Two Sunday Eucharists on Franklin Street
Set one block north of the Downers Grove Metra station and a short walk from the historic Tivoli Theater, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church has anchored the 1100 block of Franklin Street in a village founded in 1852 by settler Pierce Downer. It is a place of energy, connection, spiritual substance, and belonging where opportunities abound to grow and express our faith and find spiritual fulfillment through our participation in the Eucharist, the Holy Communion that is the centerpiece of our services.
Father Gregg Morris has served as rector since August 2015. Mother Tara Dix Osborne came on staff as Associate Rector for Family Ministry after serving at St. Andrew's earlier as a deacon and seminarian intern, and she was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago in December 2024. Deacon Rose Cicero joined the staff in September 2020, and she also serves the Church of the Holy Nativity in Clarendon Hills, volunteers as a part-time chaplain at Stroger Hospital, and serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Cook County.
Two Sunday services follow the Rite II liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer: an 8:00 a.m. spoken Eucharist and a 10:00 a.m. sung Eucharist with the Parish Choir. The 10:00 a.m. service is also livestreamed on Facebook, and recordings of recent sermons are also posted on Facebook. After each service, the parish gathers in the Gathering Space for coffee, refreshments, and conversation, an easy on-ramp for newcomers who want to meet the people behind the hymn boards.
A Choir at the Heart of the Liturgy
Music holds a central place in the 10:00 a.m. liturgy. The Parish Choir, directed by Kathy Nazzarini with James Hoover at the organ, sings at the Sunday Eucharist, Holy Week services, the Easter Vigil, Easter Day, the Thanksgiving service, Lessons and Carols, and the late Christmas Eve Eucharist. Rehearsals are held Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and the choir is open to any high school student or older who would like to join, a quick way for new arrivals to fold into the rhythm of the parish.
Singing begins much earlier. The Youth Choir, led by Chris Stansbury, welcomes children from kindergarten through eighth grade, and membership at St. Andrew's is not required. The choir rehearses on Sunday mornings after Communion until about 11:30 a.m. in the lower-level Youth Choir room and performs at Family Services and on special holidays. Even infants and toddlers join in. The Youth Music Director visits the nursery most weeks during the school year for a mini-Church-school music time with instruments, stories, scarves, and movement games drawn from the Musik Garten curriculum for churches, God's Children Sing.
Children, Youth, and Parents' Day Out
Sunday School at St. Andrew's meets at 9:45 a.m. ahead of the 10:00 a.m. service and serves preschoolers through fifth grade using the Spark: Activate Faith curriculum. Students rotate between a lesson, a craft activity, and music, then gather for a group project or games before rejoining their families in church at the Sign of Peace. The Children's Ministry team also offers Vacation Bible School each summer for preschoolers through fourth graders.
For older children, the acolyte program is open to youth in grades 5 through 12. Acolytes light and extinguish the altar candles, lead processions carrying the cross and torches, ring the sanctus bell during the Eucharist, and assist with the priest's handwashing at the altar. Each acolyte participates in 12 to 15 services a year, including Holy Week and Christmas. High schoolers participate fully in Sunday worship, may serve as ushers and acolytes, and join periodic parish mission trips.
Confirmation classes are offered for high school students in ninth grade or older who have not yet been confirmed. The ceremony itself is celebrated by the bishop during the diocesan visitation each year and is a mature affirmation of baptismal vows along with a commitment to learn the Episcopal tradition.
Outside Sunday morning, St. Andrew's sponsors a Parents' Day Out program for children ages 2 to 4. Directed by Liz Foreman, PDO meets Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., September through May, following the Downers Grove Grade School District 58 calendar. Children enjoy play time, crafts, story time, and a mid-morning snack, and may be enrolled for one or two days per week. The program is open to any child in the community, and modest per-day fees apply. It is a great way to help her socialize while also giving me some much needed time to run errands. Grace may be said before snacks and meals, and a member of the clergy may give a small presentation before certain religious holidays.
Adult Formation: Centering Prayer, Bible Study, and the Prayer Book
For adults, the parish offers several regular rhythms of study and prayer. Centering Prayer meets Tuesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom, opening with a Bible verse for reflection before moving into a 20-minute period of contemplative silence; the group is coordinated by Angeli Tompkins.
The Women's Bible Study meets Thursday mornings at 10:00 a.m. in the Phil Room. Led by Mother Tara, the group studies women of the Bible and welcomes newcomers at any point in the year.
