"It's just not sustainable," said Tim Van Alstyne, the warden of the church.

The congregation is known for being LGBT-friendly.

"It's particularly sad because we are one of the last LGBT-friendly churches on the boulevard," Van Alstyne said.

There are only about 20 people that make up the core of the congregation. At its peak, Van Alstyne said there were hundreds of members.

"It's a small but beautiful congregation and it consists of people who are older, people who are younger. ... It's an incredibly diverse and loving congregation," Van Alstyne said.

One of the main reasons the church is being forced to close is the recent departure of Nuestra Señora de las Americas, which had been sharing the church space at 2900 W. Logan Blvd. and covering half of the bills.

Nuestra Señora de las Americas, the oldest Latino congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, moved to its new location along with St. Luke's in December at 2837 W. Armitage Ave.

The congregation had begun relying on renting parts of the church out to different organizations to help cover expenses, but the diocese voted to force it to end that practice last week, according to Todd Van Alstyne, treasurer of the congregation and a trustee for the diocese.

Todd Van Alstyne said the congregation has been receiving complaints from neighbors for years due to the homeless ministries run out of the Logan Square church.

"The diocese office has gotten calls almost every day because there were homeless people hanging around the church," Todd Van Alstyne said. "We did that unashamedly and happily."

The church was founded at Temple Hall, 430 W. Fullerton Ave., in 1901 and moved into its current location on the boulevard in 1906.

The church bought the lot for $10,500 at the time and the choirmaster at the time, the architect Elmer C. Jensen, designed the building.

Jensen was a member of the architectural firm Jensen and Halsted, which was founded by William Le Baron Jenney, who is known for designing and engineering the first skyscraper in 1884.

"This is a noted architect who designed this building and it wasn't just another commission for Elmer Jensen," said Andrew Schneider, president of Logan Square Preservation. "This was his faith home, so he built the church to last. This is a very fine structure and it's held down a corner of our landmark district on Logan Boulevard."

The Bishop & Trustees of the Diocese of Chicago, a group of elected leaders that manages the property of the diocese, will meet later this summer to discuss the future of the Logan Square church, according to a spokeswoman for the diocese.

In the meantime, the diocese will manage the upkeep of the building and property.

Todd Van Alstyne said the congregation will keep control of the church, which is owned by the diocese, until June 30.

"We are hoping another faith community is able to purchase it," he said.

*****

DEATH OF A PARISH: A PERSONAL REMINISCENCE

by David G. Duggan
Special to VIRTUEONLINE
www.virtueonline.org
May 25, 2016

I'm sad. I devoted a good part of my middle 50s to preserving an Episcopal parish on Chicago's northwest side: Church of the Advent in the Logan Square neighborhood. It is closing Sunday after more than a decade of turmoil, caused in no small measure by the dead hand of the Chicago diocese in imposing its personnel wishes on the parish after its longtime rector departed for greener pastures. Perhaps someone else will write the parish's necrology, but for now I will simply pray that somehow God's will be done in a branch of the Body of Christ that is withering on the vine.

Twenty-five years ago, I happened on Church of the Advent by accident, really on an architectural tour of the "Boulevard System" that rings the inner core of Chicago from Diversey Parkway on the north side, through Humboldt Boulevard and Park on the west, and on to the Midway Plaisance on the City's south side (home to the University of Chicago and Barack Obama). One bleak December afternoon, walking with a friend, we heard the sounds of an organ coming from this English gothic stone church, somewhat out of place along that boulevard of Victorians and greystones. We stopped in and heard the service of Advent lessons and carols which I had known from my childhood.

Several years later, I began attending regularly. My faith was reinvigorated after a period of despair and longing for the Christian commitment of my upbringing. The rector, as Anglo as I am, actively ministered to the Hispanics of the neighborhood, could say mass in unaccented Spanish (so I was told by students of the language), and helped tutor the kids of the congregation. In one remarkable display of his gifts, at bi-lingual services and without notes, he preached in English and Spanish seamlessly switching paragraph-by-paragraph. I was honored when I the parish elected me warden.

Then he left. The last 12 years have seen a revolving door of ministers and ministries, but none with the vibrancy of the place that I knew. With a "search consultant" the Diocese engineered the rector selection process, but it seemed that with whomever the Bishop placed, woman or homosexuals, young or old, the fit wasn't right. With others whose entire lives had been entwined with the parish, I withstood the changes for a while, but departed. The parish was demoted to mission status and the deed conveyed.

With parishes closed and architectural landmarks shuttered, the Diocese is now sitting on easily $10 million in property lacking voices to sing God's praise. Perhaps the seed must die for the branch to grow, but this death of a parish hits too close to home for me to rejoice.

With many others I will shed a tear at its last service, praying that somehow this branch can be revived.

END