God Loves You,
No Exceptions
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
425 Cleveland Ave. SW
Canton, OH 44702
Sunday services 10:30 a.m.
Climb on board the bus and witness Canton's evolution
CCORR is planning a bus tour of Stark County that takes us to and lets us hear the first-hand accounts of people who have lived our history – for better and worse.
We’ll be back in the neighborhoods of old, the places official maps, immigration patterns and government policies divided into the have and have nots. We’ll see what remains of the once-vibrant Cherry Avenue neighborhoods and of the industrial core around which Canton was built. We’ll see what a difference investment over generations makes, and learn from our history and our neighbors. Once the church or presidents, the Episcopal Church must now be an engine of resistance
In a July 4 commentary for the Religious News Service, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe called on the church to embrace its evolution and act.
"When religious institutions like ours enjoy easy coexistence with earthly power, our traditions and inherited systems can become useless for interpreting what is happening around us. "But our recent reckoning with the federal government has allowed us to see clearly the ease with which the Protestant tradition of patriotism can lead Christians to regard our faith more as a tool of dominion than a promise of liberation." For the complete commentary, click on this link. St. Paul's celebrated PRIDE, Juneteenth and Father's Day in a big way
This was a delightfully hectic and energizing weekend for St. Paul's as we celebrated Stark PRIDE, Juneteenth, Father's Day (with pie) and the joy of knowing God's love makes all the difference.
At Stark PRIDE, St. Paul’s joined with our sister Episcopal churches -- St. Timothy, Massillon; St. Mark's, Canton; New Life, Uniontown; and Trinity, Alliance -- to deliver the clear message that God Loves You; NO Exceptions. Hundreds of people stopped by our table, collecting stickers, rainbow rubber ducks and information on Christianity that welcomes people who are LGBTQ+. And no few stopped by simply to say, "thanks." Meanwhile, St. Paul's through Courageous Conversation on Race Relations was also across town at the two-day Juneteenth festival in Nimisilla Park. With our partner Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, we distributed information on our dinners and conversations, Social Justice Book Club and the upcoming July bus tour of Canton. (One woman, whose children have read 2,000 books in two years, plans to join our next book gathering on June 24 so perhaps there could be a children's book group in our future.) St. Paul's also got to share with the broader Canton community and incredible performance of Gospel Join Symphony, with the Canton Sympohny on Friday night. Amen! And, of course, we couldn't forget Dad's Day. Thanks to the Daughters of the King, we had seven pies -- some fruit, some cream and all delicious -- to share with our St. Paul's family. It's the first of the monthly special coffee hours we'll be sharing in the Guild Hall. The "Red, White, and Blue" offering will be on July 6. PLEASE PLAN TO JOIN US! Ten reasons to be an Episcopalian
|
This week
(and beyond) with St. Paul's Sunday, July 6
Holy Eucharist 10:30 a.m. followed by special Red, White and Blue Coffee Hour Sunday, July 13 and 20 Experience the meaning of our service in different ways and learn more about why Episcopalians do what they do with a special instructed Eucharist, 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 15 Canton urban renewal and redlining bus tour, 6 p.m. leaving from St. Paul's parking lot 
Discernment Prayer
|
The joy of celebrating Easter and Baptism
Photos by David Rotthoff
|
Presiding Bishop Rowe's Easter Message
"The long-awaited Messiah fashioned himself not as a political conqueror but as a peacemaker. Our Savior upended notions of worldly power by taking on the role of a servant and washing the feet of his followers. For Jesus, the vulnerable and the marginalized are in focus, and his ears are attuned to their voices."
