Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral
Search for our Next Dean
Minneapolis, Minnesota
A Letter to Our Future Dean
On behalf of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis, MN and the Dean Search Committee, I invite you to discern within yourself and with us – whether God is calling you to be our Dean.
Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, “Our Cathedral,” is located in downtown Minneapolis. Parishioners come from all around the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area for worship, fellowship, and community.
Saint Mark’s offers a variety of weekly worship opportunities to praise God – including a service in Spanish. Our choir elevates scripture with elegance and fervor! We are involved in ministry outside of the Cathedral’s walls and look forward to other ideas and callings under new leadership.
In the spirit of Advent, we have been at work faithfully to understand how to ready our House. We conducted a congregational survey and sat down in dialogue with members of our church community. Here is what we heard: Our members value core Episcopal/Anglican traditions while remaining open to all, always, and they want to share the Gospel and their love of God – particularly with more young people and families.
Over the past couple of years, Saint Mark’s Vestry and Senior Staff have worked diligently and creatively to further organizational stability – as a service to our church community and to our next spiritual leader.
We are praying for you, and we are excited to welcome you – to lead us and to link arms with us; to speak to us and to pray with us; and above all, to be in relationship with us as we strengthen our collective relationship with God.
Sincerely yours,
Jeffrey Rainey
Chair, Dean Search Committee
The Dean We Seek
Theological / Pastoral
We prayerfully seek a Dean whose heart is grounded in the love of Christ to shepherd our community in faith and truth, asking our hearts and minds to drive our feet. We want Jesus Christ at the center of our new Dean’s leadership. We invite a Dean who will walk among us as teacher, pastor, and companion on the journey, nurturing hearts, forming minds, and guiding us ever closer to the heart of Christ in spirit and in service.
Reconciler
We prayerfully seek a Dean who reflects Christ’s reconciling love. As a downtown church and Cathedral, we have members across all spectrums –socioeconomic, political, cultural, theological, and liturgical – and we seek a leader who can hold together these diverse voices in grace. Guided by the Spirit, this Dean will help our century-old community live into the Gospel of reconciliation, restoring relationships, renewing trust, and revealing the unity we share in Christ.
Innovative Thinker
We prayerfully seek a Dean who can imagine new ways for our community to grow and flourish understanding that we are at the center of disruption and transformation in a changing world, and has a vision for how we’re going to navigate while remaining grounded in faith and mission. We want a leader who can inspire generosity and guide us in stewarding our resources faithfully, helping our ministries thrive.
Intentional Leader
We prayerfully seek a Dean who leads with purpose, grounding every decision in prayer, discernment, and a clear vision for our community. Our new Dean intentionally sees themselves as a peer leader among the clergy, and sees the Cathedral as a congregation peer leader within the diocese. The Dean will humbly and enthusiastically lead with the team and act with deliberate care, guiding our hearts and minds toward faithful growth and shared mission.
The Church is the People of God
We are creative, progressive partners in God's mission of radical love and we affirm the dignity of every human being.
Our Parish
Saint Mark’s is proud to be a Cathedral. As a Cathedral Parish, we offer hospitality in a way that no other parish in our diocese has the opportunity to do. View our monthly publication, the Connector, for a taste of our current offerings this Advent.
Each Sunday, Saint Mark's holds two services with Eucharist. The first service is a Rite I service, and the second service is a full Rite II service with choir. The choir offers Evensong on Sunday evenings from September through June. During the COVID shutdown, generous Cathedral donors provided funds to install a state-of-the-art streaming system. This virtual capability continues to connect members and those seeking a church family to Saint Mark’s. With this technology, Saint Mark’s is well-established to expand our ministries in new ways as we move forward. Two years ago, Saint Mark's partnered with the Spanish-speaking community and now provides space for a weekly Santa Misa en Español every Saturday evening.
At the invitation of our former dean, Saint Mark’s developed a shared ministry team. Several of the members have gone on to be ordained into the priesthood or the diaconate, one has become our pastoral care coordinator, and the others are lay leaders in other areas of church ministry. Our pastoral care coordinator is the regional representative for Community of Hope International, a training program for lay pastoral care ministries based on the Benedictine concept of “listening with the ear of the heart.” Saint Mark’s has trained numerous pastoral visitors from local parishes and will continue to do so with the encouragement and financial support of our bishop.
