An interracial church in Huntsville, formed when an all-white congregation merged with an all-Black congregation near Alabama A&M University, has been closed.

The former Holy Cross-St. Christopher Episcopal Church has been declared dormant, said Bishop Glenda Curry, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.

“It was a gradual decline,” Curry said. “They had gotten so small, they couldn’t keep up their building They just dwindled over time.”

In 1954, eight faculty members of Alabama A&M formed Holy Cross Episcopal Church and began meeting in a trailer near campus until the construction of a building in 1963.

In 1961, a group of white Episcopalians founded St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church a few miles away. The two congregations merged in 1976.

In recent years, the church was down to four remaining members, one Black and three white, and the building had suffered a roof collapse several years ago that was never repaired.

“We reached a point where they condemned the building,” Curry said.

Curry said she took part in a de-consecration service of the church in 2020, which means it was no longer used for worship services. “It was sad,” she said. “About 35 people from all around Huntsville came.”

The remaining six members then met for awhile in the annex at nearby Lakeside United Methodist Church.

“It had gotten to the point where it was a Bible study,” Curry said.

“Every one of them had another church they were going to, but they just didn’t want to let go,” she said. “They didn’t want to be accommodated in another Episcopal church.”

The diocese donated the building to be used for benevolent causes, Curry said.

“We gave it to a development corporation that was a public development group working with the university,” Curry said. “We tried to help somebody else use it for a good reason. It’s across the street from A&M University.”

St. Columba in the Cove in Huntsville had also been declared dormant several years ago, Curry said.

“Dormant means if there was a groundswell of people who showed up and suddenly wanted to open it again, they could still do that without having to re-charter it,” she said.

New church planned in McCalla

Curry said that the diocese is planting a new church in McCalla called Riverside Church that will begin meeting in April at one of the McAdory School buildings.

“It’s not going to be as traditional,” Curry said. “We’re in the early stages of it.”