St. George’s Candlelight Service

A January 2013 newsletter preserved coverage of St. George’s 124th Candlelight Service. Hundreds of parishioners and community members attended. Music Director Kamel Boutros led the orchestra and choir, and the service was led by the Rev. Jacob Smith.

The Gramercy Park Block Association continued sharing the tradition, including the 127th service in 2015 and a notice in November 2017. These accounts sit alongside the Block Association’s work with Calvary–St. George’s on meals, service and neighborhood life.

The archive’s photographs and reports remember the service as a meeting of music, local institutions and neighbors.

2013

A reopening announced at Candlelight

At the 125th Candlelight Service on December 8, 2013, the Rev. Jacob Smith announced the reopening of St. George’s main sanctuary for regular services after a three-year interval. The Block Association’s December 24 newsletter shared the report, which described more than five hundred attendees and music led by Kamel Boutros.

Harrison joined clergy and other community leaders in the procession. The account thanked her for supporting the parish’s community-service programs and placed the reopening within a renewed relationship between the church and its neighbors.