Other notable ministries the Cathedral supports are the Climate Justice Ministry, the LGBTQ+ ministry, and, starting in 2024, we initiated A Call to Serve, which focused on food insecurity, housing and shelter, and social justice. There are also many ministries and outreach programs in which Saint Mark's works together with other downtown faith communities to provide service and support to those in need. Saint Mark's also continues to be an active participant in the Minnesota Council of Churches.
Additionally, we are the only Episcopal church in the Twin Cities with a bookstore, and it is one of only two religious bookstores in Minneapolis.
We maintain a multi-use campus made up of the Cathedral complex. This complex houses the sanctuary, other spaces associated with worship services, a columbarium, the administrative space, and space the Cathedral leases to eight various support organizations and commercial endeavors.
The early leaders of Saint Mark's had the wherewithal to understand the importance of legacy giving. Their vision led to the establishment of an endowment in the early 1900s. The current Foundation of the Cathedral Church of Saint Mark was established in 1994 as a separate 501(c)(3) entity and is governed by a board comprised of members of the Cathedral. The endowment is managed by an outside investment firm responsible to the Foundation Board. The endowment provides a portion of the annual budget of the Cathedral, as well as exceptional needs or ministries of the Cathedral on a case-by-case basis.
Our Parish as the Cathedral of the Episcopal Church of Minnesota
Saint Mark's is blessed to be the diocesan cathedral in the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, and the seat of Minnesota’s 10th Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Craig W. Loya.
Saint Mark’s was built as a Pro-Cathedral in 1910. It became the Diocesan Cathedral in 1941, during the tenure of The Rt. Rev Stephen E. Keeler, then Bishop Coadjutor. Saint Mark’s is one of two Cathedrals in Minnesota, with the other being the historical cathedral in Faribault. Saint Mark’s is the active Cathedral.
The Facade of the Cathedral building shows all who enter the history of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. The carvings show bishops, clergy, and a lay woman of the diocese. Also, 26 small bosses are carved around the arch depicting significant historical markers of Minnesota history.
In 1954, Saint Mark’s was host to the World Anglican Congress, with visitors from all over the world. The Compass Rose was installed in the floor off the nave to commemorate this event.
Diocesan services and events such as confirmations, ordinations, renewal of clergy vows and blessing of Chrism, acolyte festivals, and an Altar Guild workshop have been held by Saint Mark’s. We have held city-wide services of healing for the 35W bridge collapse and the school shooting on the Red Lake Reservation. Minneapolis has also been host to three General Conventions: 1895, 1976, and 2003.
About the Diocese
The Episcopal Church in Minnesota is one faith community in 104 places, bound by our commitment to allow the Way of Jesus, joining God in God’s project to heal the whole world with love. Our diocese has approximately 15,000 members and the ministry models of its congregations range from being lay led and clergy supported in some smaller, rural settings to a combination of full and part-time clergy in other towns and cities.
The diocese has made four commitments to be a church that looks and acts like Jesus:
1. Discipleship: transformative encounters with Jesus
2. Justice: building community with the poor and marginalized
3. Faithful innovation: a culture of experimentation
4. Vital communities: sharing life together deeply
Learn more about the Episcopal Church in Minnesota HERE.
The Bishop visits Saint Mark’s several times each year. Listen to the Bishop’s sermon during his most recent visit below.
Music Program
Following in the Anglican choral tradition, the music program at Saint Mark’s includes the Cathedral Choir, the Choral Society, and an annual concert series that fills the beautiful space with music of all kinds. The music department is led by Canon Musician Raymond Johnston.
The Cathedral Choir – the acclaimed Cathedral Choir sings at the 10:30 weekly Rite II service and the 5:00 Evensong service, along with special concerts as a part of the Saint Mark’s Music Series. Members of the choir include paid section leaders and volunteers, and are selected via audition. Repertoire features selections from the Renaissance through the Contemporary periods. In July 2026, the Choir will be performing in London at Saint Paul’s Cathedral as part of a week-long residency.
