The exodus from the Episcopal Church continued last week as leaders of another Colorado congregation prepared to split with the increasingly liberal denomination.
The Rev. Charles Reeder is scheduled to preach his last sermon today as rector of the Church of the Holy Comforter here. Then, “Father Chuck” and the church’s leadership ”” including the 10-member vestry and youth ministers ”” plan to join the growing number of traditional Episcopalians fleeing the embattled denomination.
In this case, the trigger was money. Donations have dropped precipitously since 2003, when the church consecrated its first openly homosexual bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, and agreed to perform same-sex blessings.
John Bosio, Holy Comforter’s senior warden, said the 49-year-old parish is now basically insolvent.
I should like to ask again: Has anyone actually counted the number of parishes that have left TEC. WE know that TEC keeps saying “a tiny minority,” but I would like to know how big it is.Larry
Larry,
I think one of the problems with the numbers discrepency is difference in meaning of the terminology. TEC seems to equate “parish” with geological boundary and buliding; those leaving seem to equate “parish” with the human membership/attendance at worship services. Since, orfficially, we are told that individuals can leave TEC but parishes cannot (TEC gets to keep the building, etc.), the number of “parishes” that have been able to leave and take the building with them is indeed few, but the number of empty or near empty buildings and parishes without people keeps growing. One of the frustrations of trying to count the latter category is that by the time you complete the counting, one or two more have left and your count is incorrect. Maybe the actual number is not so important, but the fact that the number keeps growing is.
Frances Scott
When these people leave the Episcopal church do they ask for a trasfer letter to the new Anglican congregation, or does the diocese just continue to count them on their rolls? It behooves everyone who leaves to send a letter to their old parish/mission with a copy to the diocese asking for their names to be removed. I think I am still on the rolls of the Diocese of VA since I still get the Virginian Diocese newspaper. I left in March 2005 and asked for a transfer to my new church in Colorado. If you are an individual or couple leaving an existing parish, send a letter to each member of the congregation so they know why yu left and rumors do not run rampant,
When we went to St. Peter’s, the church sent a letter of request for transfer of membership to our (then) current parish (Advent). As far as I know, our membership is still with the diocese of Florida, as we still keep getting their mailings asking for money for the support of Camp Weed (no, it was named for BISHOP WEED, who set aside the original funds to purchase the land), and the diocesean newsletter “the Diocesean”.
#3, Generally, if an Episcopalian leaves for a non-TEC parish, there will be no transfer letters issued. So, if one leaves for the PCUSA, RCC, AMiA, CANA, ADV, etc., the TEC parish will not write you off their books and you continue to be counted as a member.
Thus membership numbers are inflated, skewed and made useless.
#5 is correct. When I moved back to Florida in 2001 I was still on the rolls as a current member of the ECUSA parrish which I had last attended as a child of 6 in 1985, though my mother and sister had been removed from the rolls. I think my mother found out she was still on the books at another ECUSA parish we had last attended in 1979. The records are fuzzy, and should be taken with a grain of salt.
Apropo of all this. I was told by what I believe to be a valid source that the Diocese of West Michigan ( 70 parishes I believe ) has 17 empty parishes due to people leaving. These numbers calculate to 24.2% Comments please!