St. Luke's Katonah Mission

Our mission is to restore all persons to unity with God and each other in Christ, to provide spiritual nourishment and growth and to encourage ministries of worship, charity, evangelism, fellowship, outreach and pastoral care.

  • Our Priest

    Father Patrick Ward who is serving as the Interim Priest here at St. Luke's was raised in and Irish-Catholic home in Philadelphia and attended parochial school through high school. However he didn't get serious about the Christian faith until he had what can best be described as a born-again experience while serving in the United States Marine Corps on Okinawa in1971. Through the ministry of a career Marine who loved Jesus, Fr. Ward came to see that Jesus was real and that a better path for his life would be to try and follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. He made a commitment to Jesus and for the past 49 years he has been trying to be faithful to that commitment. He comes to St. Luke's with a wealth of experience and is looking to help the parish thrive and grow.

  • Vestry

    St. Luke's vestry meets monthly and currently has ten members including two wardens. The vestry helps to define and articulate the mission of the congregation. Responsibilities also include supporting the church's mission by word and deed, selecting the rector, ensuring effective organization and planning, and managing resources and finances.

  • Church Staff

    Maestro Harold Rosenbaum, founder and director of the New York Virtusoso Singers and the Canticum Novum Singers, is St. Luke's choral and music director. St. Luke's also has a parish administrator who works closely with the rector to manage and organize many of the details of parish life and worship. She also consults with church leaders and committee chairs as well as parishioners.The church school leader at St. Luke's directs and manages ministries for children to nurture christian faith through a combination of prayer,play and song in weekly lessons. Parents along with parish youth assist church school outreach and project based lessons.

  • Congregation

    All members of the congregation are ministers of faith who serve St. Luke's, our communities, and support each other. As a community of faith and hope, families and members of every age participate in outreach ministries. Our community events and adult forums are open to everyone and all are welcome.


    Members of the congregation share their time and talents by taking part as lay readers, Eucharistic ministers, altar guild, choir members, ushers and committee members.

History

Episcopalians organized in Katonah in 1855 as St. Mark's Episcopal Church, under the pastoral care of St. Matthew's,Bedford. The congregation was disbanded in 1887, but in the following year, John Jay II - the grandson of the first U.S Supreme Court Justice - made a codicil to his will leaving $500 for the erection of an Episcopal Church in Katonah.


The building of the church was disrupted due to the relocation of the village at the end of the nineteenth century to make way for the Muscoot Reservoir. An Episcopal congregation was eventually reestablished in Katonah in 1916, initially meeting in a movie house and then in a warehouse. In 1921, the congregation petitioned St. Mark's, Mt. Kisco, to formally adopt them as a parochial mission. The same year, on October 21, the cornerstone for St. Luke's Church was laid.


St. Luke’s is a Tudor Revival structure. The church building was designed by Hobart Upjohn, third in the family of American architects by that name. In 2001 St. Luke's was added to the National Register of Historic Places.