The Choral Society – Founded in 1970, the Choral Society is one of the oldest continuously performing choral groups in the Twin Cities. The Choral Society performs large-scale works, usually with orchestra as part of Saint Mark's Music Series. No audition is required.
Saint Mark’s Music Series – This series of free and paid/ticketed concerts held between September and May each year features both ensembles from Saint Mark's as well as guest performers and groups.
Lifelong Learning / Formation
While we’re formed through many aspects of life in community together, the Saint Mark’s community is particularly hungry for rigorous, nourishing Bible study and education. We don’t want to shy away from difficult passages of scripture: rather, we’re eager to develop a theological framework to support our practice of welcome for all. We seek a dean with a passion and vision for innovative formation – with particular focus on spiritually supporting families and youth – as we work to revive our educational programming and meet the needs of our evolving intergenerational community.
Each Sunday during the 10:30 service, we invite children ages six and under to learn about the Gospel during Children’s Worship, which takes place between the Gradual Hymn and the exchange of the Peace.
Every other Tuesday night, a group of young adults in their 20s and 30s meets in one of their homes to eat dinner, read Scripture, and pray Compline together. They are currently working through the Gospel of Luke with the help of N.T. Wright’s Luke for Everyone.
With the help of the Reverend Kent Rahm and of theologian-in-residence Andrew Stewart, we have retooled our confirmation class series to better support our new members, many of whom come to us from previous church experiences. Our new six-week class series for adults aged 16 and older who are interested in Baptism, Confirmation, Reception, or Reaffirmation within the Episcopal Church launches this fall, and will be offered in the spring as well.
Our gospel-based discipleship group meets virtually on Fridays during the lunch hour. Participants focus on the Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday, listening together for what Jesus is calling them to do through the passage. This time of reflection also serves as a resource for preachers to hear the week’s gospel passage through new ears.
We envision Saint Mark’s as a place where we can practice the work of reconciliation together, work which starts within ourselves and then moves outwards into every aspect of our individual and communal lives. In this spirit, we’re launching Claiming Everyday Faith, Together: small groups meeting for six weeks to strengthen bonds with each other as we ponder our call to enact Jesus’ wholehearted, bridge-building love in the world.
Throughout the year, we learn from speakers doing work in our greater community through different lecture and conversation series. Over the summer, we invited the Rev. Canon Dr. Stephanie Spellers to speak to us about the church of tomorrow as part of the Fontaine Series, which honors the preaching legacy of the Very Rev. H. Douglas Fontaine and seeks to enrich the spiritual life of Saint Mark’s. The Voices of Reconciliation lecture series, featuring the Rev. Canon Robert Two Bulls and the Rev. Jeckonia Okoth, will continue into the fall as we follow Jesus’ lead in paying attention to unreconciled parts of ourselves, to fissures in our families and local communities, and to the seemingly impossible task of doing our part, with God’s grace, to speak up for peace in our world and care for our planet.
Outreach
Inspired by Scripture and driven by the Holy Spirit, Saint Mark’s seeks to serve Christ in our neighbors, meeting the needs of the most vulnerable among us through outreach ministries.
For many years, Saint Mark’s has fought hunger in our community by hosting meals on Sunday and Monday evenings. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, this ministry has evolved into an interfaith collaborative project. Every second Sunday, volunteers from Saint Mark’s join partners from the First Unitarian Society and Temple Israel at Plymouth Congregational Church to co-host a community meal featuring a wide array of sit-down and take-away options for roughly 120 guests.
Volunteers from Saint Mark’s also regularly serve at First Nations Kitchen, a local ministry of All Saints Episcopal Indian Mission, which seeks to provide organic meals and produce for Indigenous people in need, as well as at the Groveland Food Shelf.
In response to our 2024–25 “Call to Serve” Initiative, Saint Mark’s has entered a partnership with Great River Landing. This affordable housing community assists formerly incarcerated men to build better futures for themselves and their families.
Saint Mark’s also serves as a regular venue for Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings and recently hosted the Downtown Coalition for Grief Support.
Membership & Financial Information
Over the last several years at St. Mark's, our operating income and expenses have not balanced, but we have made progress in this critical area. Through focus on both expenses and income, we have steadily reduced operating deficits from $217k in '22, to $172k in '23 to just $9k in '24. We are pleased with our progress, and we know more work is needed, particularly in improving income so that we may provide a better foundation to our programs and preserve and grow our endowment.
