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• 1 media/St Francis Chesterton exterior 26 Apr 2015.jpg 2019-07-13T11:29:34-07:00 St. Francis' Episcopal Church, Chesterton (originally Church of the Incarnation) 32 image_header 2024-03-02T08:28:17-08:00 Early in 1965, a group of Episcopalians living between Valparaiso and Chesterton formed the Society of the Nativity with the purpose of establishing an Episcopal church in Chesterton. They were motivated by worshiping in a church where services could be conducted in a Low Church style. The group included Methodists and Presbyterians, as well as disaffected Episcopalians.  Despite some reservations, Bishop Klein, who disliked evangelicals, lent his support, celebrating the Eucharist in the Jackson Township Hall but pointing out some errors in the original charter. The Rev. Charles Sunderland was appointed vicar of what was originally to be called the Church of the Nativity, and the church was scheduled to be admitted as an unorganized mission on 1 January 1966, with Bishop Klein establishing Highway 6 as its southern boundary.
  
  Conflict arose between the bishop and some members of the mission, mostly stemming from the differences between the corporate charter of the mission and canon law over worship style. Acting on recommendations from the diocesan Department of Missions, Klein dissolved the Church of the Nativity in December 1965. At the same time he announced the formation of a new congregation, the Church of the Incarnation. The new name had a Roman Catholic sound and undoubtedly resulted from Bishop Klein's dislike of Low Church evangelicals. Father Sunderland still had charge of the mission, which held services in the Edmonds Funeral Home in Chesterton. A Sunday school was formed, and members of the church came forward to serve as organists and lay readers.
  
  The Bishop's Committee began a search for property and eventually settled on a 12-acre parcel on East Porter Street, making the purchase with $25,000 from the Diocesan Foundation.  Architect Earl Jewell drafted plans for a building at 2101 East Porter, and after he made several modifications to the plan and the rectory was constructed, the cornerstone of the church was laid by Bishop Klein in August 1967. The building was completed at a cost of $75,000.  The name of the church was later changed to St. Francis' Episcopal Church in 1985 under its then-rector, the Rev. John E. Meyer.
  
  Clergy:
  
  Charles Albert Sunderland, 1965-1973
  Thomas Bailey Aldrich, 1974-1977
  John Edward Meyer, 1977-2009
  Allyne Levoit Smith, 1983-1985
  Andrew Hanyzewski, 2010-2012
  S. Thomas Kincaid, 2012-2015
  David E. Pearson, 2015-2023
  Erik Grayvold, 2023-
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 1 2020-11-08T11:25:43-08:00 Rev. Charles Albert Sunderland 4 plain 2025-06-21T06:27:41-07:00 The Rev. Charles A. Sunderland was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on 16 August 1926, the son of Charles Louis and Mary Abby (Carswell) Sunderland. He married Anne Elizabeth Shields on 21 July 1951 in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from Doane College in 1948 and Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 1951. That same year he was ordained both a deacon and priest. He spent the early years of his priesthood as Deacon in Charge and then rector of St. John's Church in Kansas City, from 1951 to 1955. He then became vicar of Grace Church in Colton, California, before going to St. Timothy's Church in Compton in 1958. He was rector of St. Andrew's Church in Taft, California, from 1959 to 1961. He was then vicar of St. Mary's Church in Webster and Christ Church in Milbank, South Dakota, from 1961 to 1965. He came to Chesterton, Indiana, in 1965, serving initially at what was to be called the Church of the Holy Nativity but later renamed the Church of the Incarnation. He remained there until 1973 and held non-parochial status in 1974. Opposed to women's ordination, he became a priest in the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church in 1975, founding St. Alexis Parish in Lafayette. Bishop Sheridan deposed him from the Episcopal Church in 1978. He died in Grand Junction, Colorado, on 22 October 2017 and was buried from St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.