St. Paul's Parish, Washington DC

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St. Paul's Parish, Washington DC

Parish in The Episcopal Church with a deep commitment to a common pursuit of Christ, expressed in the rich Anglo-Catholic tradition.

At the heart of this parish of The Episcopal Church lies a deep commitment to a common pursuit of Christ, expressed in the rich Anglo-Catholic tradition. Here you will find traditional liturgy, faithful preaching, thought-provoking Christian formation, stirring music, and warm fellowship. Together we "go unto the Altar of God" and put our faith into practice with ministry beyond our walls. We invite you to make your pilgrimage with us.

08/22/2026

“I WILL GO UNTO THE ALTAR OF GOD: Even unto the GOD of my joy and gladness.” These words of the Psalmist, following the invocation of The Trinity, begin the prayers the Altar party offers in the sacristy at St Paul’s before every principal Mass. Why do we say these prayers? Those in most other Episcopal churches don’t; do we pray them just to keep up some quaint, fussy custom?

Answering this good question begins with a cardinal concept: Lex orandi, lex credendi: the law of prayer both reflects and shapes the law of belief. For Anglo-Catholics, the Mass is not some communal gathering where people sit around, hear and share platitudes, and occasionally receive from one another symbolic tokens of the love of Jesus, who came down just to make ‘innately good’ people better in this life. That is a protestant service.

The Mass, in contrast, is chiefly a Holy *Sacrifice*, in which “the same Lord Jesus Christ who offered Himself upon The Cross is offered sacramentally upon the Altar by those who have been made partakers of His Priesthood.” The Mass is necessary for us—not optional—because it is the continued pleading and application of Our Lord’s One Perfect Sacrifice at Calvary for the remission of our sins. When the priest, then, prepares to present the Sacrifice of Christ to God His Father, he is about to act first and foremost in the *Person* of Christ, not as a mere minister of Christ to the people. Thus the priest—along with his assistants—must particularly be prepared in heart, soul, and mind before daring to sacramentally confect and offer the Author of Our Salvation.

That, then, is the purpose of these prayers: preparation. Traditionally said at the foot of the Altar (still the case at Low Masses under The English Missal), they entreat God in alternating lines between the priest and the rest of the Altar party, who represent the people. Much could be said about the richness of these prayers, but let one question for now suffice: Will *you* go unto the Altar of God? Your Lord quietly awaits you, “robed in flesh, our Great High Priest.”

08/11/2026

Friday, August 14 – THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (anticipated)
6:45 pm | Procession & Solemn Mass
Reception to follow

The Music at the Mass
Setting: Mass for Two Choirs and Two Organs, Widor
Psalm 34:1-9, J. V. Roberts
Anthems: Ave Regina cœlorum (a5), Palestrina; Bogoroditse djevo, Arvo Pärt
Voluntaries: Magnificat I: My Soul doth Magnify the Lord, Dupré; Dialogue Sur Les Grands Jeux, Grigny

Join us this Friday as we keep one of St Paul’s most beloved feasts: The Assumption of Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin! This year we will anticipate the Feast on its Eve, with a Procession and Solemn Mass at 6:45 pm, sung by the Parish Choir. A festal reception in the atrium will follow.

Simply put, by “The Assumption,” Anglo-Catholics believe the body and soul of Our Lady was taken up directly by Her Son into glory; we do not, similar to our Roman brethren, venture into whether she had mortally passed when that occurred. While belief in the Assumption varies across the Anglican world, the Episcopal Church recognized the validity of this belief when it added the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin to the Kalendar of the *1979* Prayer Book – a feast that had been omitted since the 1549 BCP. Consider this: If Mary had not been assumed, her body would most assuredly have been found – and relics of her remains would have proliferated across the Christian world. And yet, no one has ever located her body, just as no one has ever located Our Lord’s.

“See the Virgin Mother rise,
angels bear her to the skies;
Mount aloft, imperial Queen,
plead on high the cause of men!
King of Glory, hear our cry;
make us soon Thy joy to see,
Where enthroned in majesty,
countless angels sing to Thee!”

08/08/2026

VISITING PREACHER | The Rev’d John David van Dooren
At Solemn Mass on August 9 (Pentecost XI) we welcome as preacher Fr John David van Dooren, Rector of the Church of the Transfiguration - NYC – a noted Anglo-Catholic parish that, similar to St Paul’s, has been helmed by such long-serving clergy that Fr John David is but the 8th rector of the parish, founded in 1848! Previously Rector of the Church of the Atonement in Chicago, Father was also sometime Rector of All Souls’ Memorial Church for 14 years in our City.

The image in this post is of Transfiguration’s St Joseph of Arimathea’s Chapel, which is graced with a vivid stained glass rendition of Raphael’s masterpiece The Transfiguration, now housed in the Vatican Museums.

