Grace Episcopal Church, a fixture on Canal Street in Mid-City for nearly 60 years, will close next month, Episcopal Bishop Morris Thompson said Monday.
The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana hopes the closure is not permanent. It may be able to reopen the church in a year or so after rethinking its mission and gathering new resources, Thompson said.
Thompson said he informed Grace’s small congregation of his decision Dec. 4. He said there were fewer 15 people in the pews at one of the two services that morning.
LIke the recent similar decision to close Church of the Epiphany on Chicago’s near west side, the closing of Grace Church in New Orleans is a harbinger of the future of TEC, lots of beautiful empty buildings all over the place. I’m increasingly inclined to think that empty buildings are the going to be the most prominent and public symbol of TEC.
It really doesn’t matter whether the buildings become empty because thriving orthodox congregations are forced to abandon them after departing from TEC (as, e.g., just happened with historic Christ Church in downtown Savannah, GA), or whether it’s because, as here, a large physical plant was become virtually empty through the gradual but inexorable decline of the perpetually graying and diminishing parisioners. The end result is the same: lots of empty buildings.
And that is actually an apt symbol for TEC these days, since those empty buildings suitably represent an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual emptiness of all too many TEC churches today. Alas, all too often there’s just no life left inside the shell of those glorious old buildings which used to house flourishing congregations that actually believed the gospel. Back in the 1950s, Grace Church had over a thousand members and was a booming place.
But it was telling that this article notes that two former priests at Grace, New Orleans were Joe Doss and Leo Frade, who both went on to become TEC bishops. But sadly, both +Doss and +Frade represent the hollowing out of the Church’s authentic teaching. I’m glad they helped organize a daring rescue of some Cubans desperate to escape the island. But both men sadly have proved better at ministering to people’s physical and social needs than their spiritual needs. And that too represents TEC all too well, and is a primary reason why so many TEC buildings are now ending up empty.
Sad. Very sad.
David Handy+
Well said, David Handy.
Sad. That area has a great restaurant (Mandina’s) in the next block that really can pack em in. I guess the Episcopal franchise menu, the ownership, or the cooks in the church kitchen are not up to standards.
Looks like it is too late for the “Church Impossible” crew to come in and straighten things out.
Ichabod, the glory and the parishoners have departed. Also to note another former Grace Church rector, Wayne Wright is IIRC now the bishop of Vermont.
+Wayne Wright is the Bishop of Delaware.
And +W. Wright is busy hollowing out Delaware we might add. Didn’t we just read the Cathedral is in deep do-do? Interesting that Grace must be shuttered. Since +Thompson came on the scene a year or so ago, Integrity has taken center stage in the Diocese and its glossy Periodical. Apparantly that won’t help Grace out with all this new-found inclusiveness.
Grace New Orleans was underwater as was that entire neighborhood as a result of hurricane Katrina in 2005. They never bounced back, although, as I commented above, the neighborhood has.
David Keller (#2),
Thanks for the encouragement. Let me return the favor by adding that I hope you and your friends that are planting a new orthodox Anglican church in Greenville enjoy success beyond your wildest dreams (ala Eph. 3:20-21).
David Handy+
It goes without saying that this won’t be the last TEC parish to close their doors, and while it’s unfortunate that Nature had a hand in the closing, other factors were the main cause.
Interesting to note that in 2008 Members declined from 340 to 150 yet Plate & Pledge increased ferom $60K to $100K. In 2010 ASA was 55 while the church seats 300. There is something utterly depressing to sit in a church week after week that is over 80 percent empty. Statmann
It looks as though there may be a correlation between the dip in ASA and the rise in Plate and Pledge; as though someone is trying to keep up a stiff upper lip and bite the bullet in the form of increased giving in the face of decline…..for however long that lasts until they decide to pull up stakes and move on.
Acto the “Studying Your Community” analysis, Grace sites in the middle of a largely poor, black, irreligious community which is gradually being displaced by Latinos. That’s a hard area for Anglicans.