What We Do

Choristers performing at Westmister Abbey Summer 2023

  • Providing funds for many projects and initiatives around the Cathedral

  • Supporting the music program

  • Financing the Cathedral's many social services, including the Soup Kitchen

  • Hosting visiting groups

The Friends of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine has been an active and supportive group for over a century, and contributes to a variety of programs and initiative around St. John the Divine that include:

Compass Rose Medallion
Pilgrim's frieze over the center entrance

Since 1908 , the group, (formerly known as The Laymen’s Club), has been dedicated to bringing the Cathedral of St. John the Divine's mission and work to the awareness of the many communities it serves. In addition to sponsoring capital improvement projects for the Cathedral, the Friends sponsors lectures on subjects relating to the construction, mission, and the role of cathedrals throughout history, and provides social opportunities for fellowship for its members.

The Friends’ more noteworthy contributions are many, including sponsoring the following in recent decades:

  • In 2025, the centennial celebration of the construction of the Great Nave, 1925-41

  • The Organ Scholar program since its inception in 2022

  • Financial aid to the professional singers in the choir who were sidelined during the 2020-COVID epidemic

  • Support of the Cathedral School Choristers on their 2023 Summer trip to Westminster Abbey

  • The refitting of the Great Bronze Doors, 2020

  • The rebuilding of the Grand Staircase, 2016 (and its initial completion in 1941)

  • Commissioning the “Centennial Anthem” by composer Lee Hoiby for the re-dedication of the Cathedral, 2008

  • The repair of the roof of St. James Chapel, 2006

  • The renovation of the Ithiel Towne Building, 2005

  • The Compass Rose Medallion in the Great Choir - the symbol of the worldwide Anglican Communion – as a memorial to its designer, Canon Edward N. West, the beloved sub-Dean of the Cathedral, 1992

  • Seed money for creation of the Cathedral Homeless Shelter and Soup Kitchen 1983

  • Exhibition of architectural drawings of the Cathedral at the Union League Club in New York, 1976

  • Completion of the "Pilgrims' Frieze" over the Great Bronze Doors depicting pilgrims of all races and nations, 1965

  • The jeweled Cross of New York, in memory of Bishop Manning, 1950

  • Completion and dedication of the Pilgrims’ Pavement in the nave, 1934, as part of the first great fundraising campaign under Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1920s.