Church of the Good Shepherd, Wakefield, West Quebec Deanery

It is curious how visitors see things when they visit a church that regular worshippers miss. Equally curious is how people who once were regular members but have moved away, come back for a visit and point out all the changes that have taken place—changes that the local congregation has long since gotten used to and have forgotten were changes at all.

That said, how do you prepare someone for entering the Church of the Good Shepherd, Wakefield for the first time. If, like a dog, they could only see in black and white, their initial impression is of a proper Anglican house of worship. The chancel is in front, with choir on either side, and the sanctuary defined up a step from the chancel.  The altar is front and centre, with the dark walnut reredos providing a contrast to the brass altar cross.  The font has been moved from its original position inside the main entrance when this church was built at the turn of the twentieth century to where the congregation can better see a baptism being performed.  There is nothing surprising about the arrangement of the furnishings. 

Advertisement

But for people entering Good Shepherd for the first time, they find themselves in a sensory environment most unusual in an Anglican church.  It can only be likened to as if one were viewing the world while swimming in a bowl of liquid Jell-O.  As originally designed, the ceiling was dark panelled wood, the wainscoting was dark paneled wood, with the pews, reredos and other furnishings all made of dark wood.  By painting white the ceiling and walls, the entire church interior has taken its colours from the chancel window featuring an image of Christ the Good Shepherd and the colour accents of the side windows.  The brass chandeliers are most unusual in an Anglican Gothic Revival church and add an almost exotic Québecois vibe in reminding us of Roman Catholic churches dating to the early eighteenth century.

In 1863, John Seaman, a catechist, travelled in Aylwin, Masham and Wakefield townships gathering people together for worship.  By 1864, the Mission of Wakefield & Aylwin was started, in 1866 the Mission of North Wakefield emerged, and by 1872 North Wakefield consisted of Church of the Good Shepherd, Wakefield, an outstation named Pâche and another at Masham. By 1878, the mission had two churches and two outstations where services were held.

We do not know when Church of the Good Shepherd was built.  By 1893, the mission had two churches and one outstation, and by 1913 the Mission of North Wakefield consisted of Holy Trinity Church, Masham; Good Shepherd, Wakefield and a schoolhouse at South Branch by which time this house of worship had long since been built. At the end of the First World War the name of the mission was changed from North Wakefield to Wakefield.

In February 2000 the Holy Trinity, Lascelles and Good Shepherd congregations amalgamated to become one congregation with one vestry and one corporation. This new relationship (not so new, in a sense, as they had been sister congregations since 1863) formalized a reality that had long existed between the two. Good Shepherd, Wakefield operated as the mother church with regular Sunday morning worship, while Holy Trinity Chapel at Lascelles was reserved for special services.  By 2001, extensive restoration and renovations had been made, and the parish name changed that year to Wakefield-Chelsea-Lascelles.   

The Archives collects parish registers, vestry reports, service registers, minutes of groups & committees, financial documents, property records (including cemeteries), insurance policies, letters, pew bulletins, photographs and paintings, scrapbooks, parish newsletters, unusual documents.