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Our Leadership Team

We are a Parish in the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton, under the leadership of Bishop David Edwards.
"Historically, the bishop’s role has been divided into several parts chiefly:

• The chief shepherd in the diocese;
• The guardian of the Faith;
• A focus for unity in the diocese;
• A participant in the wider councils (sels) of the Church."

​           (Visit our Diocesan Website for more information.)

Rev. Rob Montgomery 
(Priest-in-Charge)

Rev. Rob began serving as our Priest-in-Charge in August 2019.
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A graduate of the Wycliffe College (U of T), Rob and his young family moved to the neighbourhood in 2016. In addition to serving at St. Luke’s, he is also the School Chaplain at Rothesay Netherwood School (beginning in the Fall of 2018).
 
In his own time he enjoys hiking, reading, playing music, board games, collecting sea glass, and conversations over coffee or tea.
 
He loves helping others learn about the Good News of Jesus Christ, and he is always seeking to help us grow deeper in love with God and with those all around us.
 
If you would like to learn more about Rob, he would be happy to hear from you.

Email Rev. Rob

Rosemarie Kingston
​(Parish Warden)

Rosemarie is a graduate of UNB with a B. Sc. and B. Ed and a retired teacher.  She is the mother of  two children, one of each, and also the grandmother of a grandson and granddaughter - the joy of my life.

As a child, she would spend several weeks in the summer with her paternal grandparents in Woodstock.  Every day, at 11:00 am her grandmother would start dinner.  Meat, usually lamb, was cooked in the oven, potatoes with an onion would be placed on top of the stove to boil.  Vegetables would be fresh from the garden and most likely there would be a pie warming in the warming of the old wood stove.  While dinner was cooking, her grandmother would take out her Bible, sit down and rock in her rocking chair, and read it.  As Rosemarie watched her grandmother, she was immediately struck by her grandmother's sense of calm and serenity.  She wanted that serenity or peace that passes all understanding so she started attending church in her early twenties. 
 
Rosemarie is in love with the Anglican Church because of the mission work we do.  Mission can be simple as making a pot of soup, a casserole for inner city mission, bowling for child hunger, knitting baby blankets for the bales for northern Canada or supporting a high School in Uganda. 
 
Children are most welcome at St. Luke's.  We would love to have you and your loved ones join us at St. Luke's.

Joyce McElman
(Parish Warden)

Joyce has been a member of St. Luke’s since moving to Gondola Point in 1977, with her husband Don and two boys, Mark and David.

​She has been on Vestry for several terms, served as Treasurer for a three year term when we were a three point Parish, and served for a two year term as Warden in the late 1990’s. She has been a lay reader for approximately 10 years, and also organizes the volunteers for Altar Guild duties. She is an active member of St. Luke’s ACW, and attends the monthly Book Club that is sponsored by our ACW Branch.

Since retiring from her career as a teacher of high school Math in 2002, she and Don have enjoyed traveling to many interesting places. They have hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, the Cotswold Trail in England and closer to home, portions of the Fundy footpath and the Dobson Trail. They belong to a Bowling league and are members of the Hampton Resource Center where you will probably find them every Thursday at noon for lunch.

There are many other wonderful and dedicated people that make up our Parish Family at St. Luke's GP, and the best way to meet them would be to come out on a Sunday morning for one of our worship services, and then stay afterwards for a meal in the Parish Hall. 

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A Bit of Our
​Church's History

History of St. Luke’s Church Building

Built in 1831-1833 and restored in the 1990's, St. Luke's, Gondola Point is a fine vernacular example of classical architecture and represents the culmination of the pioneering phase of the Anglican Church in eastern Canada. The historical significance of this church, which has survived intact and maintained its neoclassical integrity, was recognized and it was declared a National Historic Site.

Marion Beyea, the New Brunswick representative on the board overseeing National Historic Sites, was master of ceremonies for the occasion. The Rev. Canon James Irvine, rector, and MP Paul Zed unveiled the Historic Sites plaque. Archdeacon Harold Hazen, representing the Bishop, took the prayer of blessing of the cairn. Also among the official party were Peter LeBlanc, M.L.A., representing the Premier; Leslie Hamilton-Brown, Mayor of the Village of Gondola Point; Stephen Flood, the architect supervising the restoration of the church; and church wardens Peter Little and Edwin Patterson.

The church, built as a chapel of ease for the Parish of Hampton in the Diocese of Nova Scotia, testifies to the efforts of Bishop John Inglis to spread Anglicanism throughout this diocese through church construction. Attributed to Edwin Fairweather, the design is noteworthy for its plan, symmetry, fine proportions, and classical details, which speak eloquently of the inheritance of British classicism on colonial building. St. Luke's remained a chapel of ease until 1988 when it became the parish church of Gondola Point.

The Diocese of Fredericton was not set apart from the Diocese of Nova Scotia until 1845, at which time the Rt. Rev. John Medley was consecrated in Lambeth Palace, London, and came out to New Brunswick to exercise his episcopate. Bishop Medley did not appreciate the pedestrian lines of the neoclassical style. Although his influence can be seen in subtle ways in St Luke's, his mark on Trinity Church, Kingston, for instance is ruthless. Little remains of its classical design and the casual observer might think Trinity, the oldest church in the diocese, is in fact younger than St Luke's, 50 years her junior.

Suffice it to say, Bishop Medley did not copy the style of St Luke's anywhere in his diocese. St Luke's is the only Georgian style church extant in the Diocese of Fredericton left unscathed by his neo-Gothic Revival.

St. Luke's Georgian style is reminiscent of what the Loyalists would have left in the New England colonies before coming north in the late eighteenth century. The paladian window in the east wall, the six nave windows' the windows in the porch and sacristy, as well as that in the belfry, are all Georgian and worthy of note.

They are all stained glass, with the exception of the new Georgian window placed in the porch, and depict geometric designs, indicative of the mindset of the nineteenth century Churchman eschewing the depiction of any graven images.

Plans for the restoration of St. Luke's were begun in 1990 with work getting underway in the summer of 1991. The building was rewired, insulated, a new pine floor laid down and oak pews (crafted by parishioner Robert McDermott) and an oak Communion Rail installed.

The new pews replicate the Box Pew ends and front panels, thus ensuring the continuity of style while allowing at the same time more comfortable seating. The fourth row of pews back from the chancel step are recessed to allow for wheelchairs, and defines an appropriate place for the Gospel to be Proclaimed in the midst of the people.

At the Architect's insistence, there is no chancel carpet nor is there a carpet for the aisle. This is to ensure the integrity of the acoustics of the building. The hard surfaces provided by wood and the original plaster vaulted ceiling demonstrate the understanding of acoustics held by Edwin Fairweather and Justus Wetmore. Their effort has no been compromised!

The entrance to the restored church is gained off a bricked patio that allows for wheel chair access to the porch. At the architect's urging, the patio is framed with several large stones, allowing for seating as people gather, or as they linger after Service. The porch was designed to compliment the roof lines of the nave and to maintain the proportions suggested by the nave windows in relation to the height of the building.

The double-door entry remains as in the past, on the side of the porch.

The Sacristy, located off the chancel, on the Epistle Side, provides sufficient space for eucharistic ministers, layreaders, and acolytes along with their vestments and other furnishings that are stored for occasional use. The lines have been kept in proportion to the rest of the building so that it does not appear to be a recent addition, but an integral part of the whole.

To learn more about our current Building Renovation Project,
including ways to partner with us and donate towards it,
please visit our Building Restoration Project Page
or contact Terry (our Building Restoration Project Coordinator).

Building Restoration Project Page

Contact our Building Co-Ordinator