Church of the Healing Shrine

For three decades the Spiritualist Church of the Healing Shrine was one of the most active and well attended Spiritualist Churches in Rochester. The Church was founded and lead by Rev. Alice M. Paige. 

I unfortunately couldn't find too many personal details about Rev. Alice, but what I did find was fascinating and makes a picture of a woman dedicated to serving the community of Rochester. Newspaper archives show Mrs. Alice Paige serving in various Rochester Churches affiliated with the General Assembly of Spiritualists in 1940, and about a year later was ordained with the General Assembly of Spiritualists as a Reverend.

Rev. Alice chartered her Church as the Spiritualist Church of the Healing Shrine with the General Assembly of Spiritualists. Originally meeting in her home, the Church of the Healing Shrine moved into the location of what was previously known as The Spiritualist Church of True Brotherhood, or the Mother Harrs Church. This was the original location of Divine Inspiration which had been acquired by the General Assembly. 

The Church of the Healing Shrine operated out of this location until about 1949 where services were held in the Milner Hotel. Eventually the Church came to mainly hold services in Rev. Alice's home on Kenwood Ave. 

The Church was incredibly active, with Sunday and Wednesday Night Services, Bible Study, regular Seances, and Monday evening Classes on Spiritualism. The Church had guest speakers and mediums from many other Spiritualist Churches around the country, as well as Canada and England. 

The last recorded service in the Newspaper archives was in September 1965. Rev. Alice passed away in 1976 at 87 years old, her body was laid to rest in Mt. Hope Cemetery.