Bishop Sean Rowe 
Dear Friends in Christ:
Luke’s Gospel tells us that on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Joanna went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. When they got there, the stone had been rolled away, and they heard the message that transformed their world—and ours: “He is not here. He is risen.” On that Easter morning, the women who had been the last protectors and pastors at the cross on Good Friday became the first to witness and proclaim the resurrection. Scripture tells us, however, that their good news was not met with joy. The news that Jesus had risen from the dead was received as an idle tale, as nonsense—in one dynamic translation, as nothing more than women’s trinkets. In the fraught and divided world in which these first evangelists lived, they were on the margins, and their word counted for nothing. How quickly the apostles forgot what Jesus had modeled days before on Palm Sunday and at the Last Supper. The long-awaited Messiah fashioned himself not as a political conqueror but as a peacemaker. Our Savior upended notions of worldly power by taking on the role of a servant and washing the feet of his followers. For Jesus, the vulnerable and the marginalized are in focus, and his ears are attuned to their voices. As we proclaim the resurrection in our own time and place, let us always remember that the kingdom of God is revealed to us most clearly by those who are dispossessed by the powers and principalities of this world. Let us celebrate the joy of Easter by seeking and serving the resurrected Christ in the lives and the witness of those who have been silenced, persecuted, and marginalized. May God bless you and all those you love this Easter. The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church Commemorating Good Friday and the sacrifice and love of our Lord
Photos by David Rotthoff
St. Paul's began the observence of the Triduum, from the Latin "three days," commemoration of Holy Week with an Agape dinner and Maundy Thursday service, followed by a quiet processional into the Sanctuary for the stripping of the altar. The stripping accompanied our Music Director Edward Grimes' chanting of Psalm 22, which begins: 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. At noon today (Good Friday), we observed Stations of the Cross, and processed to Crossroads United Methodist Church from St. Paul's to commemorate together Good Friday with a joint service observing Christ's sacrifice and unselfish love. Father Joe gave the homily, which asked us to understand consider Good Friday the training ground for us to fully understand God's power and love. Easter Sunday will be celebrated with music, Holy Eucharist, joy and Hallelujahs at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Presiding Bishop Rowe on the bombing of al-Ahli Hospital, an Episcopal Ministry
'During these sacred days, as you encounter the suffering and sacrifice of our Redeemer and come again to the joy of the Resurrection, please pray for all of the people of the land where Jesus lived, died, and rose again.'
Bishop Sean Rowe 
April 14, 2025 Dear People of God in The Episcopal Church: Early this Palm Sunday morning, we received confirmation that al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, was hit last night by Israeli missiles. The diocese and many media outlets report that the emergency department, the pharmacy, the chapel, and other essential facilities have been severely damaged, and patients are without shelter or medical care. Read more about the attack from the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. No matter how we understand the causes of violence in the Holy Land, we can surely agree that we must support our fellow Anglicans in alleviating the devastating humanitarian crisis now unfolding in Gaza. As we begin our Holy Week journey, I ask you to:
Faithfully, The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe Presiding Bishop The Episcopal Church |
Please join us for services in-person or online on our Facebook page and YouTube channel every Sunday beginning at 10:25 a.m.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
425 Cleveland Avenue S.W. Canton, OH 44702-1625 Our secretary, Peggy, remains in the office Monday thru Thursday 8:00-Noon. There are no office hours on Fridays. The office email is [email protected]; and you may leave a message on the phone voicemail (330)455-0286 
Giving made easier
The Diocese of Ohio has partnered with Giving Tools to help with online stewardship for St. Paul's and other parishes. Please click on the church icon at left to visit our Online Giving page. Welcome to St. Paul's,
|
Presiding Bishop Rowe says
people on the margins are at the center of God's world
"In God’s kingdom, immigrants and refugees, transgender people, the poor and the marginalized are not at the edges, fearful and alone. They are at the center of the Gospel story."
By Meredyth Albright
For The Living Church
In a sermon during his ceremonial seating at Washington National Cathedral (on Feb. 2, 2025) Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe posed the question of what our lives would be like if we realized that Christ is among us.
“What if we saw Christ in each other? What if we understood what it meant — for real — that Christ is among us? In one of us, all of us, in this kingdom, inverted, turned upside down, and made for the healing, and wholeness of the world,” he said.
“We need to find the face of Christ in the faces of marginalized,” Rowe said, adding that in Christ’s kingdom, “the people at the edge are in the center.”
Acknowledging the nation’s deep partisan divides, revealed in dramatically different responses to the sermon preached by Washington Bishop Mariann Budde in the same pulpit less than two weeks earlier, Rowe said that “we live in a world in which the enemy is bound and determined to sow division among us. God did not come to us as a strong man. God came first as a child.”
“We need to greet with peace those who voted for the candidate we can’t stand; to be in the Communion line alongside people who don’t look like us, live like us, or even love like us,” he said.
