Holy Cross-St Christopher’s Huntsville AL

The parish bears the names of the congregations that merged to form it in 1976. In December of 1954, eight faculty members of Alabama A&M College (now University), a historically black institution, petitioned The Rt Rev George Murray for worship space near the campus. A trailer was soon provided that served as the chapel until the construction of their building in 1963.

While the people of Holy Cross persevered, a few miles to the west another group with an exciting future as a church mission, came together as St Christopher’s in 1961. At that time Huntsville was a booming city with growth fueled by high-technology, military, and space interests which brought people from throughout the world.

During the decline of the space program in the 1970’s, many members of the parish left Huntsville to pursue other endeavors. Declining membership resulted in the inability of St Christopher’s to complete their church building program. This promoted consideration of a merger of the two congregations.

One can easily conclude that God’s hand was evident in the decision and the proceedings that followed. The Rt Rev Furman C Stough, Bishop of Alabama at the time, observed that racial matters were insignificant from the start, the members were “too busy being the Church” (SPCK thanks Audrey Vinson of Huntsville for compiling the information on these two parishes)

The priest at Holy Cross-St Christopher’s, The Rev Joan Miller-Henrick, contacted SPCK/USA about the need at the parish for vestments. The donors of SPCK/USA through their gifts of vestments provided this parish with 2 bursees, 1 cassock, 6 stoles, and 3 chasubles.