St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Canton, Ohio
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God Loves You,
No Exceptions​

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
425 Cleveland Ave. SW
Canton, OH 44702

Sunday services 10:30 a.m.

St. Paul's celebrated PRIDE, Juneteenth and Father's Day in a big way

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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.
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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
and other fun stuff

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On July 13 and 20, Fr. Joe and Mo. Kay will be celebrating an “Instructed Eucharist,” a service that gives us all a better understanding of the ways and whys of our Liturgy -- the gestures, words, music, dress and even the postures bring us together each week. To quote the Episcopal Church Visitors Center, “liturgical worship can be compared with a dance: once you learn the steps, you come to appreciate the rhythm, and it becomes satisfying to dance, again and again, as the music changes.”
So, in preparation, we thought we’d start now, with a quick quiz each week. The answers will be posted here the following week.
 
  • What does Eucharist mean?
    • Bonus: Give three synomyms for Eucharist?
  • What does liturgy mean?
  • Where’d the Nicene Creed come from?
  • The late comedian Robin Williams wrote “10 Reasons to be an Episcopalian.” Can you name three of them?


Bishop responds to immigration crackdown and travel bans

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"At its best, our church is capable of moral clarity and resolute commitment to justice. I believe we can bring those strengths to bear on this gathering storm. Churches like ours, protected by the First Amendment and practiced in galvanizing people of goodwill, may be some of the last institutions capable of resisting the injustice now being promulgated. That is not a role we sought—but it is one we are called to."

June 11, 2025
Dear people of God in The Episcopal Church:


I am writing to you from Geneva, where I am meeting with global partners at the World Council of Churches and the United Nations Refugee Agency. As we have discussed how our institutions might act faithfully and boldly in these turbulent times, I have been reflecting on how we Episcopalians can respond to what is unfolding around us as followers of the Risen Christ whose first allegiance is to the kingdom of God, not to any nation or political party.

The events of the last several days lend urgency to this spiritual challenge. Earlier this week, President Trump’s executive order banning or restricting travel from 19 countries went into effect. This order impacts countries that are home to dioceses of The Episcopal Church and many of our Anglican Communion partners, and I have written to the bishops and primates in those countries to express our concern.

The unwarranted deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marine Corps on the streets of Los Angeles also signals a dangerous turn. As the bishops of California have written, these military deployments risk escalating the confrontations unnecessarily and set a dangerous precedent for future deployments that heighten tensions rather than resolve them. As Christians committed to strive for justice and peace among all people, we know that there is a better way.

What we are witnessing is the kind of distortion that arises when institutions like the military and the State Department are turned on the people they were meant to protect. These mainstays of the federal government, designed to safeguard civil society and promote peace and stability, are now being weaponized for political advantage.

The violence on television is not our only risk. We are also seeing federal budget proposals that would shift resources from the poor to the wealthy; due process being denied to immigrants; and the defunding of essential public health, social service, and foreign aid programs that have long fulfilled the Gospel mandate to care for the vulnerable, children, and those who are hungry and sick.

With all of this in mind, we are finding ways to respond as Christians to what we see happening around us. We are exploring options to support litigation challenging the travel ban on the ground of religious freedom; advocating for federal spending that safeguards the welfare of the most vulnerable; caring for immigrants and refugees in our congregations and communities; and standing in solidarity with other faith groups. In short, we are practicing institutional resistance rooted not in partisan allegiance, but in Christian conviction.

At its best, our church is capable of moral clarity and resolute commitment to justice. I believe we can bring those strengths to bear on this gathering storm. Churches like ours, protected by the First Amendment and practiced in galvanizing people of goodwill, may be some of the last institutions capable of resisting the injustice now being promulgated. That is not a role we sought—but it is one we are called to.

​In Geneva, I have been reminded that we are part of a global communion of hope in the Risen Christ. We do not stand alone as we live by our baptismal promises: to persevere in resisting evil, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being. In these troubling times, may we find courage and resilience in our identity as members of the Body of Christ.

