• Home
• Upcoming Events
• Our History
• Cool Links
• Episcopal News
• Contact Us

Canterbury Northwestern: The First Hundred Years of the Episcopal Church at Northwestern University

The Episcopal Church began a ministry to the students at Northwestern University in 1904, when George Craig Stewart (NU 1904), loyal alum, class poet and brand new rector of St. Luke’s Church, made it one of the mission priorities of his parish. Then, like now, there was no Sunday evening meal service on campus, and so he started a supper club for students at St. Luke’s. Stewart was the first president of the NU Alumni Association and a tireless fundraiser and promoter for the University. He was appointed a Trustee in the 1920s, was a nationally known preacher and church leader, and was head of the Episcopal chaplains’ corps in France during the First World War.

Elected Bishop of Chicago in 1930, Stewart was the architect behind the move of Western Seminary to the Northwestern campus, to enhance the seminary education with proximity to the University and to Garrett Biblical Institute, and to provide a place for ministry to Episcopal students. (Seabury Seminary moved here from Minnesota in the 1930s, and we still use the Seabury-Western Chapel for our Canterbury services.) Originally a Methodist, Stewart found his calling and his new denominational identity at Northwestern, through, he says, reading the works of John Henry Newman. Stewart’s legacy is that those vocational explorations still take place here, for he was instrumental in encouraging the University to provide for denominational ministries of all kinds. There are today six full-time denominational ministries, including Canterbury, plus the Office of the University Chaplain and an interfaith host of other ministries and student religious groups, to care for the spiritual needs and faith development of students, faculty and staff.

In the 1940s, the Diocese of Chicago began to appoint Episcopal Chaplains, and the seminary chapel was used for worship services. The Diocese rented a house for the first full-time chaplain, Alan Watts, noted theologian and scholar of Buddhism. Watts left Northwestern, and the Episcopal Church, in 1950, and became one of the main scholars introducing Zen Buddhism to America.

In the early 1950s, William Maxwell, later Dean of St. James Cathedral, and Paul Kintzing, served as chaplains. The Diocese of Chicago purchased houses at the corner of Orrington Avenue and Foster Street to serve as residence for the chaplain and program, worship and study space for the growing student community. In 1956, Scott Jones, then the curate at St. Matthew’s Church, was called as chaplain, and served until his death in 1992. The Diocese used the two years after Scott Jones’ death to examine the ministry and to revitalize its mission. Steele and Priscilla Martin, who had been active in the undergraduate community when Alan Watts was chaplain, spent a year here, followed by Virgil Robinson. Jacqueline Schmitt was called as chaplain in 1994. Jackie Schmitt served the ministry faithfully for 10 years, leaving Canterbury in 2004.  She was succeeded by interim chaplain Heather Voss, who kept our ministry vibrant during two years of significant transition. 

In 2006, Canterbury called our current chaplain, Elizabeth M. Stedman.  Under Stedman’s leadership, Canterbury continues to seek rich and innovative ways to serve God, Northwestern University, the church, and the world.”

Canterbury Northwestern is a ministry of the Diocese of Chicago that relies on the generous support of alumni, parents, and friends to carry out our mission to support the faith development of young adults.