Rev. James Buchanan: The Church of Spiritual Love

The Spiritualist Church of Spiritual Love, often simply shortened to the Church of Spiritual Love was opened in 1968 by Rev. James A. Buchanan. The Church was located in the center of the South Wedge neighborhood on South Ave. 

A newspaper article described Rev. James as "a hefty, handsome man looking more like a defensive lineman than a spirit medium." I was also informed by an individual who knew him that he had a very good sense of humor and was openly gay. Another article stated He had been a natural medium since childhood and was well known through out the United States. 

Rev. James was ordained in Lily Dale, NY as a Spiritualist Minister and was the director of the Mediums Association of Lily Dale. The church was an independent Spiritualist Church and was described as "unaffiliated with other area Spiritualist Groups." The Church's motto was "the Spiritualist Church with a Spiritual Message." 

Most weekly Sunday services were held later in the afternoon at 3pm and occasionally as late as 7pm. They held regular Messages Circles, Healing Services, and Mediums' Day services. The Church often had guest speakers from other local Churches, as well as speakers from England, the Netherlands, and Canada. 

Rev. James was also a member of the Cassadaga Spiritualist Association, regularly visiting Florida to serve at Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp as well as various Spiritualist Churches in Tampa, Orlando, Miami, and other cities with Spiritualist communities. He eventually moved to Florida on a permanent basis in the 1970s. 

In November 1995 Rev. James was found in his apartment by concerned neighbors who hadn't seen him for several days, investigators would not give information about how he was killed but only that his body showed obvious signs of trauma and that his car was missing. According to neighbors he had a history of bringing men to his home and this is most likely what lead to his death. 

He was described as a good and sincere man, with a natural talent for mediumship, and quite a character when giving Messages. He was 65 years old.