neighborhood and the Midtown Management District. See City of Houston maps]
Midtown Super Neighborhood
!--Total Super Neighborhood map here: https://www.houstontx.gov/superneighborhoods/snmapsbyzip.pdf--> an
Management district map
Retrieved on June 4, 2019. - Also see
2006 Midtown Management District Land Use Map
and
SERVICE AND IMPROVEMENT PLAN AND ASSESSMENT PLAN FOR FISCAL YEARS 2015-2024
" Midtown Houston Management District. Retrieved on April 4, 2009. Map on page 25/25 of the PDF. is a
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
church in the
Episcopal Diocese of Texas
The Episcopal Diocese of Texas is one of the dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The diocese consists of all Episcopal congregations in the southeastern quartile of Texas, including the cities of Austin, Beaumont, ...
.
History
Trinity was founded in 1893 as a mission from
Christ Church in a part of Houston then called the "Fairground Addition", now known as
Midtown. It is the second-oldest Episcopal parish in Houston. Trinity was, at one time, one of the largest parishes in the Episcopal Church. Such notables as
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
and
Denton Cooley
Denton Arthur Cooley (August 22, 1920 – November 18, 2016) was an American heart and cardiothoracic surgeon famous for performing the first implantation of a total artificial heart. Cooley was also the founder and surgeon in-chief of The ...
have been members of the parish. Its membership declined sharply as its parishioners moved to the
suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 2000s membership has grown steadily.
Five
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
s of Trinity have gone on to be
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
s in the Episcopal Church. Another has served as
dean of a
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
.
The Reverend
Hannah E. Atkins became Trinity's fifteenth rector in September 2007.
In 1990, Trinity founded the
Lord of the Streets Mission, a mission of the Diocese of Texas to the homeless of Houston. Although no longer under the auspices of Trinity Church, Lord of the Streets' services are held at Trinity.
The church building
The current church building, which dates from 1919, is a
neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
structure, designed by the noted
architectural
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
firm,
Cram
Cram may refer to:
* Cram (surname), a surname, and list of notable persons having the surname
* Cram.com, a website for creating and sharing flashcards
* Cram (Australian game show), a television show
* ''Cram'' (game show), a TV game show that ...
and Ferguson, whose Houston work also includes several buildings at
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universit ...
and the
Julia Ideson Building
The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is named for Julia Bedford Ideson, who served as the system's first head librarian for 40 years.
The Spanish Renaissance-style build ...
of
Houston Public Library
Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States.
History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library
The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in 18 ...
. The church's Morrow Chapel was renovated in 2002 and features world-class
stained glass, artwork, and liturgical furnishings by such artists as Kim Clark Renteria,
Kermit Oliver, Troy Woods,
Shazia Sikander, and Selven O’Keef Jarmon.
The church also houses a 1918 Pilcher
pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''rank ...
, which was recently restored.
At the church
At Trinity, there are ministries for all ages, varied opportunities for spiritual growth, and many programs in which to reach out to others in the community. In addition, special events often take place at Trinity, including the annual Animal Blessing, in the autumn, and Jazz Festival, in the winter. There are also occasional Sunday-evening concerts and special services such as Choral Evensong and sung
Compline
Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer service (or Liturgy of the Hours, office) of the day in the Christianity, Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are Christian p ...
presented by the Trinity Choir, as well as worship in the
Taizé tradition.
See also
*
Christianity in Houston
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popul ...
References
Further reading
*Davies-Cooley, Gayle. ''Pillar of faith: Trinity Church at 100'', Trinity Episcopal Church, Houston. (Houston, 1992).
External links
Trinity Episcopal Church
{{coord, 29.7396, N, 95.3779, W, region:US-TX_type:landmark, display=title
Episcopal churches in Texas
Churches in Houston
National Register of Historic Places in Houston
Churches completed in 1919
Ralph Adams Cram church buildings
1919 establishments in Texas
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas
Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks
Gothic Revival church buildings in Texas
Midtown, Houston