But a new chapter is exactly what the Bayside congregation will be getting Saturday when it officially welcomes its 14th rector, Rev. Kent Johnson, in a…
By Kathianne Boniello
After 110 years, it’s hard to imagine what could be new at All Saints Episcopal Church in Bayside.
But a new chapter is exactly what the Bayside congregation will be getting Saturday when it officially welcomes its 14th rector, Rev. Kent Johnson, in a special installation ceremony.
“It’s really a celebration for the whole congregation, starting a new chapter in its life and in its ministry,” said Johnson, a California native who has served in parishes in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Johnson, 52, said there is no grand plan when it comes to placing priests in different congregations, but he has high hopes for his tenure at All Saints at 214-33 40th Ave.
“It should be a good and fruitful match,” he said.
All Saints Church has played a role in Bayside’s history throughout its existence and is known as the oldest church in Bayside, longtime parishioner and civic leader Frank Skala said. The church, noted for its Tiffany window, is a city landmark.
A former mathematician who taught at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and spent a year as a member of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton, Johnson is a graduate of Manhattan’s General Theological Seminary, one of the oldest seminaries in the nation.
Johnson has served in a number of parishes and comes to Bayside from St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Marblehead, Mass.
The 11 a.m. ceremony, which is open to the public, was expected to be conducted in part by the Episcopal bishop of Long Island, the Right Rev. Orris G. Walker.
Johnson’s arrival at All Saints followed more than two years of interim-acting priests at the Bayside church. Father Alan Edmiston, a longtime pastor, retired about two years ago due to medical problems.
For more information about the service, please call 229-5631.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
