Anglican Church of Canada (ACC)

These are the Anglican Church of Canada churches I have visited.

Last updated: 26 Sep 22

Diocese of Montreal:

Church of Saint John the Evangelist (the Red Roof), Montreal
BCP Sung Communion (Solemn High Mass)
Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: 2018, 2022
Website: http://www.redroof.ca/
The bells and smells church of Montreal. I enjoy the liturgy but the music could use some improvement. The rector’s sermons are always short, which I enjoy. A rather small congregation but the pastoral staff are very friendly.

Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal
BAS Sung Communion, BAS Evening Prayer, Choral Evensong
Low Church
Year of visit: 2018
Website: https://www.montrealcathedral.ca/
I did not enjoy the liturgy of their sung communion but I did enjoy their Sunday Evensongs. They hold most services bilingually (i.e. the Epistle might be in English then the Gospel in French), it’s a bit odd, but it is the reality/requirement in Montreal.

St. George’s Church, Montreal
BAS Sung Communion
Broad Church
Year of visit: 2018
Website: https://www.st-georges.org/
Beautiful church. I felt the rector at the time was higher than the church wanted, but was a good balance.

St. Barnabas Church, St-Lambert
BAS Sung Communion
Low Church
Year of visit: 2018
Website: https://st-barnabaschurch.com/
Very family oriented church. The liturgy is a bit too low for my tastes, but very nice people.

Diocese of Toronto:

St. James’ Cathedral, Toronto
BAS Said Communion
Broad Church
Year of visit: 2018
Website: https://stjamescathedral.ca/
Only attended a said communion in their chapel, nothing significant to note.

St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church, Toronto
BCP Low Mass, BCP Sung Mass
Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: Jul 2022
Website: https://stbartstoronto.ca
The “highest” Anglo-Catholic church in Toronto. Their BCP Low Mass has inspirations from various missals including Sarum, and somewhat hard to follow if not familiar with the liturgy. Their Sung Mass is easier to follow and was beautiful.

St. Thomas’s Church, Toronto
BCP Evening Prayer
Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: Jul 2022
Website: https://www.stthomas.on.ca
A typical weekday said BCP Evening Prayer service.

Diocese of Ottawa:

Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa
Choral Evensong (which they call “Sunday at a Twilight”)
Broad church
Year of visit: Jan 2020
Website: https://www.ottawacathedral.ca/
The cathedral of the Diocese of Ottawa. Decent Choral Evensong service. No one stood/bowed for the Gloria Patri (unless we were already standing). There were two oddities that occurred, the psalms sung by the choir was not using the Psalter as found in the Book of Common Prayer (though the bulletin referred to the pages in the BCP) and when the priest said, “the Lord be with you,” the congregation’s response was “and also with you.” I was the only person who said “and with thy spirit.” I found it odd since Choral Evensong followed the BCP rubric, so I assumed they would use the phraseology found in the BCP. The church is nice, nothing to write home about but it is also the Cathedral of the Canadian Forces Anglican Military Ordinariate.

St. Barnabas Church, Ottawa
BAS (Traditional Language) Sung Communion (Solemn High Mass), BCP Low Mass, BCP Morning Prayer
Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: 2018, 2020
Website: https://www.stbarnabasottawa.com/
The bells and smells church of Ottawa. Very Anglo-Catholic, the church is decorated in the Byzantine style. They would say the Angelus at the end of worship. Very friendly people. The rector recognized me when I went back for a second time. I enjoyed this church very much.

Diocese of Niagara

Christ’s Church Cathedral, Hamilton
BAS Sung Communion
Low Church
Year of visit: Jun 2022
Website: https://cathedralhamilton.ca
An outdoor worship service due to COVID-19, no choir (music was provided by a keyboard), and the service was typical of a low BAS service.

St. Luke’s Church, Hamilton
“Evensong”
Originally Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: Jun 2022
Website: N/A
Officially closed down due to declining numbers, but the church was used for some alternative/modern “Evensongs” led by a postulant (“Evensong” in in quotations because it is not evensong in the traditional Anglican tradition, it was a chanting of psalms and prayers lit by a single candle.

Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island:

Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax, NS
BAS/BCP Said Communion, BAS Sung Communion
Broad Church
Year of visit: 2018-present
Website: https://cathedralchurchofallsaints.com/
A large neo-Gothic church that has a lot of potential to be a high church, but the clergy has chosen to keep it broad.

