Meeting or Sleeping at St. Stephen's Church

Dozens of organizations use our auditorium, dining room, and sanctuary evenings and weekends. In one recent three-month period, the building was used over 100 times evenings and weekends for various events. Here's some of what has happened in our building recently:

Frequently each year we open our doors to people needing a place to sleep while participating in protests. Three times each year we host the Catholic Worker/Atlantic Life Community's "Faith and Resistance Retreat:" up to 100 people going forth from St. Stephen's over the course of 3-4 days to witness for peace. We've also provided sleeping space for Students Against Sweatshops, the Million Worker March, and on one memorable night in 2005, for 600 participants in the Women's March.

Neighborhood organizations that have used our rooms for meetings include the Urban Village Corporation, our neighborhood Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC), and the Monroe Street Association. Tenant rights groups and tenants associations from neighboring buildings meet at St. Stephen's.

The DC Anti-War Network, the Mobilization for Global Justice, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and the International Socialists Organization hold meetings regularly at St. Stephen's. Help the Homeless holds twice-a-year parties for homeless children.

On many Saturday nights, our dining room is used by Salvadorans for family events that are traditionally celebrated with a wide group of friends: first birthday parties and the coming-of-age party called a Quincianera, which includes the renewal of baptismal vows in our sanctuary.

Meetings

St. Stephen's Church is glad to provide community groups with use of its two large meeting rooms, the Auditorium and the Dining Room.

The Auditorium holds up to 100 people. It has a stage. The Auditorium is on the second floor of the building and is accessible to people with disabilities only through an indirect way, as the primary access is up a flight of stairs from the 16th-Street side door.

The Dining Room holds up to 200 people and is directly accessible by people with disabilities.

Both rooms are available evenings and at some weekend times. For more information, please contact the church office (email and phone info below).

Sleeping at St. Stephen's Church

St. Stephen's Church is pleased to offer sleeping space on our floors to groups travelling to Washington, DC, for protests, conferences, or other events. St. Stephen’s has offered its space since the 1960s; tens of thousands of people have slept on our floors over the years, protesting various wars, demanding equal rights, witnessing for peace at military arms bazaars and at the Pentagon, protesting international structures that support inequalities, or attending conferences or learning about life in the inner city. Download our information sheet or the application for sleeping at St. Stephen's.