All Saints History

1978 - 2007

A Booklet of Thirty Years
of
History and Remembrance

Forward

Almost thirty years ago a group of a dozen people got together and decided that the faith that they had loved and cherished over the years was worth trying to save. They banded together, and soon persuaded others that in order to continue in that faith they must form a new congregation. They named their new spiritual home All Saints Anglican Church, and thus began their spiritual journey.

This is the story of that journey over the years. We honor those pioneers, as well as all those souls who have labored for God's Church over the years.

The Anniversary Committee

The Early Years

In 1978 the traditional faith and practice of our former spiritual home, the Episcopal Church, was in transition. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer had been scraped, the ordination of women to the “priesthood” had become a reality, and the faith and practice upon which we counted on in our daily lives seemed to be going by the way.

Toward the end of that year, twelve people met in a private home to discuss their options. Jerry and Gay Bowles, who had met Bishop Mote, one of the original four bishops of the then Anglican Church of North America, were very enthused about this new traditional branch of the Church. It was the same traditional Church that the people here in Janesville had always known. That was all the other folks present needed to hear and All Saints Anglican Church came into being.

Plans were made for the first service which was Evensong to be held in the Children’s Chapel at St. Paul’s School, Janesville, and the meeting was well attended. It seems ironic that a few years later the Parish would occupy St. Paul’s original building - but more about that later. Shortly after, on December 16, 1978, our first Mass was celebrated and there were 90 in attendance. Father Tipton from Minneapolis was the celebrant.

From then on things moved swiftly. Our Articles of Incorporation were filed with the state on January 9, 1979. We were meeting at the Town and Country Restaurant by then and had already begun a Church School program. Twelve children were in that first set of classes.

On February 11, 1979 we held our first annual meeting. Elected to the Vestry were: Jerry Bowles (Senior Warden), Jim Robson (Junior Warden), Stan Nelson, John Ward, Richard Douglas, Marge Howard, Charles Roberts, John Mac donald, Pamela Lowell, Russell Askew, Leon Drake and George Lomax (Treasurer).

The Parish also voted to hold future services at the Boy Scout Headquarters on East Racine St. The first proposed budget was $18,200.00. At that time we had pledges from 37 families and an average Sunday attendance of 74.

In August of that same year a Building Committee was appointed by the Vestry. They started out with receipts of $58.27. The first Parish newsletter, called The Pebble, was published that year along with a monthly publication, The Ecclesia, which contained more detailed information about what was happening in the Parish.

Other firsts that year included the purchase of our first organ (in January), and the hiring of Joan Schute as our first organist. Joan’s last name, by the way, is now Heinze. Jim Robson said to her, “Joanie, I know you’ve played a little. We’re starting a new church. Will you play for us?” Joanie said, “Yes”, and she is still with us!

The Early Years

All Saints first Confirmation Class - September 1979

In September of 1979 Bishop William O. Lewis confirmed the first class of confirmans. The service took place at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church which was where Fathers Poling and Ruhlander would later be ordained to the priesthood. The building was latter torn down to make room for the Riverview Clinic.

We also held our first annual bazaar at the Boy Scout Headquarters. The date was December 8, 1979. Our Bazaars are still being held, and this year’s is coming up in November.

In April of 1980 we joined “ECHO,” the city’s Christian sponsored food pantry, and became one of the thirty plus churches which use this agency to help those who are in need. We have continued over the past 18 years in this ministry with our gifts of food, and financial support. Jesus said “When you feed them, you fed me.”

In May of that year we held our first mother-daughter banquet. In June the Vestry agreed to have Father Greeson, of Springfield, Illinois, come up once a month to celebrate Mass. Deacon Dean Poling was asked to conduct the remaining services. On August 24^th a call was extended to Deacon Poling, who was expected to be ordained priest within a year. By this time the building fund had accumulated to $11,809.56.