Additional information including Annual Reports and Treasurer Reports can be found on our website under Reports & Policies.
Our History
Saint Mark’s, founded in 1858, was first housed in a small wooden building by the Mississippi River. As the new city grew, however, that area was dominated mostly by mills, so, in 1863, it was moved to 4th and Hennepin. In 1868, Saint Mark’s became an independent Parish Church and in 1869, a cornerstone was laid for a “permanent” building. Membership grew rapidly in the new location but by the 1890s, most of the parishioners had moved to newer neighborhoods and were replaced in the old neighborhood by newly arriving immigrants. The parish women created programs for immigrant neighbors including English language classes, job skills training, and child care.
In 1903, Bishop Samuel Cook Edsall expressed the desire for Saint Mark’s to build a great new cathedral for the Diocese of Minnesota. Since the old parish was now largely in a commercial downtown area, the building was sold. A parishioner offered property adjacent to the newly-opened Loring Park. Significantly, when this proposal came to a vote, the women refused to approve the move until money was set aside to build a settlement house to continue to serve new immigrants. Wells Settlement House opened in 1908 on the near north side. The sale of the Settlement House in 1948 funded the Wells Foundation. The Wells Foundation gives grants to approximately 21 nonprofits each year and drives entrepreneurial social innovation resulting in lasting changes in the Saint Mark’s community.
At the new Loring Park site, a parish house was dedicated in 1908 so that worship services could be held while the new worship space was being built. The completed building opened in 1910 and within a short time, Saint Mark’s had become the largest parish in the diocese. In 1941 it was finally designated as The Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese in Minnesota.
Saint Mark’s has played host to many diocesan, Episcopal, and Anglican events since then. The World Anglican Congress in 1954 brought representatives from all over the Anglican world. Both in1976 and in 2003 “controversial” General Conventions were held in Minneapolis, with the Cathedral hosting convention events. The 1976 Convention approved the Ordination of women and the “new” Prayer Book; in 2003, the Ordination of Gene Robinson as the first gay Bishop was approved. In addition, in 1991 the Conference of North American Deans and The Episcopal Women’s History Conference were both hosted by Saint Mark’s.
Where God Has Placed Our Church Community
Saint Mark’s is located in the Loring Park Neighborhood.
Loring Park is one of Minneapolis’s most distinctive neighborhoods—a green, lively pocket that sits just south of downtown. The park itself is the centerpiece: a large, tree-lined space with walking paths, a pond, public art, and community gardens. It’s a place where office workers eat lunch under the trees, families gather for picnics, and festivals and Pride celebrations bring color and energy to the city’s core.
The surrounding neighborhood reflects the city’s diversity and change. Historic apartment buildings and converted brownstones stand beside newer condos and high-rises. The area is home to a mix of residents—young professionals, artists, longtime locals, LGBTQ+ community members, and people experiencing homelessness. That mix gives Loring Park a sense of openness and authenticity; it feels urban but neighborly, dynamic but grounded.
While the park provides calm and green space, it also serves as a meeting ground for real social issues. Encampments have appeared here at times, and outreach organizations often work nearby to support unhoused residents. Still, the neighborhood’s mix of cultural life, civic activity, and social awareness gives it a distinct identity: a place that embodies both the beauty and the complexity of city living in Minneapolis.
"Loring Park - Minneapolis, Minnesota" by Dougtone is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
"Loring Park - Minneapolis, Minnesota" by Dougtone is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
"Groveland Avenue, Loring Park, Minneapolis, MN" by w_lemay is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Welcome to the Twin Cities!
"Minneapolis Skyline" by schwa021 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Minneapolis is part of the Twin Cities of Minnesota, along with Saint Paul (the state capital). The 7-county Twin Cities Metro (the 14th-largest metro area in the country) is home to about 3.6 million people, and Minneapolis is the largest city in the state. Loring Park, the neighborhood in which the Cathedral sits, is the third most populous neighborhood in Minneapolis.
You’ll see that we’re pretty dedicated to acknowledging our twinness: Our major league sports franchises (we have six professional sports teams) are named for the state, rather than a city. The University of Minnesota’s main campus is called the Twin Cities campus, and the campus also straddles the river, with its East Bank and West Bank campuses connected by a pedestrian and vehicle bridge.
