1951 and Beyond
The Modern Era
| 1950 | 1950 Saint Paul’s celebrates the bicentennial of its founding in 1750. |
| 1954 | The U.S. Supreme Court mandates the desegregation of public schools through its ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. |
| 1954 | The Rt. Rev. Albert Rhett Stuart was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia on October 20. |
| 1954 | The Episcopal Church was substantially involved in the civil rights movement. The seminaries were integrated in the 1950’s, and by 1954 all dioceses had lifted restrictions on blacks being elected as deputies to diocesan conventions. |
| 1960 | Eugene Carson Blake proposes merger of the Episcopal Church, Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, and United Church of Christ, resulting in formation of the Consultation on Church Union. |
| 1960 | Dennis Bennett launches the Charismatic Renewal Movement. |
| 1961 | General Convention authorizes women to be lay readers. |
| 1963 | Rev. C. Edward Reeves is instituted as 15th Rector of Saint Paul’s. |
| 1964 | John Hines, former Rector of Saint Paul’s, elected Presiding Bishop at General Convention. |
| 1964 | The Rev. Martin Luther King addressed the 1964 General Convention in St. Louis. |
| 1966 | Dedication of the Casavant Frères organ at All Saints’ Day celebration. |
| 1967 | General Convention authorizes laymen to administer the chalice, and authorizes women to be convention deputies. A special General Convention in 1969 authorized women to serve as chalice bearers. |
| 1968 | Saint Paul’s Church joins with monks of the Order of the Holy Cross to bring water and sewer service to Augusta’s impoverished Hyde Park community, with additional funding from The Episcopal Church. |
| 1968 | Saint Paul’s establishes a daycare center on Walker Street in Old Towne for young children of poor mothers in a local job training program. |
| 1968 | Mrs. Darcy Thomas becomes the first woman to serve as Lay Reader at Saint Paul’s. |
| 1968 | In October, the first joint meeting of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada and the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States was held at Saint Paul’s. |
| 1970 | General Convention authorizes ordination of women to the diaconate, and the “Green Book” of trial liturgies. |
| 1971 | First meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC). |
| 1972 | Saint Paul’s Church is added to the National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1972 | The Cursillo Program is initiated in the Diocese of Georgia with the encouragement and approval of Bishop Reeves. |
| 1972 | The diocesan convention was held at Saint Paul’s in February. Bp. Stuart retired, and the Rt. Rev. Paul Reeves formally acceded to the post of Bishop. |
| 1973 | General Convention changes marriage canons to allow divorced persons to marry within the Church. |
| 1973 | Carolyn A. Humphries becomes the first woman elected to the vestry of Saint Paul’s. |
| 1973 | The remains of Col. William Few (1748-1828), signer of the U.S. Constitution, are transferred from Beacon-on-Hudson, New York, and re-interred in the graveyard of Saint Paul’s Church. |
| 1975 | Rev. Roderic L. Murray is instituted as the 16th Rector of Saint Paul’s. |
| 1974 | Irregular ordination of women to the priesthood. The ordaining bishops were censured at the 1975 General Convention. |
| 1976 | General Convention approves ordination of women to the priesthood. |
| 1979 | General Convention authorizes a new Book of Common Prayer. Adoption of a resolution stating, “It is not appropriate for this church to ordain a practicing homosexual or any person engaged in heterosexual relations outside of marriage.” |
| 1981 | Rev. Peter Glyn Thomas is instituted as 17th rector of Saint Paul’s. |
| 1982 | General Convention approves Hymnal 1982. |
| 1982 | Saint Paul’s joins with five churches and one synagogue to found a soup kitchen. The endeavor becomes The Master’s Table, which continues to serve meals 365 days a year. |
| 1984 | Death of F. Bland Tucker, Rector of Christ Church, Savannah, translator and author of many hymns for the Episcopal Hymnal 1982. |
| 1985 | Harry Woolston Shipps is consecrated 8th Bishop of Georgia, January 21, 1985, succeeding George Paul Reeves. |
| 1986 | The city of Augusta celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding by Gen. James Oglethorpe. Saint Paul’s hosts celebrations and dignitaries from the United Kingdom. |
| 1986 | The Preston Rockholt organ is installed and dedicated in Saint Paul’s chapel. |
| 1991 | Rev. Donald Fishburne is instituted as the 18th Rector of Saint Paul’s. |
| 1993 | Sonia Sullivan of Valdosta, Georgia, becomes the first woman ordained priest in the Diocese of Georgia. |
| 1994 | General Convention removed the “filioque” from the Nicene Creed of the next prayer book. |
| 1995 | Henry Irving Louttit, Jr., is consecrated 9th Bishop of Georgia, succeeding Harry Woolston Shipps. |
| 1997 | General Convention approved the Lutheran-Episcopal Concordat of Agreement. The document, “Called to Common Mission” was approved at the 2000 General Convention. |
| 2000 | Saint Paul’s Church celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding. |
| 2001 | Saint Paul’s dedicates its Children’s Ministries Center. |
| 2002 | Rev. Richard E. Sanders is instituted as the 19th Rector of Saint Paul’s |
| 2006 | Katherine Jefferts-Schori is elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, becoming the first woman Presiding Bishop and the first woman elected as Primate in the Anglican Communion. |
| 2007 | Saint Paul’s dedicates its Colonial Garden. |
| 2008 | Saint Paul’s dedicates its River Room event facility. |
| 2010 | Scott Anson Benhase is elected 10th Bishop of Georgia, succeeding Henry I. Louttit Jr. |
| 2012 | The 71 parishes and missions of the Diocese of Georgia meet in convention at Saint Paul’s. |
| 2013 | Rev. George Daniels Muir installed as interim Rector of Saint Paul’s. |
| 2015 | Michael Bruce Curry becomes the first African-American to be elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. |