By 1981 “setting up and tearing down” at the Boy Scout building was beginning to get “old.” In February of that year the possibility of using the Seventh Day Adventist Church was being discussed, and became a reality on June 11^th. Ten days later on June 21^st, Bishop Lewis confirmed five boys and eight girls in the building that would in a few years become All Saints permanent home. A few months earlier Father Poling had been ordained priest. Soon after he moved to Janesville from Harvard, Illinois. All Saints finally had it’s first Rector.

In May of 1982 the Men’s Club had their first retreat at Camp Rotamer, and next month, on June 14^th, the Parish purchased 2.3 acres of land on the east side near the Interstate. The cost was $20,750.00 and All Saints was proving that it was a viable congregation intent on finding a permanent home. That same month a church library was established, and in July, for the first time, we operated a booth at the 4H Fair.

Manning the 4H Fair Booth

The following year saw the Parish continuing to add to it’s building fund. The newly acquired land was leased for agricultural purposes. Money was raised once again at the 4H Fair, and we provided food service for the first time at the annual W. P. & L. auction.

St. Martha’s Guild was also busy with their annual bazaar held that year on November 12^th.

On Michaelmas (September 29^th) 1984, Edward Ruhlander was ordained a deacon and was assigned to Father Poling to serve as a curate for All Saints. Deacon Ruhlander gave up his secular job in Chicago and moved to Janesville in December of 1984.

The following year (1985) saw Father Ruhlander ordained a priest on March 16^th which would have been his mother and father’s 50^th wedding anniversary, and he celebrated his first Mass the following day atop of the Seventh Day Adventist baptismal tank which also served as All Saints’ altar. Father stayed on as curate until he was reassigned in October to the mission church St. John’s in Milwaukee.

The Years of Decision

By 1986 the building fund had grown to $110,690.00, but plans to build a brand new building became bogged down. Finally in November the Vestry voted unanimously to purchase the Seventh Day Adventist church building on Academy St. rather than prolog their efforts to build.

On February 25^th of the following year (1987) the Parish voted, on the recommendation of the Vestry, to purchase the historic church building owned by the Adventists. The cost was $48,000. It was also decided to sell the vacant land on Green Valley Drive.

A refurbishing committee was formed with Dick Douglas as chairman. The cost of refurbishing the church, not including the steeple, was $58,839.99. After these expenditures the Church was debt free. During that same time the Churchwomen (St. Martha’s Guild) remodeled the kitchen at a cost of $9,062.00.

The Building on Academy Street

The building we bought from the Seventh Day Adventists was, and is, an historic landmark. The Gothic, cream brick church was built in 1883-1885 as the home of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. The congregation of St. Paul’s, then commonly known as the German Lutheran church, had been formed in 1863. Services were conducted in German until 1954.

The German Lutherans bought the present site in 1875 for $1000 and in 1883 constructed the basic frame church building with an exterior of plain boards. They then waited two years, until the congregation managed to raise funds for the completion of the cream brick veneer. By 1885 the church had cost $8,783.66, including the furniture. The tower was added in 1893.

A renovation in 1914 included the erection of the stairs and balcony above the vestibule. The ladies of St. Paul’s raised funds for the painting of the Ascension of Christ which we see today in the center panel of the altar reredos. The wall paintings of Christ the Good Shepherd and Christ on the Sea, also oil paintings, were given as part of a redecoration in 1921. Gas light had changed to electricity in 1920. In 1936 the present stained glass windows replaced the original ones of some 53 years earlier, because their leaded frames had deteriorated. The cost was $1,270.50!

St. Paul’s moved to a new location in 1955, selling the building to the Seventh Day Adventists. The Adventists, in turn, excavated the basement turning it into class and meeting rooms. They also did extensive work to insulate and protect the building.

