Meanwhile, the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth continues its ministry as an integral part of the Episcopal Church.
Many Episcopalians in the diocese never supported Iker’s aims. Months before Nov. 15, they began planning to reorganize and refocus the diocese ”” not to organize a new one, as Iker’s office has recently claimed ”” to carry on the work of the church. They formed the mostly lay-led Steering Committee North Texas Episcopalians, made up of representatives from the remaining Episcopal congregations.
Since Nov. 15, 15 intact and reorganizing parishes and somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 Episcopalians in North Texas, some meeting in their parish property and some in temporary space, have continued to worship and explore new and effective ways to carry out the church’s mission of reconciling the world to God and all humankind to each other through Jesus Christ.
This was obviously written by a member of NTRE Steering committee. What he does not talk about is the fact that most of the churches – and the people- are still intact in the original Diocese of Fort Worth led by Bp. Iker. There is no way of verifying his numbers as I suspect it will be some time before the accurate numbers of both groups are known. Only time will tell.
It’s an opinion piece, and labeled as such in the paper.