Our Story

History of St. Thomas Anglican

St. Thomas Anglican Church began in December, 1992, when about a dozen people met in the Sargentville Chapel on the Blue Hill Peninsula in response to newspaper ads placed by Ellen and David Simmons. Since it was Advent season, they decided to call themselves the Church of the Advent. The Rev. James Dumond agreed to lead the services on Saturdays.

 For ten years, beginning in April 1994, the church rented space at the Methodist Church in Ellsworth, holding services on Sundays. During that time, the name of the church was changed to St. Thomas, the name of the saint nearest to the church’s birthday. In 1998, Fr. Dumond  needed a sabbatical, and the Rev. Granville Henthorne agreed to come two Sundays a month. Congregant Frank Gray, who had become a deacon in 1997, conducted Morning Prayer on the other Sundays.

 In April 2004, services were moved temporarily to the White Birches Restaurant outside of Ellsworth, while Fr. Henthorne celebrated Communion every Sunday and led the search for a site  on which to build a church. A year later, the property on the Bangor Road was acquired, and the first service was held in the new building on December 18, 2005. Bishop George Langberg consecrated the church in June, 2006, and Fr. Henthorne became the rector.

 In July 2006 and November 2008, two men--Ed Kalish and Ian Dunn, respectively--joined the congregation and became seminarians at the Logos House of Theological Studies, founded by Fr. Henthorne. Ed Kalish was ordained a deacon in May, 2009, while Ian Dunn became a deacon in January, 2010. Meanwhile, Dcn. Gray was ordained a priest in August, 2008. St. Thomas started the Resurrection Mission in Camden, and Fr. Gray celebrated services there once a month. Dcn. Kalish was sent to do a weekly service at the mission of Holy Trinity in Waterville in April of 2010, which he did for four-and-a-half years.  Dcn. Dunn became assistant to Fr. Henthorne in 2011, and when Fr. Henthorne died in October of 2012, Dcn. Dunn became the deacon-in- charge.

 Deacons Dunn and Kalish were ordained as priests in July, 2013.  Fr. Dunn became the priest-in-charge at St. Thomas and was installed as the rector in March, 2014.   That August, Fr. Dunn relocated to California due to a transfer in his secular job.  During the transition, St. Thomas held Holy Communion services every Sunday with Fr. Gray (associate priest of St. Thomas), Fr. Dumond, Fr. Amos Mihanda (from St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Portland, ME) celebrating, and sometimes Morning Prayer services with student deacon Kevin Kelly.   In November 2014, Fr. Ed Kalish started celebrating Communion Service, becoming the Interim Priest of St. Thomas. and being installed as Rector in June 2016. Kevin Kelly, long time member of St. Thomas, was ordained as a deacon in May 2015, and Subdeacon Leroy Weed, another long time member, was ordained a deacon in August 2017.

In January of 2020, Fr. Kevin Holsapple was installed as Vicar.