Rowe’s sermon was built on the words and actions of Simeon and Anna, who greeted the infant Christ, as recounted in the Gospel reading from Luke 3 for the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord.
We know people like Simeon and Anna, he said, in our congregations. “These are the people that have been around. They’re always around, they’re always there, and they’ve been old your whole life. On this day, they come to tell the stories because these are the people that tell the stories even when no one wants to hear them,” he said.
Adding a bit of humor, Rowe said, “I am sure being told your child is the Savior of the world is a big thing, but you would think they have been catching on by now — you know, after the magi and Egypt.
“In this world order, falling comes before rising,” Rowe said, drawing on a prophecy pronounced by Simeon. “In God’s kingdom, the immigrants and refugees, transgender people, the poor and the marginalized, are not at the edges, fearful and alone. They are at the center of the gospel story. The boundaries are not just extended. Those who are considered at the margin, they are at the center. They are the bearers of the salvation of the world. Their struggles reveal to us the kingdom of God.
“In this kingdom,” Rowe said, “modest parents, the woman at the well, the leper in need of healing,” are the center.
General Convention established Washington National Cathedral as the seat of the Presiding Bishop in 1941, just three years after it ruled that a bishop elected to the office must resign the diocesan see. The Most Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill was the first bishop to be ceremonially seated in the cathedral in 1947.
The Presiding Bishop’s formal installation generally has been held at the same time as the seating since then. But Rowe chose shortly after his election last June to have a scaled-down service in the small chapel of the Episcopal Church Center in New York City, a sign of his intention to “begin this ministry in a new way.” That service was held on November 2.
Using his primatial crosier, Rowe knocked three times on the door to the cathedral at the beginning of the service, a tradition drawn from the rite for the consecration of a church.
During the singing of the anthem “Ecce, Sacerdos magnus” (“Behold, a great priest”) by Edward Elgar, Rowe was led to a stall in the north side of the cathedral’s great choir.
The Glastonbury Cathedra, also on the north side of the great choir, is where presiding bishops have sometimes been seated in the past. This Neo-Romanesque throne was constructed early in the 20th century of stones from Glastonbury Abbey, the legendary birthplace of Christianity in Britain. It is inscribed with the four elements of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral: “Holy Scripture and Apostolic Creed ✜ Holy Sacrament and Apostolic Church.”
At the end of the service, Bishop Budde celebrated Bishop Rowe’s leadership.
“I need to tell you why he was chosen by colleagues on the first ballot,” she said. “He is by far one of the kindest, smartest, caring people who I have ever met, helping our church adapt and expand our witness throughout this country and the world,” she said.
“You need to know he is our very best friend in high places, except for Jesus.”
The Rev. Meredyth Albright is a longtime journalist and rector of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Rhinelander, Wisc.
For The Living Church
In a sermon during his ceremonial seating at Washington National Cathedral (on Feb. 2, 2025) Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe posed the question of what our lives would be like if we realized that Christ is among us.
“What if we saw Christ in each other? What if we understood what it meant — for real — that Christ is among us? In one of us, all of us, in this kingdom, inverted, turned upside down, and made for the healing, and wholeness of the world,” he said.
“We need to find the face of Christ in the faces of marginalized,” Rowe said, adding that in Christ’s kingdom, “the people at the edge are in the center.”
Acknowledging the nation’s deep partisan divides, revealed in dramatically different responses to the sermon preached by Washington Bishop Mariann Budde in the same pulpit less than two weeks earlier, Rowe said that “we live in a world in which the enemy is bound and determined to sow division among us. God did not come to us as a strong man. God came first as a child.”
“We need to greet with peace those who voted for the candidate we can’t stand; to be in the Communion line alongside people who don’t look like us, live like us, or even love like us,” he said.
Rowe’s sermon was built on the words and actions of Simeon and Anna, who greeted the infant Christ, as recounted in the Gospel reading from Luke 3 for the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord.
We know people like Simeon and Anna, he said, in our congregations. “These are the people that have been around. They’re always around, they’re always there, and they’ve been old your whole life. On this day, they come to tell the stories because these are the people that tell the stories even when no one wants to hear them,” he said.
Adding a bit of humor, Rowe said, “I am sure being told your child is the Savior of the world is a big thing, but you would think they have been catching on by now — you know, after the magi and Egypt.
