Priesthood is a calling and a vocation. This man appears to treat it as a profession. Try that same soft stuff in New England and see where it gets you. In a conservative part of the country you can still by force of professional skill keep an organization running somewhat happily.
The givaway was when he said..."I...even speculated on the theological aspects of this decline"
"Even?" Wow pal. That's really going out on limb for Christ there when you get driven to that.
That line caught my attention too. It seemed almost cavalier, as if the last twenty years or so had made no difference, or should have made no difference, to the faithful, "satisifed episcopalian."
A peculiar essay.