Due to declining enrollment and a lack of funding, the preschool at Trinity Episcopal Church in Pottsville will close June 3.
“I think it’s a shame because there aren’t many programs in the area that offer a spiritual component to a sound educational background,” said Tiffany L. Reedy, Pottsville, whose daughter, Samarra, 5, is a preschool student there. Reedy is also principal of D.H.H. Lengel Middle School, Pottsville.
“The school’s been operating in the red for the last three years,” said the Rev. James Rinehart, a member of Trinity Center for Children’s board of directors. “We had some money invested, but we’ve gone through our investments … Last year, we didn’t even hold our summer program because of lack of registration.”
No great surpise here. In 2009, Trinity was down to about 200 Members, ASA of about 75, and Plate & Pledge of just a bit over $150K. And the Dio of Bethlehem is not capable of much help with only 12 of its 59 churches with Plate & Pledge of more than $1150K in 2009. Schools need children and the diocese has no surplus. From 2002 to 2009, Marriages declined by 51 percent and Infant Baptisms by 30 percent. Statmann
Ooops! Fourth line should read $150K, NOT $1150K. Statmann
Susan Russell would say this is part the “cost of discipleship”. It is really hard not hold the revisionists who have taken over the denomination and are running it into the ground for their left wing political agendas in utter disdain.
[blockquote]But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?[/blockquote]
Amen.
While we should always pray for all, we also have to recognize that the actions of those enamored with the secular agenda of the church are destroying it and at the same time harming those least able to overcome the changes.
The Kingdom of the lord is in Heaven not on Earth.
RE: “Susan Russell would say this is part the “cost of discipleshipâ€.
Well — she would say that [i]now[/i]. ; > )
After, you know . . . she realized that saying “the floodgates will open and the church will explode with growth from all the progressive Christians out there yearning to breathe free” sounded kinda silly some five years later.
That’s one of my favorite “rhetorical statements of admission” from the past eight years. Once she switched to that line when she made periodic trolling visits over here at T19, we all knew that she knew.
Don’t be too hasty to attribute this to TEC theology. I use a secular daycare, and its enrollment has dropped significantly over the last couple of years due to the economy. Daycare is expensive, and if a parent loses their job, that often causes reevaluation.