“In this world order, falling comes before rising,” Rowe said, drawing on a prophecy pronounced by Simeon. “In God’s kingdom, the immigrants and refugees, transgender people, the poor and the marginalized, are not at the edges, fearful and alone. They are at the center of the gospel story. The boundaries are not just extended. Those who are considered at the margin, they are at the center. They are the bearers of the salvation of the world. Their struggles reveal to us the kingdom of God.
“In this kingdom,” Rowe said, “modest parents, the woman at the well, the leper in need of healing,” are the center.
General Convention established Washington National Cathedral as the seat of the Presiding Bishop in 1941, just three years after it ruled that a bishop elected to the office must resign the diocesan see. The Most Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill was the first bishop to be ceremonially seated in the cathedral in 1947.
The Presiding Bishop’s formal installation generally has been held at the same time as the seating since then. But Rowe chose shortly after his election last June to have a scaled-down service in the small chapel of the Episcopal Church Center in New York City, a sign of his intention to “begin this ministry in a new way.” That service was held on November 2.
Using his primatial crosier, Rowe knocked three times on the door to the cathedral at the beginning of the service, a tradition drawn from the rite for the consecration of a church.
During the singing of the anthem “Ecce, Sacerdos magnus” (“Behold, a great priest”) by Edward Elgar, Rowe was led to a stall in the north side of the cathedral’s great choir.
The Glastonbury Cathedra, also on the north side of the great choir, is where presiding bishops have sometimes been seated in the past. This Neo-Romanesque throne was constructed early in the 20th century of stones from Glastonbury Abbey, the legendary birthplace of Christianity in Britain. It is inscribed with the four elements of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral: “Holy Scripture and Apostolic Creed ✜ Holy Sacrament and Apostolic Church.”
At the end of the service, Bishop Budde celebrated Bishop Rowe’s leadership.
“I need to tell you why he was chosen by colleagues on the first ballot,” she said. “He is by far one of the kindest, smartest, caring people who I have ever met, helping our church adapt and expand our witness throughout this country and the world,” she said.
“You need to know he is our very best friend in high places, except for Jesus.”
The Rev. Meredyth Albright is a longtime journalist and rector of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Rhinelander, Wisc.
A rare and joyous day
Clergy, congregants, family and other well-wishers pack St. Paul's to celebrate the ordination of the Rev. Robin Woodberry
Clergy, congregants, family and other well-wishers pack St. Paul's to celebrate the ordination of the Rev. Robin Woodberry
Bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr. presents newly ordained priest, the Rev. Robin Woodberry to a crowd of nearly 200 at St. Paul's Saturday morning (June 3). Rev. Woodberry is the fifth generation of pastors in her family and her mother, Gena Thornton, delivered the homily. Rev. Woodberry's husband, Anthony, helped her don her priestly vestments. Photo by David Rotthoff.
Clergy from different denominations and throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio gathered with Bishop Hollingsworth for the laying on of hands during the Rev. Woodberry's ordination. Photo by David Rotthoff
Nearly 200 people gathered at St. Paul's Saturday morning to celebrate the consecration of the Rev. Robin Woodberry to the priesthood.
Robin's service of ordination is the last planned by Bishop Mark Hollingworth Jr., who is retiring. Celebrating with him were clergy from differing denominations and from throughout Ohio, including Robin's mother, the Rev. Gena Thornton, who delivered the homily. Robin is the fifth generation of women clergy in her family.
They were joined by family, friends, congregants and friends of St. Paul's and of Robin's. The choirs of three churches -- St. Paul's, St. Timothy's Massillon and Christ Church Hudson -- joined together for the service with works including "The Work of Love," an original piece composed by Andrew Bolden for the day.
Robin has been deacon-in-charge at St. Paul's since last summer, following her ordination as a transitional deacon, a step toward the priesthood. A native of Youngstown, she was licensed a minister in the Baptist tradition in 1995 and ordained 10 years later at New Bethel Baptist Church. She holds a doctor of ministry degree from the Southern Bible Institute and Seminary in Augusta, Ga. She is the former nominating chairperson for the National Board of Church Women United and executive director of the Mahoning Valley Association of Churches.
