Posted on 12/23/2005 4:14:30 PM PST by sionnsar
The pace of parish defections in the US quickened last week, as seven congregations announced their secession from the Episcopal Church over its institutional support for the gay agenda.
The mood among the traditionalist coalition of evangelicals, Anglo-Catholics and charismatics has soured over the past few months due to the slow pace of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference, and to concerns the Episcopal Church’s General Convention will reject the Windsor Report’s recommendations at its June meeting.
The leading traditionalist coalition, the Anglican Communion Network, has seen a number of its leaders withdraw from the Episcopal Church. Of its original six convocation deans, four have seceded from the Episcopal Church; three to join the Church of Uganda and one joining the break-away Traditional Anglican Communion. Five parishes in the diocese of Florida, along with a northern New York parish in the diocese of Rochester, and a parish in the diocese of San Diego, announced last week they were withdrawing from the Episcopal Church. Six of the seven will affiliate with the Church of Uganda, and one with an Anglo-Catholic group, the Anglican Province in America.
The diocese of Rochester dissolved All Saints Church in Irondequoit, New York on Nov 19 for failing to pay its $16,000 parochial assessment to the diocese. The vestry withheld the funds in protest to the diocese’s support of the Episcopal Church’s gay agenda.
Attorneys for the parish notified the diocese last week: “We have received formal notification from the Most Rev Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop and Primate of the Church of Uganda, that All Saints’ has been accepted in the Province of Uganda and is now under their authority and protection”, declining to turn over the parish property and bank accounts to the bishop.
The rector and the bulk of Christ the King Episcopal Church in Alpine, California, quit the Episcopal Church last week as well. A traditionalist Anglo-Catholic congregation, Christ the King joined the Anglican Province of America.
Displeased with the on-going crisis of faith and order within the Episcopal Church, the rector, the Rev Keith Acker SSC, seceded after the Bishop of San Diego refused to license one of his assistants and after the bishop brought a female deacon with him to celebrate at the parish.
In the diocese of Florida, five congregations asked Bishop John Howard to transfer their clergy “without ecclesiastical fanfare or contention” to Uganda. The parishes have asked to keep their property and have offered to reimburse the diocese for any funds contributed towards their purchase or upkeep.
And how many parishes are there in the Episcopal Church/USA? I.e. seven parishes seceding - out of how many?
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. I expect that, given the hurdles, there will not be many instances of entire parishes seceding.
From Henry VIII to the Church of Uganda. What a long, strange trip it's been.
Here are some numbers from 2004.
Average weekly attendance. 795,765
Decline in Average Attendance 27,252
Percentage decline 3%
Number of Parishes/Missions 7,200
Number with less than 10 folks attending 246
Percentage with less than 100 attending 62%
What frequently happens is that the rector and the bulk of the congregation leave (recent examples in Midland, TX and Tallahassee FL) with the bishop propping up a small rump congregation to keep the numbers as high as possible.
Thanks. So, 7000 parishes and 7 recently defected. Does not sound life-threatening, at least not yet.
1966 3.6 million on the rolls
2004 2.35 million on the rolls
Loss of a third of the membership in the last generation.
Yes, you're right. They're in great shape. (And, of course, only a third of the folks on the rolls even bother to show up on a given Sunday).
"They are in great shape" - "They?" - you must mean their collection plates' yield, then. They are still good for another couple of generations, at least.
Don't forget all the assets they can liquidate.
So they are in even greater shape.
General convention is June 06. It is up to ECUSA to repent or face a mass exodus.
My prediction is that they will relent or collapse under the weight of litigation and declining stewardship.
They will not be able to support numerous properties nor able to liquidate before the banker man comes a callin.
Most of the properties are paid for, and it's not like they have a tax bill hitting them every year. Cut off the utilities and cut the grass every month, and you can hold the property for a good while. In addition, most of them are fairly small, so they can easily be marketed to startup congregations or for adaptive reuse.
I hope you are correct. I would predict that between 3 and 5 bishops will depart.
We were down taking care of my grandkids over Thanksgiving and while there went to the new church they had built after taking the kids to church at a local school auditorium they had been using for a year. In one years time, they acquired property and raised enough money to build themselves a church. They are affiliated with the Anglican Communion in South America I believe.
In fact, almost the entire congregation left without any worry as to assets left behind and it is my understanding that there are not enough congregants to keep the original church operating.
I suspect this happening all over the south without much news being made.
I give them a lot of credit, a real lot.
In the diocese of Texas, the majority of clergy are liberal but the majority of lay persons are very conservative.
In California, the parishes should have a good shot at keeping their properties. In other states, I wouldn't be as confident, although there is a good trend in that direction.
As for Dallas, you would have to look closely at how the corporation is set up. The Dallas bishop is certainly not taking a leadership role for the conservatives. Plano seems to be leading the charge, and dragging the bishop along (I guess it helps when you have the highest weekly average attendance in the denomination). Folks in Dallas should hope for the bishop to do the right thing, but need to have an exit strategy if he doesn't want to join in the fight.
In Midland, the rector and congregation walked just a few months ago, and has already purchased property and begun planning for the facility. In Tallahassee, the rector and congregation walked, and a benefactor bought an empty church made an empty church available for their use while they plan for their future. I'm sure there are other ones, those are just the recent ones that I recall.
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