Yours in Christ,
The Most Rev. Sean Rowe
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church
This week
​(and beyond) with St. Paul's
Sunday, June 22
Second Sunday after Pentecost, Holy Eucharist, 10:30 a.m.
and
Discernment Committee meeting


Tuesday, June 24
Social Justice Book Group, James Baldwin, 6:30 p.m. in the Guild Hall
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Saturday, June 28
HOT lunch with our neighbors, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Please see Susan Phillips or Carol Sutek to volunteer)

Sunday, June 29
Liturgy of the Word, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday, July 6
Holy Eucharist 10:30 a.m. followed by special Red, White and Blue Coffee Hour


Sunday, July 13 and 20
Learn more about why Episcopalians do what they do with a special instructed Eucharist
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Discernment Prayer
for St. Paul's

O Lord our God,
May we, the parish of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church embrace your commandment of loving our neighbors as you have loved us while we discern who we are and how best to serve you. 
We ask that you quiet our souls, so we may listen to you. 
We ask that you grant us wisdom as we seek new leadership.
And lastly, we ask for the courage to follow wherever you lead us.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St. Paul Early Summer Newsletter
Discernment, a message from Fr. Joe and Mo. Kay, Stark Pride, Easter Joy
​and the Episcopal Church in today's world

Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
Click here for our our service bulletin
Click here for video of  previous services

Our Mission
​​​St. Paul’s is an exceptionally welcoming Episcopal community in downtown Canton, grounded in faith, called by God’s Love to minister to the world.

​We at St. Paul's welcome you. If this is your first contact with St. Paul's or any Episcopal church, we invite you to explore the Seekers Center, which offers a detailed look at our traditions, practices and the application of our beliefs in today’s world. Please join our church family to see us firsthand in all-encompassing, loving action.​​​​​​

Activities at St. Paul's are livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube

Ideas pour in and out as we discern our future together

Thanks to everyone who participated in our first parish-wide meeting last Sunday to discern the next steps and long-term future of St. Paul's. We enjoyed a meal together (of course!) and reviewed finances, history, missions and some 75 first-blush ideas for our future, touching on worship, community, service and communion with God, each other and our neighbors.

The thread that wove through nearly all the ideas can perhaps best be characterized as treasuring and nurturing relationships.

The Rev. Jessie Dodson led the meeting and during the service that preceeded it, she and the parish blessed the Discernment Committee that will help us hone our mission and search for our new clergy partner.

The members of the committee are: Kelli Green, Rick Enslen, David Swope, Linda Heitger, Molly Weisel, Carol Sutek, Demi Carrothers, Douglas Colmery and (ex-officio) M.L. Schultze. Please keep them and the entire St. Paul's family in your prayers.
​​

Our next meeting will be June 1 following service, in the Guild Hall. Please plan to attend; your input matters in so many ways!




The joy of celebrating Easter ​and Baptism 
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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
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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
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​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:

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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

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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:
  • Pray for the staff of al-Ahli Hospital, giving thanks for their courage and sacrifice, and for its patients, who are in pain and danger without lifesaving care. The American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem offer this prayer and litany that I commend to you.
  • Join me in giving generously to the Good Friday Offering, which supports the ministries of the Diocese of Jerusalem, including al-Ahli Hospital. For more than a century, Episcopalians have supported ministry in the land of Jesus with an offering on Good Friday; and especially now, the need is greater than ever.
  • Write to your members of Congress, asking them to support a permanent ceasefire; a just, sustained peace in the Holy Land; and humanitarian aid for those suffering in Gaza. Find information about The Episcopal Church’s response to the crisis and resources from the Office of Government Relations on our website.
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. May God grant them a future free of violence and suffering.
Faithfully,​

​
The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church

Lots of ways you can serve at St. Paul's
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As the St. Paul Family continues to grow, we want to ensure that everyone has a chance to engage and assist with the work we have placed before us. To carry out this work, we need to draw upon the gifts, talents, and skill sets of everyone.
 
We are currently looking for people to serve in the following ways:
  • Greeters on Sunday Mornings
  • Grant Committee to assist with securing funds
  • Christian Formation Committee to assist with the growth and spirituality programming of the congregation
  • Lectors to present the lessons on Sunday
  • Choir members
  • Acolytes: Crucifer, Torchbearers, Eucharistic Ministers
  • Lay Eucharistic Visitors to help visit the sick and homebound and provide communion
  • Audio/Video
There are so many more ways to be involved at St. Paul's. Please consider how you might serve. For more information or to sign up for a particular area, please email the Church Office with your contact information at [email protected], or call 330-506-6647.
Remember, every member is a minister!! 


​Please join us for services in-person or online on our Facebook page and YouTube channel every Sunday beginning at 10:25 a.m.

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​​​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

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​​​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,
the Revs. Joe and Kay Ashby

Kay and Joe Ashby joined St. Paul's Sunday for their first service  as our long-term supply priests. Joe's sermon encouraged us to hope and aim high as we take our next steps.

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."
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To experience the complete sermon, click here
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.
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“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
PictureBishop 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.
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PictureClergy 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.

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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
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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.
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For more images of the day and information on ordination, go to the "more" tab or click here.

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St. Paul's Episcopal Church
425 Cleveland Avenue SW,  Canton, OH   44702  
​

​330-455-0286

 [email protected]

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