The Twin Cities are full of things to do and see: arts, theater, live music, museums, sculpture, as well as outdoor spaces. The Grand Rounds contains about 55 miles of scenic byway connecting parks throughout the Twin Cities, including a large portion of the Mississippi river frontage on both banks. There are over 100,000 acres of parks, walking and bike paths, and other outdoor spaces within the metro.
We have a thriving “foodie” culture, including a number of James Beard Award-winning chefs, such as Sean Sherman, the three-time James Beard Award-winning Oglala Lakota chef who heads up Owamni.
We have two major orchestras: The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra makes its home in St. Paul and plays in venues but play in venues all around the area. The Minnesota Orchestra plays in its acoustically and aesthetically beautiful Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis, which has been home to the Orchestra (and its predecessor, the Minneapolis Symphony) since 1974.
The Twin Cities sells more theater tickets than anywhere outside New York; we have an extremely vibrant and active theater community, including the Guthrie Theater, a world-renowned regional theater organization. We are also home to a thriving vocal music community, including choirs, choral groups, and world-renowned groups such as Vocal Essence and Cantus. Of course, the Twin Cities are also the home of Prince, Bob Dylan, Charles Schulz, and Garrison Keillor.
Just an hour and a half from the Twin Cities, on the grounds of St. John’s Abbey, one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in the world, The Episcopal Church has an architecturally award-winning Episcopal House of Prayer, begun during the episcopate of The Rt. Rev. Robert Anderson and the tenure of Abbot Jerome Theissen in the 1980s.
MEET MINNEAPOLIS
BRECK SCHOOL
"Spoonbridge And Cherry" by Me in ME is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
MINNEAPOLIS PARKS & RECREATION
VISIT SAINT PAUL
"Minnesota State Capitol Building (2006)" by jpellgen (@1179_jp) is licensed under
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
MINNEAPOLIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA
MINNEAPOLIS SCHOOL DISTRICT
EXPLORE MINNESOTA
What Does God Hope for Us?
While the world around Saint Mark’s keeps changing, God’s call to us remains constant.
Jesus Christ calls us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds — and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
In the midst of upheaval and fragmentation, we are charged with holding the lantern of God’s redeeming, reconciling, resurrecting love high. We cling to that love for our congregants, for our communities, for our diocese, and for our world. We enact that love in our liturgy, in our fellowship, and in our service. We hope that we will not waver. God calls us to follow faithfully, even when we can’t see the path ahead.
We believe that God is calling us to look the challenges of our century straight in the eyes — and that God calls us to follow Jesus still. We can’t shy away from the realities of caring for an aging building, of growing generational wealth gaps, of economic stress and food insecurity. We can’t pretend we exist in a world with the same social norms around faith and churchgoing as we did fifty years ago. We can’t ignore the threat of Christian Nationalism as a distorted vision of Christ’s kingship and dominion, even as we seek to better understand our siblings whose love for God leads them to different political positions. We hope that we will be good stewards of the resources and tradition that have been entrusted to us, and we hope that we will trust in God’s faithfulness as the ground continues to shift under our feet.
As we’ve listened together over the past year, we’ve discerned that God is calling Saint Mark’s to be a community of reconciliation. Our world right now lacks genuine attempts at understanding those with whom we disagree in crucial, often painful, ways. We don’t want to bury our disagreements and differences any longer: we’ve done that enough over the years. We don’t know how to do this anywhere near perfectly. But we know God is calling Saint Mark’s to be a community where, together, we can try — and fail, and ask for forgiveness, and try again — to reach toward each other as God’s beloved children across chasms of pain and injustice. It may seem impossible, but we follow a Savior who is risen, a Redeemer who lives. God calls us to remember that He has already won.
Finally, we believe that God is calling a loving, challenging, grace-filled, Christ-following dean to partner with us in this work. We will love and challenge you right back, through God’s grace.
Know that we’re praying for you.
Together, may we listen well for God’s call to us all.
RESPONDING TO THE CALL
Next Steps
Click the button below for instructions on how to Apply or Recommend someone to be our new Dean.