“The Word, as Moses says, ‘is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart,’ as it is this day. So nigh, that you have each of you this morning handled, that you have only to lift up your eyes and you will now behold, the very Body of the Son of GOD. His Most Holy Flesh has touched your lips this day; and, I will not doubt that it has also been received in your hearts, as they must receive it to whom it is to be ‘the savour of life unto life.’ This Word, this Good Word which the Father indited; this Word, which came down as the rain and the snow from heaven, and returned not thither until it had watered the earth; this Word, that is to be a lantern to your steps, and a light to your paths; that Word—to use S. Peter’s own language—‘that Word, I say, ye KNOW.’”
—The Rev’d Fr John Mason Neale (1860)

07/25/2026

“Solemn Mass? What? Does that mean everyone is dour and no one sings?” At Anglo-Catholic parishes such as St Paul’s, one will hear Masses denominated as Low, Sung, or Solemn. These terms are often mistaken as descriptive of varieties of *lay* participation or atmospheric quality – an understandable misconception, in an age where services are so often referenced in such fashion (‘Family’ Communion, ‘Festal’ Eucharist..). Low, Sung, and Solemn, however, have nothing to do with such. Rather, each refers to a particular traditional grade of the Mass that is defined by the extent of ministerial assistance, manner of vocal expression, and degree of ritual, of the *Altar Party.*

At a Low Mass (or just ‘Mass’), the Priest simply says the Mass ordinary and propers, and the Altar Party consists solely of the Priest and one or two acolytes. At a Sung Mass (Missa Cantata), the Priest chants the ordinary and propers, and additional acolyte roles are permitted. At a Solemn Mass, three Sacred Ministers must serve, and nearly all is chanted, with the Subdeacon and Deacon required to chant the Epistle and the Gospel, respectively. Censing is obligatory, and a full acolyte complement is appropriate.

Where is any of this laid out, seeing as the instructions in the BCP include almost nothing of the sort? Anglo-Catholics have long supplemented the BCP’s restrained rubrics with guidance from Ritual Notes and Fortescue’s Ceremonies. While some might point to this as a BCP ‘flaw,’ it actually forms part of the BCP’s genius. We are a Prayer Book Church, and our worship is to conform to its rites. But the BCP itself allows for the use of additional guidance from other permitted rubrical sources, provided they contravene not its own modest directives. This was by design, and provides for theological breadth across The Episcopal Church: the Prayer Book serves as the common liturgical order for low-Church priests just as it does for Anglo-Catholic clergy. Unlike the Roman GIRM—which has done away with the historic 3 grades of the Mass—Anglo-Catholics continue to offer Low, Sung, and Solemn Masses under the BCP unimpeded – and alleluia for that!

07/21/2026

This past Saturday, Fr Michael Drell offered at the Lady Altar his First Mass, as a Votive Mass of Blessed Mary ever-Virgin as patroness of the Carmelite Order. As the prophet Elijah vanquished the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel in days of old and offered a burnt oblation accepted by the One True God, we pray God ever accept the One Eternal Sacrifice Fr Drell will offer for the rest of his sacred ministry: even Jesus Christ His Son Our Lord, through whose priests His Saving Sacrifice on the Cross is perpetuated for us on every altar until He come again.

Following the Mass, Fr Drell blessed and graciously invited attendees to each receive a sacramental most fitting for the occasion: brown Marian scapulars handsewn by Carmelite nuns in the Holy Land. Thank you, Father, and our thanks to all who traveled to St Paul’s again to hear Father’s First Mass – under The English Missal no less!

07/18/2026

With great joy, yesterday Fr Michael Drell received the sacramental Grace of the Priesthood at the hands of the Bishop of Washington, joining the order of those who forever act in persona Christi Capitis Ecclesiae: in the person of Christ, the Head of the Church. We are grateful to Fr Michael’s family, presenters, friends, and all other clergy and laity who traveled to St Paul’s to witness this joyously solemn rite. Join us again on Saturday the 18th at Noon, as Fr Michael offers his FIRST MASS, in thanksgiving for his ordination and the prayers of Our Lady, Queen of Priests.

Please enjoy some highlights of the Mass as captured by area photographer Jay Mallin!

“He Who once to die a Victim
on The Cross did not refuse,
day by day upon our altars
that same Sacrifice renews;
through His holy priesthood’s hands,
faithful to His last commands!”

07/14/2026

Thursday, July 16 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel
6:45 pm | SOLEMN PONTIFICAL MASS OF ORDINATION
The Ordination of Michael Justin Drell to the Sacred Order of Priests
The Bishop of Washington, Celebrant and Preacher
Clergy: Red stoles

The Music of the Mass
Setting: Mass for Four Voices, Byrd
Psalm 43, Barnby
Anthems: O radiant Dawn, MacMillan; Ave Regina cœlorum, Palestrina
Voluntaries: Gallardas de Primer Tono, WSC 158, Cabanilles; The Bells, Byrd

Customs at St Paul’s: Genuflect before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at the High Altar, and to the Bishop Diocesan when she passes in procession.

