When Sulin Milne announced her resignation as incumbent of St. Peter, Comox, in July 2025, the church began the process of discernment and seeking a new incumbent. But they knew they had at least one thing in their favour: a rectory. As with many parts of the island, average house prices in Comox have doubled over the last decade. Houses in Comox cost in the region of $800,000, while market rent is around $3,500 to $4,000 a month.
Rectories (also sometimes called a parsonage or vicarage) began to appear in England during the Middle Ages and the number of rectories in England peaked during the Victoria era. As the Anglican church was transplanted to and grew in Canada, the tradition of providing every incumbent with a place to live also continued.
Today, our diocese is home to 13 rectories, and while we don’t have exact records, we can assume that historically most churches on the island would have had one. The rectory at St. Peter’s in Comox was built in 1903 — it is the oldest surviving building in Comox — and its first tenant would likely have been the Rev. Jules Xavier Willemar. Willemar served as incumbent for 42 years and is buried in the nearby St Andrew’s Anglican Church cemetery.
The rectory was then lived in by 13 successive incumbents, but that tradition came to an end in 1987 when Rev. John Paetku opted not to live in the rectory. For the next three decades, the rectory served instead as offices for the rector and parish administrator, as meeting rooms for parish council and other committees and as a Sunday school classroom. The top floor was also rented out to an NGO.
When Sulin Milne took up the post of incumbent in 2019, she was coming to the Comox Valley from Wales, and she asked if it would be possible for her and her family to live in the rectory. With the help of volunteers and a modest budget of $20,000, essential repairs were made to the rectory to make it habitable as a residence. But when the job posting for a new incumbent was being written, the parish council decided to carry out a more extensive renovation of the rectory.
“We wanted to do it properly from the start, rather than patching things up piecemeal,” says Eric Macdonald, St Peter’s rector’s warden. The roof was replaced, all the walls were re-plastered and painted, the bathroom (which had previously been two rooms) was made into one room and a new bathroom fitted, and the kitchen was torn out and replaced. Part of the church garden has also been fenced off to provide the family with a private yard space, and to keep people from wandering right past the rector’s back door.
In all, the work cost around $142,000 and was made possible by a bequest from a parishioner who passed away, as well as a living legacy from another parishioner. The church sees it as an investment, since even if future rectors don’t want to use the rectory, they can still rent it out on the open market.
In February 2026, Bishop Anna announced that St. Peter’s had appointed Francis Delaplein as its new incumbent. Francis was previously the incumbent at Hay River in the Northwest Territories, where he and his family also lived in a rectory. Francis and his family moved to the Comox Valley in July.
“The work and renovations to the rectory have been a significant part of our family’s transition to this community,” says Francis. “Beyond the work itself, however, it was the community’s enthusiastic support of the work that let us know we were welcome here. We give thanks for both of these gifts.”
