Troy

Main line churches have abandoned many depressed urban neighborhoods as their parishioners have moved on, leaving empty churches behind.

Since 2010, the Episcopal Diocese of Albany has returned to the poverty-stricken North Central neighborhood. Its Oaks of Righteousness, or Troy Inner City Ministry, has worked to establish a foothold.

From seminary school, the Rev. Christina Hunter has followed her calling to North Central, working out of an apartment, then a park and a rented space in a shuttered diner renamed the Oaks Cafe Ministry Center at 2952 Sixth Ave. Now the ministry has moved again to the former rectory of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church.

"I just felt overwhelming love for the neighborhood and for the people who live here," said Hunter, 38, a former newspaper reporter.

North Central is a neighborhood where 28 percent of the housing units are empty and 48 percent of the residents live on incomes below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010-2014 American Community Survey estimates.

"There are a lot of challenges in the neighborhood. People who have seen loved ones, fathers, sons, go to jail. We try to connect them to the love of God," Hunter said.

Hunter and the Rev. Hannah Mudge, her co-pastor, were inspired by Isaiah 61:1-4 from which they drew the Oaks of Righteousness name for their ministry. The last verse advises, "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations."

They've built their congregation to 12 adults and they minister to about 50 children.

The two classmates from the Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pa., are now settling their ministry into the former St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church rectory at 3027 Sixth Ave. They've moved from the Oaks Cafe, which is a block south of the rectory. They wanted just the rectory, but they had to take the church, which closed in 2010, as a package deal. The Episcopal Diocese gave its blessing and bought the buildings for $1 about 10 months ago. They're in talks with another party to redevelop the church building as a base for a nonprofit.

Hunter; her husband, the Rev. Paul Hunter, who is assigned to the Cathedral of All Saints; and their 6-month-old daughter, Martha, have moved into the rectory. Mudge, who is on a leave, also lives there.

A donation of $100,000 from Trinity Church of Watervliet is allowing them to renovate the rectory, giving them more room than the storefront. They're ministering to their congregation, reaching out to the neighborhood children and holding a weekly food distribution.

"We definitely want this to be a safe place and where people can be fed physically and spiritually," Hunter said.

Bishop William H. Love supports the ministry. Love proposed naming the chapel that's being built in the rectory in honor of the closed St. Patrick's Church to reflect the history in North Central.

Plans are for Love to consecrate the chapel on St. Patrick's Day, 2017.

"We prayed for this," Hunter said about where their ministry has reached. They're looking to expand and to add prayer services.

kcrowe@timesunion.com • 518-454-5084 • @KennethCrowe