History

History of our sponsor- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Founded in 1817, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church has played a significant role in the life and culture of the city of Paterson. The church’s mission is as follows:

“St. Paul’s is a gathered community of all sorts and conditions of people who are committed to the Christian life and witness in the urban setting of Paterson. Through worship, outreach, education, parish life, pastoral care and stewardship, our diverse community seeks to celebrate and proclaim God’s justice and mercy; to live out the good news of God’s kingdom for all; and to be a healing sign that the things which divide us from each other may be overcome in the oneness of God.”

Over the last ten years, St. Paul’s involvement in our community has grown and deepened. St. Paul’s has developed a vibrant partnership with 15 neighborhood churches and mosques – First A.M.E. Zion Church, the Islamic Center of Passaic County to name a few. Together, these faith communities have created PACT– Paterson Area Congregations Together- and are actively organizing to improve the quality of life in our inner city and surrounding areas. Responding to our community which is now 50% Hispanic/Latino, St. Paul’s added a third weekly Sunday service, this one at 1:30 pm in Spanish. This congregation has steadily grown. In the spring of 2003, the Rector of St. Paul’s pulled together a partnership of suburban churches who have combined their resources to allow us to hire a full-time Priest Associate. In July 2007, The Rev. Edgar Gutiérrez-Duarte completed four years with us. The Rev. Miguelina Espianl joined us as a part-time Priest Associate for 18 months and the Rev. Rosa Brown Autry just completed her second year of full-time work.

One of St.Paul’s great accomplishments is the establishment of St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation (CDC), which was formed in 1990. St. Paul’s CDC was formed to serve as a non-sectarian, non-profit, 501(c) (3) community-based organization, which provides social service programs to residents of Paterson and surrounding areas. For seven years, St. Paul’s CDC ran the After School program and the CityServe Summer Program, which included Discovery Camp.

However, since September 2003 St. Paul’s Church has been successfully running this program and we are now in our ninth year of running the After School Program. St. Paul’s has also been running the CityServe Summer Program, a leadership program for young teens, which for the last three years has housed Discovery Camp. St. Paul’s was able to run Discovery Camp because it was largely supported through the resources of the City Serve Program. During the summer of 2012, the St. Paul’s Vestry in accordance to a recommendation of our Rector David Wolf has decided to temporarily suspend the City Serve Program. However, we do plan to run a stand-alone Discovery Camp program for all 30 After School children.