St. Peter’s Cathedral, Charlottetown, PEI
BCP Sung Communion
Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: 2018, Sep 2020
Website: http://www.stpeter.org/StPetersCathedral/index.html
I attended in the summer of 2018, so there was no usage of incense, but it was a BCP service. People are nice and a decent sized congregation. All Souls Chapel is an historic and ornately decorated chapel next to the Cathedral. I attended another sung communion in the Aug 2020. It was a sung communion but because of COVID, we could only sing if we wore masks. Incense was used but attendance was low due to concerns over COVID.

St. George’s (Round) Church, Halifax, NS
BCP Morning Prayer, BCP Said Communion, BCP Sung Communion, BCP Evening Prayer, BCP Compline
Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: 2018-2019
Website: https://www.roundchurch.ca/
A BCP only church, healthy congregation, very good choir, daily offices (morning and evening prayer) conducted every day. They will hold said communions for all red letter days. They have a “chapel” located down the road, the Old Dutch Church, which is the oldest building in Halifax. They are “BCP rigid,” i.e. follow the BCP exactly (the Gloria is always at the end of communion). The use of incense is restricted to the altar as the congregation finds it irritates them. Their coffee hour is widely attended, and they actually serve sherry.

Chapel of the University of King’s College, Halifax, NS
BCP Said Communion, BCP Sung Communion, BCP Evening Prayer
Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: 2018-2019
Website: http://www.kingschapel.ca/
Mostly attended by students and faculty of King’s. This is the highest Anglo-Catholic church in Halifax. BCP exclusive, holds daily offices regularly (run by the students). Their choir is run by Grammy Award winner Paul Halley. They try to revive certain medieval traditions such as the placement of the Gloria and Lord’s Prayer (and as much Latin as they can fit in), and a lot of the congregation don’t wear shoes if at the altar or going up to the altar for communion (adopted from some Coptic Christian traditions). Their Thursday night Sung Communion is their signature service.

St. Paul’s Church, Halifax, NS
BCP Said Communion, BAS/BCP Sung Communion
Broad Church
Year of visit: 2018-2021
Website: http://www.stpaulshalifax.org/
The church alternates between BCP and BAS Sung Communion on Sundays. Located in the heart of downtown Halifax, it is the second oldest church/building in Halifax).

St. Mark’s Church, Halifax, NS
BAS Sung Communion
Low Church
Year of visit: 2019
Website: https://stmarkshalifax.ca/
A church located across from Stadacona and a historical residential area of Halifax’s north end. Sadly, this is not a healthy congregation with dwindling numbers. The people are very nice and I had an enjoyable coffee hour.

Anglican Church of the Apostles, Halifax, NS
BCP Said Communion, BCP Sung Communion
Broad Church
Year of visit: 2020-2021
Website: https://apostleshalifax.net/
Attended this church for Christmas Day and a Christmastide worship during COVIDtide. Attendance was low, but because people were still not comfortable returning to in-person church services.

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church, Halifax, NS
BCP Said Communion
Year of visit: 2021
Website: https://www.stmargaretofscotland.ca/
Located in the north end of Halifax, this post-modern style church is not the most pleasing to the eye at first glance. Attendance was low (4 congregants, plus priest and lay reader) since it was the 08:30 BCP service and Nova Scotia was still in COVID restrictions.

Christ Church, Dartmouth, NS
BAS Sung Communion
Low Church
Year of visit: 2019
Website: https://www.christchurchdartmouth.com/
A very family friendly church in Dartmouth. A healthy congregation.

St. Peter’s Church, Hackett’s Cove (St. Peter’s), NS
BCW Sung Communion
Low Church
Year of visit: 2019
Website: https://www.parishofstpeters.ca/
This is a three point parish that includes St. John’s Church, Peggy’s Cove. The rector is very evangelical and the parish uses different rites regularly including BAS, CoE and NZ Rites.

St. John’s Church, Peggy’s Cove (St. Peter’s), NS
Visit only
Year of visit: 2019
Website: https://www.parishofstpeters.ca/
A beautiful rural church with murals depicting the sea, fishermen, and Jesus. A lot of history in the church, especially with the Swiss Air disaster.

St. John’s Church, Port Williams (Cornwallis), NS
BAS Sung Communion
Low Church
Year of visit: 2019
Website: http://parishofcornwallis.org/
A very rural church, part of a three point parish. The rector showed up, did service, and everyone went for lunch (no coffee hour).

