St. John the Evangelist was a lovely high Anglican church and parish with a wonderful congregation…read moreand a great liturgy. The beautiful reredos behind the altar was gifted to Trinity College in Hartford, CT several years ago and apparently is still in storage, prior to being installed in the chapel there. The parish was merged with the St. Pauls Cathedral in Boston, an odd merging to my way of thinking. St. Pauls is all about "trendy", "touchy" and "feely". Not much in the way of traditions for them if they get in the way of "whats happening now", by golly.
Heck, cathedral poobahs - when, um, "remodeling" the interior - wanted to put something above the main entrance, a symbol of some kind. (The original plan in 1819 was to have a sculpture in the pediment of St. Paul, preaching. That never happened.) They decided against having a Christian cross or crucifix above the door of their Christian cathedral because, "gasp!", it might not be WELCOMING to some. You know, kind of like not wanting an unwelcoming American flag inside the cathedral (as was done in decades past) or an unwelcoming bronze plaque that says, "famous person so and so worshipped here" because that guy owned a slave in 1723, a factoid that was unknown until some virtue signaling sleuth found a reference on page 1,299 of a book that hadnt been opened in 200 years.
Instead, they put up a sculpture of a nautilus shell because its' joyous spiral shape symbolizes the spiral dance of life and our interconnectedness, yadda yadda vomit. Yup, nothing says, "welcome, seek the peace of God/Goddess herein" like a big seashell. They also cut two windows into the front of the historic early 19th century Greek Revival-style building, to make the church WELCOMING. I mean, with the windows and the shell, could it BE any more welcoming? Amazing how unwelcoming this place apparently was with over 200 years worth of memories, tears, laughter, prayer, Christian baptisms, first communions, weddings, funerals, Christmases, Easters, parish celebrations.....
Not sure how many folks from St. John the Evangelist went to St. Pauls and stayed. Some went to the Church of the Advent, another gorgeous high Anglican church in Boston that would easily remind them of their former parish, albeit larger and maybe a bit more impersonal during coffee hour. The loss of St. John the Evangelist hurt many. It felt like a small parish where people new each other and it was steeped in many of the traditions that the founding Cowley Fathers bequeathed to it. Oh well, when the new age God/Goddess Jesus dances, you have to pay the piper.