She became a member of the Episcopal Church in 2017, and began her seminary studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif. She has completed her studies at Bexley Seabury Seminary in Chicago, has been elected to the Episcopal Community Services Committee and serves on the church’s Commission for Racial Understanding.
Here is message from the Rev. Robin Woodberry, St. Paul's new priest-in-charge
There will never be enough words to say how completely grateful and thankful I am to each one who has been a part of this journey. Whether you played a role at the beginning, in the middle, or in the last few weeks, I would not be here today if it were not for you. I thank you for your prayers, your words of encouragement, your spiritual direction, and your love. To my family who has given the most so that I could do what God was asking of me, thank you for your sacrifice of love! I give honor to my ancestors and the four generations of ministers on whose shoulders I stand.
To my husband Anthony, we had no idea what we were in for when we got married 37 years ago, but God did. I could not have served in ministry had you not been there with me. I praise God for you! To the Ordination Committee who pulled together such a memorable occasion in such a short time, thank you!
And, to this great St. Paul’s family, God heard your prayers, brought us together, and set us on a path to do great and mighty things, in Jesus’ Name!
I love you all, Robin.
Robin's service of ordination is the last planned by Bishop Mark Hollingworth Jr., who is retiring. Celebrating with him were clergy from differing denominations and from throughout Ohio, including Robin's mother, the Rev. Gena Thornton, who delivered the homily. Robin is the fifth generation of women clergy in her family.
They were joined by family, friends, congregants and friends of St. Paul's and of Robin's. The choirs of three churches -- St. Paul's, St. Timothy's Massillon and Christ Church Hudson -- joined together for the service with works including "The Work of Love," an original piece composed by Andrew Bolden for the day.
Robin has been deacon-in-charge at St. Paul's since last summer, following her ordination as a transitional deacon, a step toward the priesthood. A native of Youngstown, she was licensed a minister in the Baptist tradition in 1995 and ordained 10 years later at New Bethel Baptist Church. She holds a doctor of ministry degree from the Southern Bible Institute and Seminary in Augusta, Ga. She is the former nominating chairperson for the National Board of Church Women United and executive director of the Mahoning Valley Association of Churches.
She became a member of the Episcopal Church in 2017, and began her seminary studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif. She has completed her studies at Bexley Seabury Seminary in Chicago, has been elected to the Episcopal Community Services Committee and serves on the church’s Commission for Racial Understanding.
Here is message from the Rev. Robin Woodberry, St. Paul's new priest-in-charge
There will never be enough words to say how completely grateful and thankful I am to each one who has been a part of this journey. Whether you played a role at the beginning, in the middle, or in the last few weeks, I would not be here today if it were not for you. I thank you for your prayers, your words of encouragement, your spiritual direction, and your love. To my family who has given the most so that I could do what God was asking of me, thank you for your sacrifice of love! I give honor to my ancestors and the four generations of ministers on whose shoulders I stand.
To my husband Anthony, we had no idea what we were in for when we got married 37 years ago, but God did. I could not have served in ministry had you not been there with me. I praise God for you! To the Ordination Committee who pulled together such a memorable occasion in such a short time, thank you!
And, to this great St. Paul’s family, God heard your prayers, brought us together, and set us on a path to do great and mighty things, in Jesus’ Name!
I love you all, Robin.
Above: During the litany, then-Deacon Woodberry lies full length and face down on the floor as a gesture of humility and devotion. Right: Bishop Hollingsworth offers the prayers of consecration, which include: "May she exalt you, O Lord, in the midst of your people; offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to you; boldly proclaim the gospel of salvation; and rightly administer the
sacraments of the New Covenant. Make her a faithful pastor, a patient teacher, and a wise
counselor. Grant that in all things she may serve without reproach, so that your people
may be strengthened and your Name glorified in all the world. All this we ask through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for
ever and ever." Photo by David Rotthoff
|
Among those participating in the ordination were the Rev. Gena Thornton, Robin's mother (left rear), and Maureen Woods Major and Jon Coventry (right rear), whose own journey to the priesthood began at St. Paul's. Photo by David Rotthoff
|
To view the entire service, click on this Facebook link.
For more images of the day and information on ordination, go to the "more" tab or click here.
For more images of the day and information on ordination, go to the "more" tab or click here.
