One of the oldest churches in the north state is up for sale, a victim of the recession coupled with an aging and dwindling congregation.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, which has stood at Lane and Fourth streets near downtown Yreka since 1881, will close its doors Jan. 1, church parishioners announced Monday.
Seventy-year-old Harry Shannon, a heartbroken 21-year member of the church, said this week he’s hoping that his beloved church can be saved, but that it appears the closure is a done deal.
“It’s not luck we’re looking for,” he said. “It’s a miracle.”
It’s very said. I drove through there once some time ago and stopped to look at the Episcopal Church in the town, as one does. Yreka is sort of in the middle of nowhere. The church (property) there is one which could easily be thriving with the right leadership. Most churches close because of a lack of leadership which can make the most of the opportunities. And I don’t mean lay leadership, though that’s important. It all comes down to having good priests in place.
What happened in 2006? Members fell from 140 to 30 and ASA from 55 to 15. Statmann
Statman — your comment is very divisive. You know good and well what happened in 2006.
Why can’t you just be quiet and supportive and less divisive? When are you going to leave so that we can get on with being inclusive?
Statman and Sarah: if you will note the numbers are flat from 2000 to 2005 and then flat again from 05 to 09. Someone was less than diligent in getting the data in the parochial report in. I think the reality would show a number factors at play, including the loss of the last full time vicar around 2002 or ’03 followed by a few years of a quarter time pastoral leadership from a local Lutheran pastor. National issues may have had an impact of which I am not aware, but I think local issues loom much larger in this instance.
Sarah (#3), very funny, (delightfully so)
but Richard Yale (#4) may well be right that something local is the real explanation.
However, I must protest #1’s suggestion that it always “comes down to having good priests in place.” I think that’s an oversimplification that could easily be taken as making clergy the scapegoats all the time, when there is usually more than enough blame to go around. I’ve known some very fine, capable priests who’ve tried valiantly but failed to turn a sick, declining parish around.
At the same time, over the long haul, congregations tend to get the quality of leadership they seek and are able to pay for (although they often deserve better shepherds).
David Handy+
David: you are most likely correct. Reminds me of the statement (by Tip O’Neil ?) that all politics are local. Statmann
Did the election of Beisner (with his marital rap sheet) in this diocese hurt things?
Most people I talk to don’t know who he is.
#7: Not relative to Yreka. The issues there predate his episcopate considerably. Having some familiarity with the situation there I would still maintain local factors played the most significant role.
No matter how one feels about Bishop Beisner’s marital history, I think that it would be safe to say that it has had no discernible effect on the membership or attendance in the Diocese of Northern California.