This Sunday, the Spirited Brunch is back. Nearly two dozen congregations are planning to provide free samples of dishes representative of their memberships or spiritual perspectives.
It’s not precisely the same lineup as last year. There are always special occasions and construction projects to consider, so the participant list tends to vary. But know that if you were counting on trying the hummus at the Central Mosque of Charleston, they’ll likely rejoin the roster in 2024. By contrast, The French Protestant Huguenot Church—which had to sit out the festivities in 2022 because the event coincided with its yearly French service—is back with its much-adored Huguenot torte.
In other words, even if you’ve Spirited Brunched before, you’re likely to encounter something new this time around—perhaps at a congregation which hasn’t participated previously, such as Mother Emanuel AME Church.
But what never changes are the opportunities for learning, connecting, and rejoicing. I hope you’ll join us for our annual celebration of communities and the foods which strengthen them.
Everyone is welcome to visit the below houses of worship from 12:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. There is no set itinerary for the tour: You can visit all, one, or some congregations in whatever order you choose. Regardless of which route you take, the event is entirely free, and no pre-registration is required.
See you soon.
The following houses of worship are participating in the Spirited Brunch on Sunday, April 23. If you’re taking the tour, you can access the same overview through a mobile app illustrated with images of the congregations and annotated with parking advice. Attendees can also pick up printed maps at Spirited Brunch headquarters at the Alumni Center, 86 Wentworth St.
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, 120 Broad St.
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, founded in 1821, is the only Catholic Cathedral in the state of South Carolina. The current Cathedral was consecrated in 1907. The steeple and bells were added in 2010 and an interior renovation was completed in July 2020.
In recognition of its Irish heritage, the Cathedral is serving pimento cheese mashed potatoes, as well as homemade desserts provided by the Cathedral Women’s Club.
Know before you go: Tours will be offered only on the half hour from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Please gather on the front steps of the Cathedral.
Charleston Baha’i Community, 2 Desportes Ct.
The Baha’i Spiritual Assembly, the local branch of an almost 200-year-old faith that stresses the oneness of mankind and the oneness of world religions, in 2003 opened the nation’s first Baha’i museum in the Charleston single house that was the boyhood home of Louis G. Gregory. Gregory, a prominent Baha’i teacher, was influential in bringing fellow Black South Carolinians to the faith.
The community will serve a diverse selection of fruit as a nod to a quote from the faith’s founder, Baha’u’llah: “Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch…So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.”
Circular Congregational Church, 150 Meeting St.
Charles Towne’s English Congregationalists, Scottish Presbyterians, and French Huguenots, better known as dissenters, in the early 1680s co-founded the congregation that would later be known as Circular.
Affiliated with the United Church of Christ, Circular is serving congregational favorites including homemade banana muffins, cinnamon donut holes, cheese crisps, roasted nuts, olive dip, and basil lemonade. According to an organizer, at least one of the dishes will be suitable for vegans.
Bonus: Members of the church encourage visitors to visit its “famous graveyard.”
First Church of Christ, Scientist, 137 Moultrie St.
Charleston’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, began informally with an 1896 meeting of a small group of Charlestonians. In 1899, the congregation received its charter from The Mother Church in Boston; it’s now housed in its second building, completed in 1955.
For Spirited Brunch, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Charleston is serving bread “with a message inside,” as well as local honey. An organizer explains as “devoted followers of Christ Jesus’ word and works,” they’re following His example of sharing “the substance and sweetness of love reflected in love.”
Bonus: First Church of Christ, Scientist, will conduct sanctuary tours during the event and distribute a handout with information about the church’s history.
The French Protestant Huguenot Church, 44 Queen St.
The only active Huguenot church in the Western Hemisphere, The French Huguenot Church traces its roots to the 1680s, when the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes took away French Protestants’ freedom to practice their religion without fear of state persecution. Refugees and their descendants held services in French into the 1800s.
Today, the Huguenot Church is made up of parishioners from various backgrounds and denominations, an approach symbolized by the Huguenot torte it plans to slice for visitors. Huguenot torte, an apple-nut crisp, doesn’t have anything to do with the original Huguenots. But a Charlestonian who brought the Missourian recipe home from a 1930s trip to Texas served the dessert at Huguenot Tavern on Queen Street.
Know before you go: The church is offering sanctuary tours, but the torte will be served in a nearby building at this address.
Grace Church Cathedral, 98 Wentworth St.
Founded in 1846, Grace Church Cathedral in 2015 was designated as the cathedral of The Episcopal Church in South Carolina diocese. As a preview of its annual tearoom, which annually raises $80,000 for charity, Grace is serving pimento cheese sandwiches, brownies, and iced tea. This year’s tearoom will be held May 29-June 3.
Bonus: Grace’s cookbook, which includes a recipe for the church’s signature okra soup, will be available for sale in the church bookstore.
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 30 Race St.
South Carolina’s first Greek Orthodox church opened in 1911 on Fishburne and St. Philip streets; the original church was torn down to make room for Interstate 26. Holy Trinity annually hosts the city’s oldest festival, during which thousands of gyro platters are sold. “Our culture is part and parcel of our faith and heritage,” an organizer says.