Holy Trinity Church, Yarmouth, NS
BAS Morning Prayer
Low Church
Year of visit 2019
Website: http://www.holytrinityyarmouth.ca/
The priest-in-charge was away, so they only did morning prayer when I was there on Sunday. The people are very nice at the parish, but numbers are low.

St. George’s Church, Sydney (Parish of the Resurrection), NS
Visit only
Year of visit: 2019
Website: http://www.parishoftheresurrection.com/
The oldest Anglican church in Cape Breton.

St. James’ Church, Herring Cove (Falkland), NS
BCP Sung Communion, BAS Evening Prayer
Broad Church
Year of visit: 2019, 2021
Website: https://www.facebook.com/St.JamesHerringCove/
The Associate Parish of the Cathedral of All Saints. Very quaint and small church in the community of Herring Cove. It still has a sign that says Church of England above the main door because the parishioners refuse to have it changed to the Anglican Church of Canada and they take pride in it. The priest celebrates facing the altar. They used the BCP for their liturgy, RCL for the readings, and the old Book of Common Praise and Mission Praise as their hymn books. // 2021 update: St James has started to integrate BAS into their regular worship. I attended an evening prayer service thinking it would be BCP, but it turned out to be BAS, it was rather awkward as I had never done a BAS evening prayer and the liturgy is very different from BCP liturgy.

St. Augustine’s Church, Jollimore, NS
BCP Sung Communion
Broad Church
Year of visit: 2019
Website: https://www.facebook.com/St-Augustine-Jollimore-Nova-Scotia-101271965432892/
A church located in the Halifax sub-urban community of Jollimore. The exterior of the church is nothing to write home about, but the stained glass windows are marvelous. The interior décor of the church is of a modern design (nothing about it stands out as Anglican). The congregation was small, but very warm and welcoming. They used BCP for liturgy (but with RCL readings) and the old Book of Common Praise as their hymnal.

St. John’s Church, St. Eleanor (Summerside), PEI
BAS Sung Communion
Low Church
Year of visit: Sep 2020
Website: https://www.stmaryandstjohn.com/st-johns-st-eleanors
A small parish church in the community of St. Eleanor, now Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Beautiful stained glass windows. It was my first time seeing a Lychgate at a church. Worship was abnormal due to COVID-19, it was a sung communion, but the guitarist was the only one who sung. Wonderfully friendly people.

Trinity Anglican Church, Halifax, NS
BCP Sung Communion
Low Church
Year of visit: Sep 2022
Website: https://trinitychurchhalifax.ca
A church located in the suburbs of Clayton Park, nice ornate wood at the chancel, but the rest of the church was painted drywall and one could follow along the service using the projector/screen. The priest was vested in choir dress and worshipped on the north side of the table and communion was administer by intinction (not sure if this was a result of COVID-19 or the standard practice of the parish).

Diocese of Fredericton:

Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton
Visit only
Year of visit: 2018
Website: https://cccath.ca/
Large church located in downtown Fredericton.

Diocese of Quebec:

Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral, Quebec
Visit only
Year of visit: 2018
Website: http://www.cathedral.ca/
Located in the heart of the upper Old City.

Diocese of British Columbia:

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria
BAS Sung Communion, Choral Evensong
Broad Church
Website: https://www.christchurchcathedral.bc.ca/
Year of visit: 2022
The cathedral of the Diocese of British Columbia. Still uses a verger for all services. The Chapel of the New Jerusalem is interesting because it is behind the high altar and overlooks the rest of the cathedral.

St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Victoria
BAS (Traditional Language) Sung Mass
Anglo-Catholic
Year of visit: 2022
Website: https://www.stbarnabaschurch.ca/
The only Anglo-Catholic parish in Victoria. East facing worship, traditional Anglo-Catholic style of worship (bells and smells). The church has a shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham.

Anglican Church of St. John the Divine, Victoria
Choral Evensong
Broad church
Year of visit: 2022
Website: https://www.stjohnthedivine.bc.ca/
Attended only Choral Evensong here, so not a great judge of churchmanship, but looking through their past bulletins, they’re not sticklers for traditional liturgy. Evensong was good, very different feel than that of evensong of Christ Church Cathedral.

Anglican Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Esquimalt (Victoria)
BAS Sung Eucharist
Low church
Year of visit: 2022
Website: https://www.stpeterandpaul.ca/
An historic church that was relocated from the dockyard (it was formerly known as St. Paul’s Naval and Garrison Church). Not the finest of liturgies, nice people, and they seem to like the jazz hands and tambourine.