For more than 200 years, Christ Church has been a parish serving the spiritual and physical needs of Cincinnati. In 1993, we were consecrated as the Cathedral for the Diocese of Southern Ohio. After being a parish church for so long, we are growing into our new role as a Cathedral.
The world is facing new challenges. We are in a new place. We have new leadership and we’re ready to shift into the next gear as we steward this responsibility. True to our legacy, we’re here to live out the Way of Jesus by meeting the most urgent needs of today.
At Christ Church Cathedral, our values embrace the paradox of the traditional and the disruptive as we preserve our legacy and shake things up.
The Very Rev. Owen C. Thompson grew up in the Episcopal Church. Ordained to the priesthood in 2003 at Christ Church Cathedral, he has spent the last 22 years in parish ministry in the Diocese of Long Island, New York City, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio, where he currently serves. In addition to his life and work in the Church, Dean Owen is also a community activist.
THE CATHEDRAL'S STORY
From the initial founding of Christ Church, in 1817 by then missionary Rev. (future Bishop and Presiding Bishop) Philander Chase, to the Very Reverend Owen C. Thompson becoming the first African American Dean of the Cathedral in 2021, our history is intertwined with economic and political events, social change, and advances in knowledge.
Experience Christ Church Cathedral across two hundred years of history through our vibrant timeline, organized into twenty-five-year periods, that tells the story of:
Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral for the Diocese of Southern Ohio and the beautiful city of Cincinnati. As the Cathedral, we endeavor to be Christ’s prophetic presence in the city, offer sanctuary to all people, awaken them to their belovedness in God, and lead the way in making Cincinnati a more just and equitable place.
Christ Church Cathedral is part of the Episcopal Church, a denomination striving imperfectly and sincerely to offer Jesus’ radical hospitality to all. Episcopalians believe in a loving, liberating, and life-giving God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that God formed all things in love, and that God loves you – no exceptions.
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