Archbishop Anne Germond to Visit Historic Chapel of the Intercession on St. Joseph Island
The Most Rev. Anne Germond, Archbishop of Algoma and Metropolitan of Ontario, will visit the Chapel of the Intercession at Llewellyn Beach (St. Joseph Island) on Sunday, July 5, where she will preach during the 10:30 a.m. service and rededicate the chapel’s recently restored historic organ.
The visit offers an opportunity not only to celebrate the restoration of a treasured instrument, but also to reflect on more than a century of Anglican history at one of the Diocese of Algoma’s most distinctive summer chapels.
The chapel’s summer ministry is led by the Rev. Elizabeth Kingston, a vocational deacon licensed in both the Diocese of Algoma and the Diocese of Ottawa. Kingston lives in Ottawa for approximately eight months of the year before returning to her cottage on St. Joseph Island each summer, where she serves the chapel community and continues to foster relationships between the island congregation and neighbouring Anglican communities.
“Llewellyn Beach was also affectionately known as ‘Bishop’s Beach,’” says Kingston. “Beginning in the early twentieth century, bishops from across North America made the shoreline a summer destination after the Rt. Rev. Arthur Llewellyn Williams, Bishop of Nebraska, established a presence here circa 1908. Despite the challenges of travel at the time, bishops from dioceses including Tennessee and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, followed, creating a tradition that shaped the community’s identity for generations.” That legacy continues today, she says, with descendants of many of those early families still maintaining connections to the area.
Kingston also points to the chapel’s relationship with the Garden River First Nation community, especially through St. John’s Church. One nearby cottage, once owned by Bishop Wise and later entrusted to the Sisters of the Transfiguration of Glendale, Ohio, housed a remarkable collection of handcrafted Ojibwe baskets.
“For generations, Indigenous people travelled down the river bringing these baskets to sell to the summer cottagers,” Kingston says. “When the cottage was sold a few years ago, we felt the baskets belonged back with the community.”
Approximately twenty baskets were subsequently gifted to the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre and Garden River First Nation in recognition of their cultural and historical significance. Services of dedication were later held at both St. John’s Anglican Church, Garden River, and the Chapel of the Intercession, bringing together members of Garden River, descendants of Chief Shingwauk, and Archbishop Anne in a shared act of remembrance and reconciliation.
This Sunday’s service will also celebrate the return of the chapel’s historic organ, painstakingly restored over the winter by organ builder Gary Schmidt in Kitchener. The instrument has now returned to its island home, where Archbishop Anne will formally rededicate it during the service.
Today, the Chapel of the Intercession remains an active part of the Parish of St. George and St. Joseph. In recent years, it has strengthened its relationship with St. John’s Anglican Church, Garden River, through shared worship and fellowship, reflecting an ongoing commitment to partnership and community.
Throughout the summer season, the Chapel of the Intercession gathers for Morning Prayer every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist is also offered when possible using the reserved sacrament, and visitors, cottagers, and members of the wider community are warmly welcomed.
All are welcome to attend the service at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 5, and to experience the unique history, beauty, and ministry of one of the Diocese of Algoma’s enduring places of summer worship.