We've had a large amount of feedback, nearly all of it positive, about the article we published on summer chapels in Maine [TLC, July 15]. Some readers sent anecdotes about visits to one or more of the chapels, one chided us for not doing an article on the summer chapels of New Hampshire, and two sent bulletins from recent services there. We even received a couple of letters to the editor.

The Bishop of Maine, the Rt. Rev. Chilton R. Knudsen, noted the article in her column in The Northeast, Maine's diocesan newspaper, in which she presented her own snapshots of the summer chapels.

"I stand on the porch at All Saints by-the-Sea on the island of Southport, greeting people after a Sunday service," Bishop Knudsen wrote. "One tells me how she was baptized, and then married, and then had her own child baptized -- all in this holy place. Another speaks of discovering this chapel while on a walk long years ago, find it unlocked, and entering a church for the first time in many years. 'I found God in this space ... I came back to God and to the Episcopal Church because of this chapel'."

Bishop Knudsen wrote of St. Cuthbert's Chapel on McMahan Island, "It's quite a sight to see people steaming out of their cottages as one of the young people ... hauls on the bell-rope and summons people to worship."

When she made her visit to St. Ann's, Kennebunkport, Bishop Knudsen preached with President and Mrs. George W. Bush in the congregation at St. Ann's in Kennebunkport. ("All of us undergo Secret Service screening as we enter.") She noted that with three services at St. Ann's on Sundays, attendance is usually in the 500-600 range.

And at St. Jude's, Seal Harbor, Bishop Knudsen mentioned "a barely visible prayer station, a little roofed oratory, out in the woods which surround the chapel." As she paused there for prayer, "It's as though the very wood of the structure has been soaked in prayer -- many prayers over many years."

There are, of course, summer chapels in other dioceses. Albany, Fond du Lac, New Hampshire and Northern Michigan come to mind. The ministries carried out at the summer chapels obviously have made a significant impact on the lives of thousands. They are, as Bishop Knudsen wrote, "special holy places for many people."

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One of the first Lutheran clergy in charge of Episcopal congregations is the Rev. George Mercer, who is rector of Church of the Ascension, Bardstown, Ky. After 36 years as a Lutheran clergyman, Pastor Mercer, recently moved to Kentucky from Canton, Ill.

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Observed on a church website during early September:

"Schedule for Holy Week 1997."

Doesn't anyone care about details anymore?

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Headline in the Topeka Capital-Journal:

"Packers land Bishop."

Thanks to the Rev. Herman Page for that one.

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Spotted recently on license plates: GOD RX 4U, EMANUEL, LUKE 19 4. Staffer Patricia Nakamura saw GOD WIL. William Paulk, of Cullowhee, N.C., sends this item:

"As I was driving through downtown Sylva (N.C.) during the noon rush today, a woman using a cell phone suddenly cut in front of me from the left lane, leaving us only centimeters away from collision. Her license plate read MEDITATE."

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Note to an unreadable signature in Westchester County: Bishop Joe Morris Doss, 10th Bishop of New Jersey, is retired and lives in Louisiana.

David Kalvelage, executive editor