Each fall, an Adult Forum led by organist Jim Hoover takes up the Book of Common Prayer, the thick red volume in the pew rack that many Episcopalians have wondered how to use. The series follows Vicki Black's introduction to the Prayer Book's history, its daily offices (Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Compline), the Eucharistic rites, baptism, confirmation, ordination, and resources for individual prayer.
When a member of the parish needs one-on-one spiritual care, a team of lay chaplains, Sally Hedrick, Joanne Schupbach, Diane Sellinger, Diana Bolz Rhoads, and Susan Spathelf, is available. They were trained through The Bishop Anderson House, which is associated with Rush University Medical Center, and they serve in conjunction with Father Gregg, providing phone calls, hospital and home visits, and follow-up during extended periods of need. Each of the chaplains also serves as a Lay Eucharistic Minister.
A Weekly Table in Downtown Downers Grove
The most visible outreach at St. Andrew's is its Community Kitchen, a long-running weekly meal program for food-insecure neighbors in Downers Grove. Dine-in dinners are held on Friday evenings from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., and takeaway lunches are distributed on Sundays from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. Both are open to anyone in the community.
Beyond its own kitchen, the parish sends people, food, and funds into a wide network of partners. Parishioners prepare a home-cooked meal for six residents at the Larson Home of the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans every Tuesday evening, plus one Thursday a month, and donate goods to the Freedom Commissary, the shelter's free thrift store. Through Trinity Episcopal Church in Aurora, the parish takes part in Sandwich Board, delivering more than 350 sack lunches on the second Thursday of every month. Together with the Church of the Holy Nativity in Clarendon Hills, St. Andrew's provides desserts one Saturday each month at the Interim Housing Center run by Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) on Ogden Avenue. Thanksgiving Day brings a sit-down and carryout Community Thanksgiving Dinner open to the whole community.
Other long-standing partners include the Downers Grove Area FISH Food Pantry and Clothes Closet, with a blue grocery cart collecting non-perishables in the narthex and a parish Good News Garden contributing fresh produce; Hope's Front Door, a downtown Downers Grove social-services agency serving six area communities with food, transportation, healthcare, financial counseling, and employment coaching; Magdalene House Chicago, a two-year residential program for women survivors of trafficking and addiction, in whose founding Deacon Rose played a role; St. Leonard's House, interim housing for men returning from Illinois prisons; Wayside Cross Ministries, transitional housing, daycare, and a resale store; and the ReVive Center Christmas Baskets program, which provides holiday gifts to Chicago families each November. International outreach includes Casa Hogar La Familia, a Christ-centered children's home in the Mexican state of Puebla, and support for the annual Chicago CROP Walk.
Brotherhood, Daughters, and the Women of the Parish
Smaller circles of prayer and fellowship shape parish life alongside the larger ministries. The Brotherhood of Saint Andrew, an international men's organization, meets most Saturday mornings for prayer, Bible study, and coffee. The Order of Daughters of the King, through the St. Marie's chapter at St. Andrew's, keeps a confidential monthly prayer list for parishioners, family, friends, and neighbors, and welcomes new members after a period of study and a vow to follow a Rule of Life centered on prayer, service, and evangelism.
The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) hosts salad suppers, game nights, and the annual Christmas Cookie Walk, and runs the scrip gift-card program that raises funds for parish needs such as stained-glass window repair. ECW also supports Hope's Front Door, People's Resource Center, and Cathedral Shelter. St. Lucia's Guild, which meets monthly from September through May, hosts the Ash Wednesday brunch and other charitable projects. For newcomers, joining one of these groups is often the easiest first step into parish life.
Rooted in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago
St. Andrew's is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, in The Episcopal Church. The parish is governed by an elected Vestry with members serving staggered three-year terms. Father Gregg serves on the training faculty of the College for Congregational Development, consults for other parishes across the diocese, and mentors new clergy in the diocesan Fresh Start program. The Rev. Dr. Jo Ann J. Lagman, an assisting priest at St. Andrew's, serves the wider church as the Asiamerica missioner on the staff of Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, advocating for and accompanying Asian American and Pacific Islander communities across The Episcopal Church.
From its location on Franklin Street, where Downers Grove's downtown meets its historic residential neighborhoods, the parish has grown well beyond its small founding congregation. The rhythms remain simple: two Sunday Eucharists around the Book of Common Prayer, a choir that rehearses every Wednesday night, a Parents' Day Out classroom three mornings a week, and a Community Kitchen that opens its doors on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Around those, the parish has built a wide table set for neighbors in Downers Grove and beyond.