Bring on the lazy, hazy day of Summer Holidays for churchgoers but not for Maine’s clergy

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Summer in Maine brings with it jammed highways, crowded sidewalks and packed beaches, even for churchgoers.

Christians do not put their faith on vacation just because they have escaped the working world for a few weeks, and worshippers far from home attend as many as 100 seasonal churches, including at least one open for the winter ski season in western Maine. Exact numbers are elusive because nondenominational chapels such as the one in Lakeview Plantation are maintained by a few members of a community rather than a denomination.

Roman Catholics and Episcopalians maintain the largest number of chapels, most built at the turn of the century when Maine became a summer tourist destination for wealthy Bostonians and New Yorkers. Communities such as North Haven, Islesboro and Winter Harbor have summer churches for both denominations.

But keeping the historic chapels maintained and staffed is difficult. Vacationing and retired Episcopal priests serve the 18 chapels in Maine, but some are part of year-round parishes, making pastors such as the Rev. Ann Kidder do double duty in the summer.

Pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Southwest Harbor, Kidder also serves St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church at Seal Cove and her parishioners double in July and August.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland refers to these summer chapels as mission churches, and it is difficult to find priests for Mass, said Marc Mutty, diocese spokesman. Retired priests sometimes are called into service, but mostly working priests get the summer chores.

St. Margaret’s Catholic Mission in Winter Harbor has been served by the same priest each summer for almost 40 years during which the Brewer native has worked with five different pastors of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. The Rev. Richard MacDonough teaches at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, Calif., but he grew up on Tibbetts Street in Brewer and attended St. Teresa’s Catholic Church on South Main Street. He has been a Sulpician priest, an order devoted to teaching, since 1960 and has conducted Mass at St. Margaret’s for 37 years.

When he first began serving the tiny church, MacDonough bought a brand-new 1965 Volkswagen Beetle. He still drives the white bug in summer in Maine, and the rest of the year, stores it in a friend’s barn. “I go from a 12-lane highway to this,” he said, pointing to the narrow, winding Grindstone Avenue where the church is located.

“Teaching is tough and getting tougher,” he added, standing on the steps of St. Margaret’s after a recent Saturday afternoon Mass. “People here are much more grateful to see me.”

There are 52 mission churches like St. Margaret’s in the diocese. While most are only open in the summer, others are small year-round churches that are not self-supporting.

St. Margaret’s is one of two summer chapels supervised by St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ellsworth. The parish also is responsible for Our Lady of the Lake Mission at Green Lake and priests from St. Joseph conduct a summer Sunday Mass at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill.

MacDonough and the Rev. L. James Michaud, pastor of St. Joseph’s, rotate Masses during weekends. St. Joseph’s latecomers must stand for services. Between 70 and 150 worshippers attend Mass at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill and most Sundays the chapel at Green Lake has people standing in the doorway.

Ellsworth has served as a mission center for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland for more than 150 years. The Rev. John Bapst, for whom the former Catholic high school in Bangor is named, was the first resident priest, ministering to Catholics from Eastport to Skowhegan.

Allan Smallidge, author of “A Summering Place: Winter Harbor, Maine – The Early Years,” speculated the mission probably was built for Irish maids who accompanied summer residents to Maine and wanted to attend Sunday Mass. MacDonough discovered that St. Margaret’s was served by Sulpicians from Baltimore who lived at the Grindstone Inn. He even recognized some of the names of the chaplains who signed a record book kept by the mission.

Those historical connections apply not only to the priests who have served the chapel, but its lay leaders. A few years ago, Dexter and Mary Coffin funded a complete renovation of St. Margaret’s. The interior of the church has rough-hewn beams and pine shingles that cover the walls. Long wooden kneelers are covered in Kelly green vinyl and pew cushions have been reupholstered.

Paul and Barbara Bianchi live in Winter Harbor year round. Now that the chapel at the Naval Station is closed, they must travel to Ellsworth for Mass in the winter. Barbara said she prefers the chapel on Grindstone Neck. “It is small and nonintimidating. Because of that, it’s easier to get into your spirituality here. And, it’s usually very quiet.”

More than 100 miles from Winter Harbor on the shores of Schoodic Lake, worshippers gather Sunday morning at the tiny Lake View Community Building built as a church in 1892, a nondenominational chapel where vacationers of many faiths come together.

The chapel was built for workers in the spool factory from the 1890s to the 1920s. About 200 families lived in company housing on the lake and their pictures line the walls of the church basement. “They had their own school, store and hospital,” said Carl Hamlin, 83, of Milo, who, with his wife Althea, maintains the building. “They had their own fire department and pulled the equipment by hand. There were three steamboats operating on the lake then. But, they cut all the usable white birch and closed everything down in 1923. They sold the houses for a $1 apiece.”

They were snatched up by local families and Lake View became Lakeview Plantation, a summer community with 43 year-round residents, according to the latest census data. On Election Day, voters cast their ballots in the church basement. While the building may serve multiple functions, on Sunday mornings in July and August it is a house of worship.

The Rev. Robert Goodwin, a retired United Methodist minister who lives in Newton, N.J., has held services near his summer home on Schoodic Lake for 20 years. Each summer he picks a topic to study with the congregation. He chose the Kingdom of God for the summer of 2001.

Although it is a community building, the interior looks like a church. Pressed tin covers the walls and there are two organs – one pump, the other electric – on either side of the altar. The pews are painted white and brown with red cushions. Worshippers can see the lake through the chapel windows and the hymnals have “United Baptist Church” printed on their covers. Faux stained glass covers the outhouse door.

Laura Schnell of Cape Coral, Fla., has summered on Schoodic Lake for more than 40 years.

She confessed she attends church more often in Maine than at home and that attending church in Lakeview is as much about being part of the community as it is about worship.

Many who summer in this Piscataquis County community, such as Ron and Judy Dodson of Richmond, Va., have roots in the area. Judy Morris Dodson was born in Bangor and spent her summers on the lake not far from her mother’s hometown of Milo. Last weekend, Rick Madison, a friend from Richmond, joined the Dodsons at church. It was Madison’s first visit to Maine.

“It’s beautiful, quiet and peaceful here,” he observed. “I saw a double rainbow over the lake last night. I’ve never seen that before in my life.”