Part of the extensive renovations to the church, once it was purchased by All Saints, was the installation of the marble altar and tabernacle. Both were gifts of St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. They were formerly in St. Pat’s convent and were being stored in a garage. During the years preceding the purchase of the church on Academy, people were purchasing items for the church home they prayed they would some day occupy. For example Osssit Furniture Company, which had manufactured church furnishings for many years, was going out of business. Taking advantage of an opportunity, several items were acquired and then stored in basements around town. Pieces included: the statues of Mary and Joseph which are in the niches of the Sanctuary; the beautifully carved Corpus which was latter mounted on a cross and set in front of the organ pipes in the balcony; the statue of “Young St. Joseph” which found its way to a grotto setting in the narthex, and of course the Lord’s Supper which occupies a wall in the community room. The gifts and memorials, vestments, linens, vessels, etc., for use in our worship, and to adorn the Altar are too numerous to list. The fact is however, they were outpouring of love and gratitude for the fact that God never did, and never will, desert us.

Bishop Deyman leads the congregation around the church building as he
blesses and consecrates it for the worship of God.

God’s House - A Dream Realized

In 1988, with the building free and clear of debt, and with most of the renovations completed, it was time for God’s house to be consecrated by our new bishop, Bishop Deyman. At the same time Father Poling was appointed Dean of the Diocese and so our church building became for a short while the Pro Cathedral of our Diocese, a first for the City of Janesville. It all happened in June, 1988, and it was one of the truly great days in the life of our Parish.

Later that year Father James Sanford came to All Saints from Whitewater, Wisconsin and served as the Dean’s curate and in February 1989 as Priest-In-Charge when Father Poling was called to St. Paul’s, Grand Rapids Michigan.

The Second Ten Years

After Father Poling’s departure in January of 1989, the Parish decided to call Father John Cotterell as their second Rector. Father moved from West Palm Beach, Florida, in October of 1989. The following year the Parish raised approximately $14,000 to renovate the steeple. Finally, after 97 years a cross came to rest atop God’s house on Academy Street.

Work on the beautification of the building continued in 1991 when the Parish received the gift of 14 Stations of the Cross. They were cast in 1937, and while we don’t know where they originally came from, it is suspected from the Polish inscriptions on the back of some of them that they must have hung in a Polish Roman Catholic Church. Father Cotterell and Dick Douglas restored and repainted them to fit in with the colors of the nave. Father Ruhlander says that almost every one that visits the church comments on their beauty.

On Christmas Eve, 1991, an organ fund was launched, and by September, 1992 a three manual Rogers organ had been purchased and installed. The instrument was dedicated at a public concert by Max Yount, Professor of Music at Beloit College.

Due to ill health Father Cotterell resigned in June, 1994, and moved to Peru, Indiana. The Parish called Father Ruhlander as our third Rector, and he began his tenure on August 1, 1994.

Two of the major concerns of the Parish when they bought the church building were the heating plant and the condition of the roof. In 1995 the Parish replaced their heating plant with two energy efficient furnaces which cut their heating bills in half. In our 20^th anniversary year we have just concluded a successful $14,000 fund drive and have replaced the roof.

In 2000, a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham was constructed. The following year on Candlemas (February 2) it was blessed by The Rt. Reverend Rommie Starks. In 2007 an altar was place in front of the shrine. Every year since the shrine was established, an annual Pilgrimage has been held in October to honor our Lord’s Mother.

In August of 2005 Canon Ruhlander retired as Rector, as was succeeded by The Reverend Father Barry A. Lewis, O/OSB. The following year air conditioning was installed, and in 2007 a lift between the main floor and the undercroft was completed, making the entire building handicap accessible. .

Newly baptized, a child of God receives the light of Christ

God has truly blessed this Parish. He has sent us many talented individuals precisely when we needed them. They have given their time, their talent, and their treasurer in order that His Church might continue in this community. The road to holiness is full of bumps and twists and turns, but God promises that if we remain faithful, He will lead us to that heavenly place. As we travel that road, He has given us a resting place; a place where we can quiet our hearts as we “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” We thank Him for this place and for the people who have come here over the years. They are our family.

“Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers: * praised and exalted above all forever.” - BCP (1928) page 11.