St. Thomas' Anglican Church is an historic

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massin ...

style

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church edifice built by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

Moose Factory, Ontario Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River (Ontario), Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English language ...

, Canada.

History

Construction began in 1864 but was not completed until 1885. St. Thomas' origins date to the late 1840s when officials of the Hudson's Bay Company requested the bishop of the

Anglican Diocese of Rupert's Land The Diocese of Rupert's Land is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is named for the historical British North American territory of Rupert's Land, which was contained within the ...

to send someone to continue the missionary work of the Rev. George Barnley, a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

minister who had been in Moose Factory from 1840 to 1848. The bishop sent an English schoolteacher,

John Horden John Horden (January 20, 1828Long, John S. (2003) ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', vol. 12. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 2013-12-10. – January 12, 1893) was the first Anglican Bishop of Moosonee, Canada, who for more ...

, who arrived on August 26, 1851, with his bride. Horden set about learning the local

Cree language Cree ( ; also known as Cree–Montagnais language, Montagnais–Naskapi language, Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 86,475 people across Canada in 2021, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to ...

and translating portions of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, the

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

and hymns into it. He also started a school and started holding services for what would become St. Thomas' Church. Horden was ordained to the priesthood while serving in Moose Factory and in 1872 became the first bishop of the

Anglican Diocese of Moosonee The Diocese of Moosonee is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario of the Anglican Church of Canada. History It was created in 1872 from part of the Diocese of Rupert's Land, in what is now the Province of the Northern Lights, and ...

whose see was then in Moose Factory.St. Thomas' Anglican church website
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Current use

St. Thomas' Anglican Church is still an active parish in the

predominantly made up of Cree elders. Services are conducted in the

and in English. Since October 2006, the historic church has not been used for services and needs significant repairs. The congregation uses another building that was formerly a Catholic church. The Rev. John B. Edmonds retired as priest in August 2008. In 2023, in conjunction with Moose Fort's 350th anniversary, the Moose River Heritage and Hospitality Association announced plans to restore St. Thomas' Church as a multipurpose community centre that can host church services as well as other civic and community events. The association is hosting "reconciliation" talks among community members to address the legacy of St. Thomas' former residential school and the future use of the space. The budget for the restoration is $2 million (Canadian), of which the association is seeking $1.5 million in government grants and $500,000 in private donations.

References

External links

St. Thomas' Anglican church

Panoramio listing for St. Thomas' Anglican Church with coordinates

Journals of the Rev. John B. Edmonds

Hidden Canada

National Trust Canada
{{Portal, Christianity Anglican church buildings in Ontario 19th-century Anglican church buildings in Canada Carpenter Gothic church buildings in Ontario Buildings and structures in Cochrane District