The Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd, , former rector of Trinity Church in Copley Square, is returning to Boston after spending nearly seven years as dean of the National Cathedral in Washington.
Respected for major fund-raising efforts and for leading Trinity Church through a 25 percent growth in membership during his 12-year tenure there, Lloyd’s decision to return, announced yesterday, pleased his former congregation.
“The reaction that I’ve seen has been overwhelmingly positive,’’ said Robert Cowden III, senior warden of Trinity’s vestry, who oversees finances and church property. “Sam was much beloved and respected when he was here before.’’
Rev Lloyd has a challenge. The years 2002 through 2009 were not kind to Trinity Church with Members down from 3,600 to 2,500 and ASA down from 1,400 to 900. Plate & Pledge went from $2.75 million to $2.8 million which, when adjusted for inflation, was a decline of about 17 percent. And even Beantown may have changed a bit in seven years. Time and stats will tell. Statmann
Stats very interesting; thanks. I can definitely understand Sam’s wanting to get out of WNC and back to try to do some good at Trinity. And, if he can stand it, he’d be a good bishop. I also kind of wish he’d become a Communion Partners bishop–but if wishes were horses… My point is that he’s a very able and appealing person in many ways; I just wish he were in a better national version of TEC, something more like the pre-2003 version. But maybe he’s perfectly happy with the way things have evolved, if that’s the right word. My sense though is that some years ago he was a good moderate and had the potential to lend a stronger voice of reason to TEC. I wish that moderates as well as conservatives had played a much stronger role, that TWR had been adopted, that MRI really meant something concrete, etc., etc. Hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but much to regret by many of us in what has been lost in this tradition.
I hope things go well for him as he returns. He will indeed face a challenge, and part of that will be that both he and Trinity have changed over the last seven years, so it will be impossible to simply walk in as though he had been there all along. When I was in my first few years of being a priest, an older priest told me, “Never look back, and never go back.”
I don’t think I’ve ever said this before except to some mutual friends of Sam and me, but if I’d been Sam Lloyd, when an opening came up at St Paul’s Mem’l Church, Charlottesville, I’d have gone back there–and had a great time, mixing pastoral ministry with University work. But I’m not Sam Lloyd. I wish him well.
I have to wonder of the wisdom of him returning to a parish he’s been at before. I would think, just in terms of parish life, that that is going to create some really weird parish dynamics. I wish him well, but I think there is going to be a serious learning curve for everybody, particularly if he or the parish (or both) view him as the golden boy that’s going to make everything better.
#2, if Fr. Lloyd is a faithful priest, how will he relate to his Bishop, the Tangerine Queen, who presided at the faux ‘wedding’ of two homosexual women not so long ago?
A pdf available at:
http://www.trinitychurchboston.org/weddings-and-unions.html
states in part, “A wedding in the Episcopal Church is governed by The Book of Common Prayer, Canon Law, and the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Book of Common Prayer is the foundation for all Episcopal worship services and provides the liturgical framework in which a wedding is celebrated.”
It then goes on to say, “While the Episcopal Church has not yet developed a liturgy for same-gender marriages, the Diocese of Massachusetts recognizes that such celebrations and blessings are a usual part of the life of the community. For these liturgies, Trinity Church uses an adaptation of “The Celebration and Blessing of Marriage†found in The Book of Common Prayer.”
Anathema!
If he’s willing to go into a parish and diocese like that, and willing to buy in on satanic rituals, then one might question the assessment that he has the potential to be a good bishop someday. Unless that assessment is made with a wink and a smile.
I likewise wish him well.
“For these liturgies, Trinity Church uses an adaptation of “The Celebration and Blessing of Marriage†found in The Book of Common Prayer.â€
So much for services developed and approved by the Standing Liturgical Commission. Every other service had to be, but the LBGTQ-off-the-wall services get a free pass and “special” status.
Once again, their double standards are showing.