“The priest at his Ordination is given power and authority to stand at the Altar and consecrate bread and wine. No layman, no deacon, can do this. Likewise he gives Holy Communion – he distributes to Christ’s people the sacramental Body and Blood of Christ. He is commissioned also, and given power and authority, to declare and pronounce to Christ’s people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. He is empowered and authorized to dispense the Sacraments of the Church. In so doing he exercises his priestly functions and thereby lifts up Christ that He may draw men unto Him. [… …]. He must be God’s humble servant. He must belong to God, body and soul. The true priest lives no longer for himself, but solely to the end that he may hold up before men The Crucified.”
—The Rev’d Benjamin Harrison, from an ordination sermon (1936)

07/11/2026

Oftentimes visitors to St Paul’s will notice the many postures and acts the celebrating priest engages in at Mass. Theological significance stands behind almost all of these things; they are not meaningless minutiae done for show. The more one understands them, the more will one come to understand Anglo-Catholic belief.

As next week’s Mass of Ordination nears, one such act merits exploring: the positioning of the priest’s *Canonical* digits: the thumb and forefinger of each hand. The Tridentine rubrics provided that at the *Canon* of the Mass, the priest was to join his thumb and forefinger together from the time the elements were consecrated by God, until the post-Communion ablutions. Why? This practice stemmed from a theological conviction: Under the rubrics, the priest’s thumb and forefinger alone held the bread. If the bread once consecrated (the Host) truly became the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, keeping those two fingers joined would best prevent any particles of Our Lord’s Body from falling off them until the priest washed his hands at the ablutions.

The maintenance of Canonical digits became widespread in the Roman church in response to the denial by Continental reformers of the fullness of Our Lord in the Consecrated Elements. In the 1800s, Anglo-Catholic clergy began to revive this practice in their parishes. Even though the modern Roman rubrics no longer mandate the posture (and Anglican rubrics never did), at St Paul’s, when the Fr Rector offers Mass, you will notice Father will not separate his thumb and forefinger—unless he is holding Our Lord—until after the Communion.

If we take seriously Christ’s words that “this IS MY Body,” it is only right that we treat HIS Body with the care and awe It deserves. Said St Francis of Assisi: “O humble sublimity! O sublime humility! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under a morsel of bread.”

07/03/2026

July 5 – Pentecost VI
9 am | Mass
10:30 am | Missa Cantata
Preacher: Fr Philip Corbett, Vicar, S. Silas & Holy Trinity, Kentish Town

The Music at Sung Mass
Setting: Missa de Sancta Maria Madgalena, Willan
Psalm 45:11-18, William Henry Walter
Anthems: Almighty and everlasting God, Gibbons; Ave, verum Corpus, Mozart
Voluntaries: Improvisations, Isza Wu

This Sunday we are pleased to have as preacher at 10:30 the Rev’d Fr Philip Corbett, Vicar (Rector) of St Silas and Holy Trinity Kentish Town in London. Fr Corbett read theology at St Andrews and Oxford and trained for the priesthood at College of the Resurrection Mirfield. He has served much of his ministry in Anglo-Catholic parishes and is General Secretary of The Society for the Maintenance of the Faith. Fr Corbett preached here on Lent IV last year, and we welcome him back again warmly (perhaps a bit too warmly, with this heat!).

“As in our Saviour’s time, there was a class of minds which not only resisted the force of His miracles but were exasperated by them, so will there always be a similar class—minds too much averted and indisposed to be moved by any kind of evidence, or any presentation of the Truth. ‘Wisdom is justified of all her children.’ ‘If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.’ […]. After all the transmutations that may take place in the world, man will ever find himself subjected to the same moral conditions, standing in the same moral relation to the Gospel. […]. The gentlest whisper from one of the weakest of Christ’s true servants may be God’s instrument for touching the loftiest, proudest intellect, and raising an immortal soul from the lowest depths of the death of sin, up to the brightest glories of the life of righteousness.”
—The Right Rev’d Horatio Potter, VI New York

06/26/2026

June 28 – SS PETER & PAUL, APOSTLES
(external solemnity transferred)
Our Minor Patronal Feast
9 am | Mass
10:30 am | Procession & Solemn Mass

The Music at Solemn Mass
Setting: Missa O quam gloriosum, Victoria
Psalm 87, Gerre Hancock
Anthems: Q quam gloriosum est regnum, Victoria; O how amiable are Thy dwellings, Vaughan Williams
Voluntaries: Messe de Couvents - Couplets du Kyrie and Offertoire, Couperin

“O GOD, our refuge and our strength, look down in mercy on Thy people who cry to Thee, and by the intercession of the glorious and immaculate Virgin Mary, Queen of heaven, of Saint Joseph her Spouse, of Thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, in mercy and goodness hear our prayers for the conversion of sinners, and for the liberty and exaltation of our holy Mother the Church; through Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord.” Amen.

Address

2430 K Street, NW
Washington D.C., DC
20037

Telephone

+12023372020

Website

http://www.saintpaulskstreet.org/, https://open.spotify.com/artist/2RC5gqLyasCv84xQYK83cf, https://open.spotify.com/arti

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