But recent cost-cutting steps are meant to ensure better financial management of the spiritual seat for some 9,500 Episcopalians in 35 parishes spread out over 21 counties.
“There’s a myth that the cathedral is crashing and burning, but it’s not going under, it’s not closing, and it’s not for sale,” Bishop Don Johnson said recently in an exclusive interview.
“We’re in a very methodical process of assessing the strengths of the cathedral to determine areas where we need to improve. It’s in solid financial shape, but we have to tighten up and live within our budget.”
The situation is not because of any fiscal malfeasance, Johnson said. Instead, the problem arose as yearly budgets remained stable or increased while funding decreased.
At issue is an aging and shrinking congregation, resulting in diminished annual giving.
The article states that the ASA now at the cathedral is 140.
The stats for 2005 were at approximately ASA 190. So further precipitous decline in the past two years of ASA, following the now-standard plummet post-2003, of course.
Since 1995, the high point of ASA was in 2001, when it was at about 290. So in a matter of 6 years, the cathedral has lost half of its ASA. Sorry, but I have very grave doubts that this is an “aging population” . . . but it’s a nice try.
I see that there are 9 other parishes in Memphis, and I would be very curious as to how they are doing.
Frankly, I’m a bit surprised at the startlingly low numbers of the Cathedral — it flies against my theory that the largest urban areas even in the Southeast — Atlanta, Raleigh, etc — will be able to maintain some shred of populated progressive ECUSA churches.
I also note that the diocese as a whole has experienced a steady stair-step of ASA decline since 2001 — and a rather precipitous plumment in membership [from about 11,300 to 9500] from the year [drum roll] 2003 to 2004.
But I’m sure those declines will be more than made up for overall by the vast hordes entering the Episcopal church in the Northeast and on the West coast.
18 is a truly pathetic figure.
“With only 18 in attendance at a recent Sunday morning service, the St. Mary’s Episcopal Church cathedral looks empty.”
yes, it looks that way because it largely is.
“From a peak membership of around 900 in the 1960s, St. Mary’s now counts about 400 and averages 140 at weekly worship services. Half the congregation is age 60 and above and more than three-fourths are 50 and older.”
Ok, so they need young people. Do they no longer exist in the area? Or do they not find the church’s message relevant?
The decimation of the Episcopal Church in the South continues…you can thank 815 for that.
Wow, I am surprised by John’s comment. Remember, all is well, all is well.
The graphic of membership and ASA is found [url=http://12.0.101.88/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_725200722400PM.pdf]here[/url].
From the cathedral website, “It shelters a sacred space that has been a house of prayer for all people since 1857. And “all people” means just everyone: we’re happy to say that we’re about as diverse as it gets.”
As Bonhoeffer wrote:
[blockquote] Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving. We poured forth unending streams of grace. But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard. Where were those truths which impelled the early Church to institute the catechumenate, which enabled a strict watch to be kept over the frontier between the Church and the world, and afforded adequate protection for adequate costly grace. What had happened to all those warnings of Luther’s against preaching the gospel in such a manner as to make men rest secure in their ungodly living? Was there ever a more terrible or disastrous instance o f the Christianizing of the world than this? What are those three thousand Saxons put to death by Charlemagne compared with the millions of spiritual corpses in our country to-day? With us it has been abundantly proved that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations. Cheap grace has turned out to be utterly merciless to our Evangelical Church. [/blockquote]
Give away the sacred without the cross…and nobody wants it.
Looking at the graph Robroy linked to above, I’m curious as to what happened in 1995-1996, when ASA looks to have dropped by about a third.
JS,
In this case, I would agree. I didn’t look, but I can only hope that 140 ASA isn’t spread out over 4 or 5 weekend services.
In our case, in a small parish where 18-22 at the 8am service is now normal (from 10 to 12 or less when I first got here) it is not pathetic, it is normal and good.
All things in consideration. I am assuming you were speaking about this situation with the cathedral specifically, and not in general?
RGEaton
Sarah,
Do we know why there is an interim in the first place? It may be, along with your other considerations, that the ex-Dean’s ministry style (or whatever) was the cause of the precipitous decline in membership, and that the interim is just hanging on to things for dear life (the cathedral’s).
RGEaton
Oh….well…..
There are only two services on Sunday (that answers the question about too many low-attending services), as per the website, and one being the 8am (the low attendance service). Then they list a breakfast at 8:35 am, presumably every Sunday, and presumably starting specifically at 35 minutes after the hour in order to allow the 30 minute Eucharist folks 5 minutes to get to breakfast. OR, the service is longer and the 8am folks just don’t get to go to the start of breakfast.
No wonder the service has so few people!
