A House of Prayer for All People
A House of Prayer for All People
History
Our congregation has been active since 1825. On this page, learn about our journey. This page is a work in progress so check back for updates.
March 19, 1825: Founding of congregation as The Second Congregational Unitarian Society on Mercer Street at Prince Street (image to the left).
1826: Dedication of first church building. Notable theologian and Transcendentalist William Ellery Channing preaches.
1868: Congregation moves to Murray Hill neighborhood, renaming itself as The Church of the Messiah on Park Ave and 34th St.
1906: John Haynes Holmes (image below) called as minister. Read more about this significant social activist at the Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography.
1909: John Haynes Holmes (image to the right), alongside many others including W.E.B. DuBois, helps found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
1919: Congregation renames itself The Community Church of New York.
1920: John Haynes Holmes, alongside many others, helps found the American Civil Liberties Union.
1931: Drs. Abraham and Hannah Stone and Dr. Lena Levine establish the first marriage counseling service under medical direction in the United States at the Community Church in New York.
1931: John Haynes Holmes meets Mohandas Gandhi in London. Learn more about the relationship between these two historical figures in this documentary at the Library of Congress. The image to the left depicts Gandhi with John Haynes Holmes in New Delhi, October 12, 1947 and was taken by John Haynes Holmes’s son, Roger W. Holmes. Courtesy of the Harvard Square Library.
Late 1940s: Current building on 35th St constructed.
1948: Current church building on 35th St dedicated. Dedication of new church is attended by Jawarhal Nehru, Governor Dewey, both New York senators, a Supreme Court Jusice and Rabbi Stephen Wise, John Haynes Holmes' great friend. Reverend Donald Harrington preaches that the new building will be “a forum for the airing of great public issues in debate on Sunday evenings, a place where great music might be heard...and where every weekday night great causes of the age, like those of civil liberties, racial equality, world peace, and world government might rally the public to their banners."
1949: John Haynes Holmes succeeded by Donald Szantho Harrington as Senior Minister of Community Church of New York. The two men are pictured at right, Holmes to the left and Harrington to the right.
1950: Reverend Maurice Dawkins, Minister for Education, becomes first Black member of the CCNY ministerial team.
1953: Reverend Harrington co-founds the American Committee on Africa, headquartered at CCNY.
1954: New organ dedicated at Community Church of New York.
1959: CCNY begins sharing space with Metropolitan Synagogue of NY, a Reform Jewish congregation.
1962: UU United Nations Office establishes workspace at CCNY building.
1962: 300 Community Church of New York members take part in Dr King's March on Washington
1962: Community Church of New York hosts a debate between Malcolm X and Bayard Rustin. Click the screen to the left to watch a clip of this debate! Read a contemporary review of the debate in the Village Voice.
1964: Community Church Senior Minister John Haynes Holmes dies. Read his obituary in the New York Times. Reverend Dr. Haynes Holmes' ashes are interred in the Hall of Worship at CCNY.
1964: Community Church Senior Minister Donald S. Harrington is arrested alongside Bayard Rustin while picketing opening day of the New York World’s Fair with CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). The protests’ demands included shutting down all World’s Fair construction sites until work forces were fully integrated, immediate rent strikes throughout slum areas, an immediate timetable for total desegregation of all schools and a civilian‐selected review board on complaints of police brutality.
1965: UU United Nations Office becomes a funded program of the Unitarian-Universalist Association.
1965: Reverend Harrington, along with other liberal religious leaders, spends 17 days in Alabama supporting the Selma marchers. Read more about Unitarian-Universalism's engagement with the events in Selma here.
1966: The Community Gallery (later known as Gallery35) holds its first exhibition on the CCNY campus at 35th St.
1970s: CCNY hosts United States offices of the American Committee on Africa.
1978: Dianne Arawaka becomes first woman member of the ministerial team.
1982: Donald Harrington stands down as Senior Minister and the congregation calls his successor, Reverend Bruce Southworth (pictured to the left).
1983: CCNY establishes its first homeless shelter in response to an appeal for help from the city as it faced a growing homelessness crisis. CCNY was one of the first city congregations to join the effort.
Early 1980s: Church offers office space to fledgling NGO, the African Services Committee, dedicated to helping recently arrived African refugees with a special focus on people living with HIV/AIDS. ASC is still active today, now based in the Bronx.
1980s: CCNY’s activism includes the continuing mobilization of U.S. pressure on South Africa through the disinvestment movement.
1984: Marjorie Bownes-Wheatley hired as first Black woman member of the ministerial team.
1985: Reverend Southworth and several CCNY members arrested at civil disobedience protests in New York outside the South African UN mission.
1988: Community Church hangs banners of the world’s major religions in the Hall of Worship.
1990: Just three months after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela makes his first visit to the United States. He speaks at Community Church (pictured to the right) to thank American anti-apartheid activists for their support. The briefing was attended by nearly 100 activists from 49 cities in 29 states. Read more here.
1994: Reverend Southworth serves as election monitor in Soweto, South Africa.
1997: CCNY recognized as an LGBT Welcoming Congregation by the Unitarian-Universalist Association.
1998: CCNY witnesses its first same-sex commitment ceremony, of members Gary Jacinto and Peter Robinson.
1999: CCNY member and Sunday School teacher Dumisani Kumalo (pictured to the left) becomes South Africa’s ambassador to the UN. Kumalo had led the African National Congress’s sanctions campaign.
1999/2000: CCNY plays a leading role in the creation of the Interfaith Coalition Against Police Brutality, to seek to address racist “stop and frisk” practices by NYPD.
2003: Community Church adopts its current mission statement: “To grow as a caring, justice-making, anti-racist, diverse, spiritual community”
2005: CCNY accredited as Green Sanctuary congregation.
2009: CCNY joins NYC New Sanctuary Coalition, a coalition of faith-based and other organizations dedicated to supporting immigrants.
2017: Reverend Bruce Southworth retires from the position of Senior Minister, becoming Minister Emeritus.
2018: Community Church's Black Lives Matter banner is installed outside the church.
2019: Community Church calls Reverend Peggy Clarke (pictured to the right), a climate justice activist and its first woman Senior Minister.
2020: CCNY moves worship and programs online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. No staff are laid off and programs continue online throughout the week.
Community Church
Oral Archives
Explore the Community Church Oral Archives below. Recorded virtually and in-person in September-October 2021, the Community Church Oral Archives reflect the history of our church in our words. Members were asked about their history with Community Church, favorite memories and moments, and hopes for the future.
