Preparations for the 2017 summer season are complete at All Saints By-the Sea Episcopal Chapel located on Southport Island. Services will begin on Sunday, June 11 (Holy Communion at 8 and 10 a.m.), run throughout the summer, and conclude on Sunday, Sept. 10.

The 2017 season opens with St. Columba’s Rev. Maria Hoecker (June 11). Rev. Heoecker is well known at All Saints. Both churches work together throughout the year to support a Joint Outreach Program which assists people in the Southport and Boothbay region.

Rev. Hoecker is followed by Rev. Paul Tunkle, retired rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, Maryland. Rev. Tunkle has most recently served as part-time priest in charge at St. Philip’s in Wiscasset. (June 18, 25).

The Rev. Canon Charles LaFond returns to All Saints from Saint John’s Cathedral in Denver, Colorado (July 2, 9). A prolific writer, his popular blog is about spiritual life, food, hospitality and generosity. Rev. Lafond served for several years as the chaplain of the New Hampshire State Senate.

The Right Reverend Kirk Smith, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona (July 16, 23), has authored two books during his episcopate. In 2013, he and three fellow ecumenical bishops (Catholic, Lutheran and United Methodist) wrote “Bishops on the Border: Pastoral Responses to Immigration” about their common experiences with key immigration issues, especially those being played out in the state of Arizona. “Augustine’s Relic: Lessons from the Oldest Book in England” was published in 2016.

The Very Reverend Jeanne Finan serves as the dean and rector of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Burlington, Vermont (July 30, Aug 6). Her work at the cathedral has focused on increasing the digital presence of the cathedral working toward financial sustainability and encouraging reflection on what it means to be an urban cathedral in the 21st century.

Mark Beckwith, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey, returns to All Saints for services on Aug 13. Throughout his career, he has been involved in finding solutions to social problems.  During his tenure as rector of All Saints Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, the congregation was recognized nationally for its neighborhood ministry.

The retired Right Reverend Charles von Rosenberg will preach on Aug 20, 27. As provisional bishop of South Carolina, he was called to reorganize the diocese after a breakaway group of clergy announced that they had left the Episcopal Church. Under von Rosenberg’s leadership twenty-two churches remain part of the Episcopal Church and eight new mission churches have since formed and are officially recognized by the Episcopal Church of South Carolina and the Anglican Communion.

The summer concludes with the return of theologian and writer Rev. Martin Smith. Trained at Oxford, Smith was for many years a member of the oldest religious order for member in the Anglican Community. More recently, he was on the staff of the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C.

All guest preachers conduct the popular and informal 9 a.m. porch discussion group each Tuesday morning following their Sunday preaching. All are invited.

Following last year’s retirement of organist Calvin Johannson, All Saints welcomes four guest organists this summer: Aims McGuiness, Sunday organist at Our Merciful Savior Episcopal Church and for mid-week services at Saint Martin’s Chapel at Saint John’s Cathedral, Denver, Colorado (June 11 – July 2, September 10); Charles A. Sundquist, choral director, Mountain Lakes High School, Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, organ recitalist. (July 9-30); Marjorie Harrison Proctor, retired organist and choirmaster (August 6-20); and Timothy Harrell, organist and choirmaster, Trinity Episcopal Church, Solebury, Pennsylvania, organ recitalist. (August 27, September 3).

On Sunday, July 23 at 4 p.m., the chapel’s new digital organ will be dedicated and celebrated in a recital by Sean Fleming, organist at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Newcastle. A reception will follow on the deck.

All Saints by-the-Sea is on Southport Island on All Saints Road about two miles on your left as you drive south on Route 238 (look for the Episcopal Church sign by the side of the road). Parking is available along Route 238, or if necessary, in the limited number of handicapped parking spaces off All Saints Road. A golf cart will ferry persons from the handicapped lot to the church steps. You may also come to church by private boat or by the tour boat Novelty, which leaves Boothbay Harbor from Pier 8 at 9 a.m. Novelty picks up passengers from the church dock at 11:40 a.m. for return to Boothbay Harbor.