This year, Holy Trinity is serving bougatsa, a Greek custard pie made with phyllo, as well as baklava, spanakopita, and Greek yogurt with honey.
Bonus: Sanctuary tours will be offered during the event, and the church’s award-winning cookbook will be available for sale.
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, 90 Hasell St.
First founded in 1749, KKBE is now the longest-running Reform Jewish congregation in the country. It’s serving rugelach, black-and-white cookies and babka because the cookies and sweet yeast cake, traditional in Ashkenazi Jewish households, are served after weekly Shabbat services.
Bonus: KKBE will conduct sanctuary tours and sell its cookbook during the event.
Know before you go: Strollers aren’t permitted on tours.
Mother Emanuel AME Church, 110 Calhoun St.
The oldest AME church in the South, Mother Emanuel is home to the oldest Black congregation south of Baltimore. Founded in 1816 by 1000 secessionists from the Methodist Church, the church led by Reverend Morris Brown was terrorized by white South Carolinians following revelations of a planned uprising by enslaved Africans.
In 1865, following decades of covert worship, the congregation purchased the site of its current building, the 1892 successor to a church severely damaged by the 1886 earthquake. A “major restoration project” is now underway.
Mother Emanuel was placed on the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Network in 2021, six years after a self-proclaimed white supremacist opened fire on a Wednesday night Bible study group, killing nine of the 12 people gathered.
According to the church’s historian, Mother Emanuel is serving desserts chosen to represent the congregation’s spirit and resilience.
Know before you go: The church is offering sanctuary tours, but the snacks will be served in Building 106, adjacent to the main building.
St. Johannes Lutheran Church, 48 Hasell St.
When St. Matthews moved to King Street in 1878, a group of members decided to return to the church’s original location and conduct services in German; St. Johannes stuck to German until 1910. It will serve German apple cake and tea, in keeping with the menu for St. Johannes’ twice-yearly dessert tearooms.
Bonus: The church will offer sanctuary tours during the event. Tearoom cookbooks will also be available for sale.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 16 Thomas St.
Organized on Easter Day 1865 by free black Episcopalians who had nowhere to worship, St. Mark’s now has a diverse membership. But in honor of its founders, and its members who are descended from them, St. Mark’s is serving okra pilau and collard greens.
Bonus: The church will offer sanctuary tours during the event.
St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, 624 Rutledge Ave.
St. Paul recently celebrated its 130th anniversary with the motto, “We’re still standing.” The predominantly Black congregation is serving she-crab soup for the Spirited Brunch because the dish has deep roots in the Lowcountry, same as St. Paul’s.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 67 Anson St.
Distinguished as the first Episcopal church in the U.S. to neither sell nor rent its pews, the 201-year-old St. Stephens moved into its current building after the Great Fire of 1835. It plans to serve cheese straws, a favorite item from its longstanding reception teas that follow Sunday services.
An organizer says the congregation hopes the snack “exemplifies the warm and accepting hospitality of our church: We are a diverse and inclusive ‘house of prayer for all people,’ centered on social justice.”
The Unitarian Church in Charleston, 4 Archdale St.
The second-oldest church on the peninsula, The Unitarian Church in Charleston is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Because the Unitarian faith has no religiously significant foods, the congregation is serving Thomas Jefferson’s deviled eggs and Abigail Adams’ apple pan dowdy; both presidential families practiced Unitarianism.
Bonus: During the event, the church will offer tours of its sanctuary and courtyard. Its cookbook also will be available for sale.
The following congregations will table in the Alumni Center, 86 Wentworth St.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a worldwide presence, with more than 16 million members. Those living here will serve Salt Lake City temple-shaped chocolates and mini dinner rolls with homemade strawberry preserves and honey: Bread represents the body of Jesus; honey symbolizes the industriousness of bees.
Hindu Temple of Charleston
The Hindu Temple is relatively new to the Spirited Brunch, but as Randhir S. Makkar notes, “We are the oldest religion in the world.” The Hindu Temple of Charleston moved into its West Ashley home in 2010; interested tourgoers can arrange to visit on another day, Makkar says. Hindu Temple members plan to serve rice biryani as an example of a prasad, or vegetarian dish offered to a deity during worship.
Iglesia de Dios Nuevo Comienzo
The six-year-old Nuevo Comienzo started as a Bible study group in the home of pastors’ Israel and Valerie Ortiz. It’s grown into a “multicultural, multi-generational congregation that worships the Lord with the sounds, colors and customs” of the different Latin American countries represented by its members. Nuevo Comienzo will serve pastries and chili-spiced fruit cups in honor of their birthplaces.
Sikh Gurdwara Nanak Dabar
After years of borrowing space from the Hindu Temple, the Charleston area Sikh community in 2021 opened its own gurdwara in Goose Creek. At all gurdwaras around the world, a shared vegetarian meal is served freely. To offer a taste of that langar, volunteers from the community will serve meatless pulao, potato cutlets and a sweet pudding which has been blessed.
Victory Family Summerville
One of half a dozen South Carolina parishes of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Victory Family belongs to a Pentecostal megachurch created in Lagos, Nigeria in 1952. In recognition of its ties to West Africa, where the RCCG is still headquartered, Victory will serve jollof rice.
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