The Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul at 126 Coming Street in Charleston, constructed during the second decade of the nineteenth century, has long been cherished not only by its own congregation but by the wider civic and cultural community of Charleston and indeed its thousands of visitors, especially during Spoleto season, from this country and abroad. Like many old buildings in Charleston, the Cathedral has survived major hurricane and earthquake damage for almost 200 years. However, beginning even from the time of its construction, it has been increasingly affected by structural instability, a "birth defect" which has now reached crisis proportions.

Yet the Cathedral has thrived culturally and ecumenically as a city-wide institution. Since 1967, it has been the venue of Charleston’s Annual Veterans’ Day religious observance with representatives of the various services and training units in attendance and a nationally prominent speaker. Throughout the year the Cathedral hosts numerous performances by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the College of Charleston Chorus, Once Upon a Ballet, and other groups. Music is enhanced by the first modern mechanical action ("tracker") organ in South Carolina, built by Gabriel Kney of London, Ontario, and installed in 1976.

For over a quarter century, the Cathedral has served as a concert site for Spoleto USA and Piccolo Spoleto and, in particular, as annual "home base" for the Westminster Choir during the Festival season. This year, once again, we hosted the Westminster Choir’s usual two sold-out performances under the incomparable leadership of Joseph Flummerfelt. But now this old church must be vacated for eight months to redress its structural problems in time for next year’s Spoleto Festival.

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Flummerfelt, Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr., and Lord Carey of Clifton, the 103^th Archbishop of Canterbury, are Honorary Patrons of a campaign to "save" and rehabilitate the Cathedral, one of the two oldest buildings currently serving as an Episcopal/Anglican Cathedral in the United States of America.

My earliest predecessor, the first Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Radcliffeborough (1809-1819), the Reverend William Percy, was an Englishman who committed himself to the American Revolutionary cause. By the 1850s, the parish rolls comprised 326 communicant members of which 57 were African-American. Subsequently, during the Civil War, when most of peninsular Charleston was within range of Federal cannon, this building served as a safe haven for worship by other congregations as well as its own.

Almost a century later, after its "daughter" congregation of St. Luke’s had been re-incorporated in 1949, the Church of St. Luke and St. Paul was notable for the willingness of its Clergy and Vestry to assume leadership in racial integration. It was in part owing to such leadership that this historic building was designated as the Cathedral of the Diocese of South Carolina in 1963 by the Right Reverend Gray Temple, Eleventh Bishop, who was officially "seated" here in November of that year.

Current social outreach commitments include responsibility for the St. Alban’s Chaplaincy at The Citadel as well as the Charleston Port and Seafarers’ Society.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980, the Cathedral includes a Bell Tower now housing an octave of bells rung according to the English "change ringing" tradition. The tower’s crenellation is considered one of the earliest examples of Gothic Revival architectural detail in this country; the Cathedral’s Tablets of Law are the oldest in Charleston still bearing their original lettering; and the churchyard includes the remains of Governor John Lyde Wilson (1822-1824) as well as many members of long-time Charleston families such as Balls, Elfes, Elliotts, Hanckels, Ravenels, Riverses, Simonses, and Warings.

With the incentive of a challenge grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Cathedral Vestry raised sufficient funds in 2004 to commission Craig Bennett of the structural engineering firm of "4SE" to undertake a thorough assessment of the "differential settlement" which has occurred throughout the building’s history. Under Mr. Bennett’s direction, temporary bracing of the balcony plinth blocks has served as an interim stabilization measure until major remedial work can be undertaken. This work, beginning in July, will renovate the seriously impaired load-bearing trusses and redistribute the weight. The projected cost of such work is $1,400,000.

While the Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul is not itself a large or wealthy congregation, it is of both historic and cultural significance to the City of Charleston. We have completed Phase I of our Campaign to raise half the cost of the needed rehabilitation from within the Cathedral’s own membership. For Phase II of the Campaign we are seeking support from the wider community, and particularly the Arts and Preservation communities, of which the Cathedral has been such an integral part for so many years. Our goal is to match our parishioners’ commitment of $700,000 with an equal amount from the wider community, locally, regionally, and nationally. For more information about this venture, please visit www.stlukeandstpaul.org.