Written by Fred Spannaus

Executive Director of Dove, Inc.

This is a story of a wonderful church and a wonderful neighborhood, and how each changed over time, and how they came to find each other again. It is a story bulging with hope and promise for other neighborhoods and other churches.

Turn back the clock a century. It was a time when European immigrants to the Midwest built neighborhoods tightly-knot around ethnic and religious bonds.

German and Polish Catholics coming to Decatur settled in the Johns Hill area on the near south side. Starting shortly after the Civil War they came to work the mines of Decatur, bringing out coal to heat homes and move trains and power factories and to fuel the new electrical utilities.

Imagine a warm early summer weekend in that year. On Saturday the families scrub off the grit and walk over to the Turnverein, The German social club on South Webster, for a relaxing afternoon of pinochle, polka and horseshoes. On Sunday they don their fanciest clothes and stroll to Mass (liturgy in Latin, homily in German). St. James and the neighborhood were clearly indistinguishable in those days, an ethnic church in an ethnic neighborhood. By the 1920’s the church, convent, rectory, parish hall, school and old St. Mary’s Hospital almost filled two blocks.

But things began changing for both church and neighborhood. Two bitter wars pitted the United States against Germany, and Church intentionally de-emphasized its German heritage to demonstrate its members’ loyalty to their new country.

Over time, the neighborhood changed too. Prohibition spelled the end of lazy Saturday afternoons at the Turnverein. As descendents of the original settlers moved to new subdivisions, new Catholic parishes were organized on the north side and in South Shores. By the early 1950’s the memberships of St. James peaked at 3,300 and began a slow decline.

New neighbors moved into the area. Few of them were German, even fewer Catholic. African-American families were drawn to Decatur by the promise of work in the factories, and some moved into the neighborhood. Working-class whites were attracted by the area’s decent affordable housing. In the 60’s and 70’s other families relocated from the greenwood and Torrence Park urban renewal projects.

Up to here, the story is familiar. A neighborhood church is created and flourishes for a time, but then the neighborhood changes ad the church membership declines. Predictable next step: Church moves or church closes.

Didn’t happen. Here’s what did:

Bit by bit, the church became a little more diverse. Its school started to serve a wide mix of children from various races and religious traditions. And St. James now has an Irish-American priest (only its sixth pastor in the last 116 years and the first who was not German or Polish) and even a French-American pastoral associate. It sold its convent and credit union building to Dove, where we now base our ecumenical ministry.

And when area residents decided to organize a neighborhood group, St. James Church was in the forefront. It offered meeting space in the rector, and the church actively participated in planning and business sessions. It offered program space in the school, and its pastoral staff enthusiastically volunteered for roles, in leadership and follower ship.

Rather than mourning for the “old neighborhood” and rather than fearing its new neighbors, the church became partners with them. St. James could have viewed it as a terrible thing that its neighbors were more likely to be Baptists than Catholics, but it didn’t. Instead it celebrated the talent and the diversity of the area and joined in with the Southside Improvement Association, finding new ways to minister in a community setting.

It is no mere coincidence that all four neighborhoods affiliated with Dove’s Community Service Program have one thing in common: a strong church which serves the community in partnership. In the Old King’s Orchard, the Inner City Community Past works with Grace United Methodist Church. In Torrence Park, the United Fellowship Church is the catalyst for a successful community organizing effort. In GM Square, St. Thomas Catholic Church’s Angela Hall is the community center.

These churches succeed because they work in partnership with their neighbors. Their primary role in the neighborhood is not to compete with other churches to increase membership roles, but to find ways to be a compassionate presence, working for harmony and hope.

(Date provided by The First 100 Years 1877-1977: A Brief History of St. James Catholic Church by Joseph Burtschi, 1977)

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