The rector of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church recently removed one of the congregation’s most prominent members from her volunteer position, creating a painful division for church members.
The Rev. Chris Schuller dismissed Marion Fleming, a retired circuit judge and wife of a former rector, Peter Fleming, from a position known as “warden of the acolytes.”
Now the Flemings have decided to move from the Snell Isle church, which she has attended for more than 30 years, and which he pastored for 19. Last Sunday, Peter Fleming’s name was removed from church bulletins, which named him as “rector emeritus.”
My hope is that everyone reading this will be reminded of just how tough parish ministry is and to pray for all involved.
This made the newspaper ?????
I guess that rector sure showed them who is in charge! Let that be a lesson to other lay folks who don’t know how to follow. Remember, “rector” means ruler. However, I suspect that there was a history of other issues that led up to this. At least I hope that is the case.
Speaking from personal experience, there are few things worse than local church politics. My prayers go out to all concerned.
Ouch. It is so easy to wound one another in church.
The other side is that you sometimes give and receive blessings when nobody’s even trying.
The highs and lows of congregational life can be extreme.
At All Saints’ Beverly Hills (L.A.), the newcomer classes included the statement, “We will disappoint you.” It was an admission that the church is made up of human beings, and human beings do disappoint one another. So many of the New Testament words about forgiveness deal with reconciliation within the body of the faithful – generally easier heard than applied.
There must have been more going on there than just what was reported.
As reported, this sounds petty and unreasonable. There must be a long history preceding the actual event, and we don’t know that history. Most rectors handle the Altar Guild ladies (and while she was an acolyte trainer, it’s the same essential thing) with kid gloves. You don’t mess with those ladies inadvisedly.
The parish has the strangest chart I have seen
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_419200940948AM.pdf
From 1997 to 2004 it is pretty stable – with a slight downward trend with about 300 at worship. Then in 2004 and 2006 it has about 475 –then 2007 it is back to just about 250 or so.
Having said that we have an informal rule that past pastors of parishes move on when they retire — it saves a lot of heartache.
Look, fuses are short during Lent/Holy Week. That being said, the oddest thing about this story is that it made the papers. What that suggest to me is someone “connected” and willing to take that route. It clearly wasn’t the rector, and that leaves her, her allies, and/or “rector emeritus” husband. The thing is way too bad, but I sense a power duo unwilling to let go. Again, that it made the papers suggest the worst kind of church behavior. Hope that things heal up.
“suggests” that is.
I can’t imagine why a local newspaper would print this as “news” unless they have some sort of agenda either for or against the current Rector of the parish.
Proper conduct by the previous Rector and his wife would have dictated that they should have moved on to a new parish long ago. Perhaps the Bishop of the Diocese should call in the former Rector for a pastoral talk.
11. Parson from SWFLA,
[blockquote]Proper conduct by the previous Rector and his wife would have dictated that they should have moved on to a new parish long ago. Perhaps the Bishop of the Diocese should call in the former Rector for a pastoral talk.[/blockquote]
It seems as if the incident in question has prompted them to move on. I don’t know what point would be served by having the Bishop “…call in the former Rector for a pastoral talk.” To me, this would be “piling on” unless the Bishop also had a pastoral talk with the current Rector.
Let this “rect…” change his own drapings from now on. And..let the Vestry change this “rec…” as soon as possible. Only in TEC does one have the luxury to throw good people under the bus of appearances. Must have gotten a pastoral memo from 815 or the HOB:”Power Before People”.
Of course we aren’t given all the facts here, there is probably much more to it than we can glean from the story. However, if it is true that he “fired” her with e-mail, well, that is very sad. That is not manly or Christian. But then again, it could just be bad reporting. God bless ’em all.