Just kidding, Chapter-ites….. : )
RGEaton
What a stunning contrast to DioTN next door, which was one of the few not to shrink post GC03 and actually grew slightly, and whose cathedral seems to be thriving. Hmmm, +Johnson vs. +Herlong and now +Bauerschmidt; fence-sitter Network-banning revisionist vs. orthodox salvation-Gospel-proclaiming reasserters. Nope, absolutely NO correlation, simply a statistical abberation, a fluke, a mere coincidence! Really. Honest. Straight-faced. 😉
When I first moved to Memphis a few years ago I was told by the then Dean C B Baker, when I asked about the service (it was my first experience with Rite 2 and an almost lack of any formality at all in an Episcopal church) that “old fashioned†Anglo Catholics like me were neither welcome nor wanted in the Diocese of W. TN. I would have to go elsewhere for anything like that that type of service had been discarded a long time ago. Since I was not from this part of the country to say I was astounded is to be polite. Since I moved to Memphis from a large, growing and successful conservative Episcopal Church (not diocese) I was very naïve and shocked to learn about this diocese. FYI Dr. Harmon was a guest at my former parish within the past 2 months. I ordered a CD of his sermon after I was unable to get back that weekend. Excellent I might add. I also did not consider the liturgy worship in the 1928 BCP or at least Rite 1 to be “old fashioned†(and I sure as heck did not consider myself old).
Baker also terminated Brian Taylor, the Cathedral organist in certainly what was seen as a political inspired coup. He used the excuse of “not really up to St Mary’s standards†however looking at his success at St. Johns in Savanna including coral CD’s, his choir guest singing in England etc that excuse is as hollow as the rest of the nonsense that has gone on at St. Mary’s. However it did give Baker the excuse of disbanding the youth girl choir evensong. Dean Baker absolutely found the traditional Anglican Evensong service abhorrent and wanted no part of it at the Cathedral. Well he got his way. Gee, and now there are no youth. Da! No correlation I am sure
I found an old article in Stand Firm around 2004 in which this same Dean made the following comment when Canon Anderson addressed the AAC in Memphis.
[blockquote] The Rev. C.B. Baker, dean of St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis, recently locked horns with Canon Anderson over the role of the AAC in the ongoing church crisis. In a posting to his web site, the Rev. Baker wrote:
It seems to me that those who support AAC Mid-South ought to immediately call for the resignation of the national AAC leadership and disavow the stated goal of the organization. If the leadership refuses to resign the members in Memphis ought to quit the organization… I believe it is now time for those who share that goal to leave the Episcopal Church. [/blockquote]
Well I guess a lot of people took his advice and I might add we all did not die or have white hair.
By the way I totally endorse the comments of comparison of the Cathedral in Nashville and the one in Memphis. I am sure the 200 miles between them must be the reason. Gee, it could not be a difference in the leadership of the diocese.
All is well Katy, all is well.
My comments about this article to some friends to whom I sent earlier today: “James Dowd, writer of this article, is the head of Memphis Integrity, http://www.geocities.com/integrity_memphis/main.html, and also the Religion Editor of the Commercial. Another denial by MainStream Media, including the bishop, of the real cause of the problem(s).”
I am IN Memphis, and believe everything Tom says. CB Baker was asked to leave, and he had done a lot of damage, as you can see in #11. I don’t know about now, as I left TEC and am part of an Anglican church, and we are under Kenya. To my knowledge, the ONLY conservative TEC church left in the Memphis area is St. Andrew’s, Collierville, as the conservative priest at St. Phillip’s recently accepted a call to the Diocese of Middle TN.
In rereading the article, it does NOT say that there are 18 there every Sunday, but that was the count the Sunday this was done, evidently. Calvary, another very liberal one, is downtown, and is blocks from St. Mary’s. They have always coexisted with enough members until now. Lots of people in this diocese, and particularly Memphis, have gone elsewhere, and not just Anglican, but to PCA and Evangelical Presbyterian, to name a few. I predict that the exodus will continue.
Comparisons between the Memphis Cathedral and Nashville’s are not very helpful. The liberal Nashville cathedral thrives with a large gay contingent and is often in an oppositional position with the rest of the diocese and the former bishop. No one there would credit Bp. Herlong with their success.
Whatever the faults of leaders at St. Mary’s, one cannot ignore (as many on this blog often do) the role of race and money. Memphis’ tortured racial history and white flight to the eastern suburbs are central explanations for St. Mary’s plight.
#13 Nick, good points all. I might point out that just down the road (US 70 E) from Christ Church Cathedral is St. George’s, one of the largest Episcopal churches in the country, with an overwhelmingly reasserter membership, to counterbalance the admittedly significant gay and reappraiser percentage of the cathedral’s congregation. I read a couple of recent sermons from the cathedral. Most any Unitarian Universalist minister could have been entirely comfortable delivering them. A notable passage comes to mind from a sermon referring to 1 Cor 15:
[i]”Every last member of this Cathedral is to be given…ALL THINGS!!! As if to say: that it is more important to know that God believes in us (Trusts us!)…than that we believe in Him!!!”[/i]
Un…believe…able!
