The Parish of St. Clement's East is located along the Eastern most part of Quebec's Lower North Shore; locally named "The Coast." The three churches of St. Paul's, St. Peter's and St. Christopher's make up this "isolated" Parish. St. Augustine's has traditionally been attached to a different parish but was associated with St. Clement's East while I was incumbent.
I was incumbent of this parish from June 6, 2001 to June 6, 2005. IN those four years I grew as a pastor with this wonderful community of faith. I served and loved as God led the way and in everything I offered prayer and witnessed in joy and humility. I offer this St. Clement's East website as a testimony of that ministry with the hope that others may experience "the Coast."
The parish is "isolated" in that the Canadian federal government has termed us as such due to our remote location. Though the first three points are connected by the 138 highway, the only way to get back to the mainland is through a seasonal ferry (May through December) that runs to St. Barbe, Newfoundland, and further up the coast to Port Aux Basque to catch yet another ferry. From early January through to mid April, and as late as May, the communities can only travel along the coast so long as the road is not closed due to wind and snow. St. Augustin is completely isolated having no road and thu dependent on a cargo ship for food until freeze up when air cargo is the only option.
You may notice that there is no church named St. Clement, the parish's name comes from the first mission church along "The Coast." St. Clement's church is located in Mutton Bay. The church communities located in Mutton Bay, La Tabatier and St. Augustin were called St. Clement's Centre, while Kegaska, Chevery, Aylmer Sound and Harrington Harbour continue to be named the Parish of St. Clement's West.
The three churches are very different from one another and yet are in some way similar. Each church's principle service is the Eucharist and is celebrated from The Book of Alternative Services. Hymns are all selected from Common Praise. Theologically the communities would be considered liturgically catholic. There is a strong emphasis on preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary and it is expected by all points in the parish.
"Where We're To, Bye!"
The Anglican Parish of St. Clement's East extends up the 138 highway
from Brador Bay to Old Fort Bay and then further up the coast by boat,
plane, helicopter, or skidoo (depending on the season), to St
Augustine's. As you can clearly see the eastern part of the Coast is located near the Labrador border and just a short boat ride to Newfoundland. The people of the Coast are thus very closely related to the people of Newfoundland & Labrador and even our English dialect is very similar. So permiated with "newfie" slang is our language that our francophone population often intones in those all too familiar phrases.
To get to the Lower North Shore you could fly out of Montreal or Quebec City with Air Labrador (418-461-2399). Or alternatively you could take your motor vehical through the breath taking, and adventurous, trip from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Newfoundland, via the Marine Atlantic Ferry (1-800-341-7981); traveling up the Western coast, with the Strait of Belle Isle on one side and the Long Range Mountains on the other, until you reach St. Barbe. Take the Labrador Marine Ferry, the Apollo (1-866-535-2567), to Blanc Sablon and travel from Blanc Sablon to the history rich six communities on the Quebec side of the highway (of course Labrador is our neighbour and deserving of a visit).
The last route offered would be to take the Relais Nordik (1-800-463-0680) from Rimouski, Quebec down to Blanc Sablon. This route takes you through most of the communities along the LNS as the ship is not only a passanger ship but a supply ship for The Coast. The trip down ("up" northeast for us land lovers) takes 4 days while the trip up takes 3. It is well worth the adventure to do this at least one way; though be warned it is a bit expencive.
Driving along the 138, that stretches from Blanc Sablon to Old Fort, is one of the most spectacular drives you'll take in this land undisturbed by industry and polution. The ocean view is just one of many that exposes the vast natural beauty that is the Lower North Shore. One of the largest Puffin sanctuaries in Canada is just a few minutes from the ferry. Whales, seals, icebergs and local world renown fruit, such as the bakeapple or cloudberry, are features of our region not to be missed.
Follow the links above to see the churches of this Parish, as well as their communities to which they minister, in a bit more detail; above all try and make this trip just once in your lifetime; you won't regret it!
(maps courtesy of Will Hilliard and the Anglican Journal)
