Stines, Henri Alexandre

Henri Alexandre Stines was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on October 29, 1923. He completed his theological training at Seminaire Theologique, the Episcopal seminary in Port-au-Prince, and was ordained in Haiti as a deacon in 1945 and a priest in 1947. The following year, Stines received his Master of Divinity from General Theological Seminary.

After immigrating to the United States in 1950, Stines first served as vicar at St. James Episcopal Church in Charleston, West Virginia. In 1953 Stines began a long career of revitalizing struggling churches when he assumed leadership of Grace Episcopal Church, Detroit, Michigan. Under eleven years of his stewardship, Grace Church grew from fewer than 100 members to over 1200, making it one of the most active multiracial Episcopal churches in Detroit.

After a stint as Director of Southern Field Service for the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Race Unity (1964-1966), during which time he led protests against segregation and coordinated Southern congregations involved in justice ministry, Stines returned to direct ministry by accepting a position at the Church of the Atonement in Washington, D.C. In 1969, he moved to All Souls Episcopal Church in Berkeley, California, broadening its membership to the entire Bay area and offering educational programs attuned to social concerns of the community. Stines returned to Chicago in 1972, this time to Trinity Episcopal Church, growing it from fewer than 25 members in 1972 to more than 225 members by 1984 with a committed vestry, innovative liturgies in French and Spanish, and special ministries to the elderly and homebound. Stines retired from parish ministry in 1986, although he continued to serve as an interim priest in Chicago and New Jersey until 1990.

Henri Alexandre Stines died on March 8, 1995.