To #13:
The demographics have played a role in the demise of St. Mary’s, but by no means all! St. Mary’s is also a very gay-friendly place, and has made no bones about it, along with Calvary, Grace-St. Luke’s, and Holy Communion, some of the larger churches in Memphis. However, like in the rest of the world, this is only one reason for people leaving, and again, the main one is the lack of authority of the scriptures (preaching the gospel), and preaching/practicing the politically correct social agenda over the gospel.
CB Baker had a lot to do with people leaving there, as I heard from friends who went/go there, and others. Although he is gone, there was a lot of damage. As I said earlier, St. Mary’s is only blocks from Calvary Church, which is thriving, and is also downtown, and not far from the poverty areas either, so that is certainly not the main consideration, although it should be addressed. People do come from the suburbs and some from E. Arkansas to Calvary.
It is a shame as far as St. Mary’s is a historical, beautiful building which has a wonderful pipe organ, and it will be difficult, at best, to maintain without people. However, I believe we will continue to see more of this. Just my 2 cents
Rob,
I was referring to the Cathedral. These numbers are dreadful. I am interested and glad to see your own figures. Best …
“There’s a myth that the cathedral is crashing and burning”
—Bp. Johnson
Some of us wonder whether Bp. Johnson will also crash and burn the Diocese of West Tennessee.
Ruth Ann is correct. To exaggerate the root cause of the problems of St Mary’s on the race and poverty of Memphis simply flies in the face of the time line of the decline.
Beginning a few years ago there has been a significant rebirth of the residential populace of the downtown area. The Harbor Town development, the hi-rises and condo projects, the lofts adjacent to the downtown area have been highlighted of numerous articles in the past several years. This development has is concurrent with the time of the decline of St Mary’s. The flight to the suburbs was at its peak 2 to 3 decades ago. There are more people living within the area of St Mary’s now than in 2000. Ruth Ann is also correct the other downtown churches are not experiencing the decline and are within the same demographic area.
I really think one would have to experience the condescending, arrogant, unfriendly, politically motivated hit squad like behavior of St Mary’s first hand. KJS would have been proud. It is my understanding in discussions with others C B Baker had about the same experience as a Priest as KJS. Virtually none however; he was a committed to a leftist revisionist agenda.
Ruth Ann is also correct St Mary’s is a truly beautiful facility. The history of St Mary’s will probably be the motivating factor that will cause some major benefactors to come forward and never let the building cease to exist or to fall into a state of disrepair. Despite the current situation of TEC and its leadership many still honor the history of the brave historical figures that preceded the unfortunate events that have been created by the current TEC and its leadership. True hero’s once directed and died in the service of others at St. Mary’s. Sister Constance, three other Episcopal nuns, and two Episcopal priests are known as “Constance and Her Companions” or the “Martyrs of Memphis.” It is moving to be there and see the old photographs and parts of the cathedral where the sisters worked and later contacted yellow fever when they could have left in the service of others. Many died at the location.
Sometimes I think we all tend to get excited when we see problems created by TEC like the current one at St Mary’s and forget the honorable history St Mary’s. The contributions of St Mary’s, in the larger context, are far greater that the evil that has been allowed during the current crisis.
Despite my contempt for the current leadership of TEC, my absolute visceral distain for the former Dean and frustration with the revisionist of TEC and this diocese, I find it impossible not to hope for the best for the old institution of St Mary’s and all she represented so well for so long.
The tragedy of today is how did TEC get from the Church that Constance represented to where we are today? That question is not intended to be a Memphis question it is equally applicable to 815 and the leadership of TEC. A more cogent question is how or can we ever return.
tom3111,
Also, RuthAnn, Milton, Nick,
Thanks for all that background; my initial discernment that this was a clergy problem primarily looks to be confirmed.
And I am sorry for that.
This is the kind of situation that tears at my heart, whether small or large congregation. My advice to Bp Johnson and the Chapter is to find someone without much splash appeal, who is committed to a dependence upon the work of the Holy Spirit, to see what the Holy Spirit can do in such a place. With 140 ASA, keep only the essential staff plus the Dean, and pay the new Dean well to keep them there for at least 5 years (but not 6 figures, in order to keep down the number of mercenary ladder climbers applying). Find someone who is willing to reinstate a worship option which takes advantage of the architectural resonance and the existing organ, such as Sunday or Saturday Evensong. Give the new Dean carte blanche to preach as Jesus instructed the 70, “that the Kingdom of God is near”, and be personally involved in a healing ministry with the laying on of hands — and make sure the new Dean has an iron-clad contract for at least 5 years to protect him or her from the inevitable resistance and ups and down leading to new directions with new vision founded on the stated Mission of the Church.
My prayers are joined this evening for those members of the cathedral who are and have been praying for renewal and revival in the Name of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
RGEaton
Just 130 miles to the west of Memphis in Little Rock, Arkansas, is Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. They have a membership of about 1400 and an ASA around 400. It is in a very diverse, stable neighborhood. St. Mary’s is in one of the worst areas of downtown Memphis. I was concerned about leaving my car in the parking lot while once visiting there during the day. I would never go there at night.