Beginning December 3rd, the First Sunday of Advent 2023, the Diocese of Long Island, in coordination with the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, will launch a new mission venture called “Incarnation Chapel,” located in Carle Place. The chapel will be on the campus of the former historic St. Mary's Episcopal Church.
Incarnation Chapel will be a center for worship, study and mission, with Sunday Eucharists reflecting ancient contemplative and monastic traditions, designed to invite the full participation of the congregation in prayer and song, and utilize sign, symbol, and senses from the liturgical heritage of both the western and eastern churches.
In collaboration with the Cathedral and congregations of the Nassau Deanery, Incarnation Chapel will also provide adult Christian Formation, discipleship, and other religious education programs, such as liturgical training for seminarians. And, over time, potentially its missional outreach will combine with other congregations to serve the wider needs of Central Nassau County.
Initially, a core of invited missionary partners will form the first gathered community at Incarnation Chapel. In the fall, others from across the diocese will be invited and encouraged to join and participate in this new undertaking.
The Right Rev. Lawrence Provenzano, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, said, “The Incarnation Chapel will be a re-energized, dynamic place where the church can be reimagined for the 21st century. It was not easy when St. Mary’s ceased to be a worshipping community, but I am very hopeful for the possibilities God has in store for us with this new venture.”
Incarnation Chapel will be led by the Very Rev. Daniel Ade and the Very Rev. Mark Kowalewski, who are co-deans emeriti of St. John's Cathedral in Los Angeles and who have recently moved to Long Island. They will serve as vicars of the Chapel and as assisting priests of the Cathedral.
The new vicars have said their hope is that the chapel will be an intimate setting of "informal formality," and grow into becoming part of a larger ministry team emerging in the Nassau Deanery, which can also become a model for future ministry collaborations throughout the diocese.
