Click here to see a pictorial representation of some of the statistics for the parish mentioned in the previous posting.
Northern Florida's St Margaret's Episcopal Church–its Recent Statistics
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Click here to see a pictorial representation of some of the statistics for the parish mentioned in the previous posting.
It’s very interesting to see how that parish was growing well into 2006, and subsequently crashed most drastically. Hmmm… who came onto the Episcopal scene in 2006? The toxic results are clear for all to see.
#1–That is also in the same time frame Bp. Howard took over; he came in 2004. The interesting thing is it looks like in 2010 they still had an ASA of about 80 and a $225K budget. What a dramatic collapse.
Many churches in the North Florida area broke away from TEC in late 2005/early 2006. For St. Margaret’s, that graph appears to be directly correlated to that fact.
See C. Wingate’s posting in previous blog item relating to same closure. It raises the question of whether the parish closed because it could no longer meet payments for loan taken out to build new church and hall. The latter would indicate no lack of faith.
We were parishioners here in 2005 to 2006, and left because of Bishop Howard. We had given our gifts marked “parish only” and then discovered that our wishes were not being honored. Moreover, the rector (orthodox, but gullibly believing Bp Howard’s claims to be likewise) told everyone they needed to give to the diocese and not designate gifts–this after the debacle of Howard losing one church after another and taking their property “for future generations of Episcopalians.” When we knew we could not trust our gifts to be applied as we wished them to be, we knew we had to leave. And we regretted it, because we liked the rector, his naivete about the bishop notwithstanding, and liked the parishioners. They had in fact just built a fine new worship space, and we were happy to contribute to that fund–until it became clear we couldn’t be sure that’s where our money would go.
There was no reason given this prime location in a growing part of the Jacksonville area that this church should not have thrived. Others we knew who left also left because of Bishop Howard. In 2006 the rector had to read aloud a letter from the Bishop that was (to put it kindly) deceptive about what had happened at General Convention. We felt terrible that the rector had been forced to read it. But that letter, like the handling of our gifts, was a clarifying moment for us. It was the end of our quite determined attempts up until that point to remain in the Episcopal Church and not allow the heretics in the ascendency to drive us out. For that, I suppose, we owe Bishop Howard our gratitude.
When the story is written about that diocese, the verdict will not be kind. Bishop Howard took a thriving diocese and, parish by parish, destroyed it, driving even those like us who were determined to remain in the Episcopal Church out of it. The charts are stark enough: the reality is that the numbers are families like ours who did not want to leave, but had to. It is all so very sad.
Surely they can sue somebody over this.
Lilke Stacy Sauls in Lexington, KY
The decline is stunning. Is this the pattern we might see in an orthodox parish that is not willing to stand up, circle the wagons, arm the people, and be firm when up against a bishop such as this?
Bit of interesting history behind the scenes. Up until around 2008 the parish had its own website. Research into the old rector shows that he took a position at Trinity St. Augustine in 2009. The diocese has worked hard to disappear St. M’s website but the Google cache showed one Kimberly L. Still as rector/priest-in-charge; she was ordained at the end of 2007, so she had only a couple of years experience at most before going to St. M’s. It’s not hard to draw a correlation here.
Undergroundpewster: there were several things at play here. First, the rector believed/wanted to believe/said he believed the bishop was orthodox. After all, the bishop said he was. Those in the parish seemed much better informed about the goings-on in the diocese and TEC than the rector was (thanks in large part to sites like this one and StandFirm). It was plain the rector was not going to do what Grace Church Orange Park and others were doing and leave the diocese. And in some ways, that might not have been a bad decision strategically, as if he could provide a safe orthodox home for orthodox Episcopalians, as other churches imploded or were taken over by heterodox clergy, St. Margaret’s would have been positioned well. But it was equally plain he would not stand up to the bishop, and so the parish’s days were numbered. No one could give funds with any confidence in the future. Second, Fleming Island is a somewhat transient area, as is all of Jacksonville. Once things started going downhill, and anyone visiting could see what was happening, there was every reason to avoid it. Third, when Grace Church Orange Park left the diocese and their building behind, they chose to build “New Grace” not far from St. Margaret’s. Suddenly there was an orthodox Anglican church that was thriving very nearby. The contrast was palpable. Finally, another Orange Park church, Good Samaritan, left the diocese, providing yet another orthodox Anglican presence.
So when we lived there there were three orthodox Episcopal churches in the Orange Park area. Now there are none. And essentially there is only one Episcopal Church (Old Grace) remaining, and it is a weak, wan, and emaciated shadow of what its orthodox predecessor was.
Bishop Howard wanted property, though, and now he has it: with mortgages and other expenses. At some point the other churches of the diocese are going to resent paying those bills for empty buildings. And as he sells them, as he will have to, it will make plain for all to see that all the language about preserving property for future generations of Episcopalians was simply not true.
Rome A–re: your # 5; essentailly the same thing happened in Upper SC under Bp. Henderson. My (then) church had a pretty large number of people who didn’t want their money to go to TEC. The good bishop allowed a fund to be set up for that money to be sequestered. The last year the sequestration was allowed, the amount set aside was +/- $40K. The budget for one of the diocesesan institutions was reduced by $40K, our money went to that line item and the money previoulsy budgeted to the diocesan entity was sent to Ms. Schori.
Funny, isn’t it: what other charity or philanthropic organization would deign to dictate to donors how they MUST channel their funds, to the point of either a) ignoring their wishes (which, by the way, has great legal risk) or b) shutting down avenues to giving as they would prefer. That really does evidence desperation or hubris (or both), does it not?
#9 C. Wingate– Making websites disappear has happened here as well. Originally each parish just had their own independent website (if they had one). And then the last couple of years the Diocese required that all parish websites had to link through the Diocese website. Needless to say, the websites of the two orthodox parishes were not linked to the Diocese and they also “disappeared” the independent websites. Both those congregations no longer exist.
Apart from spite, it seems to me fundamentally silly and self-destructive, since the primary way folks find a church these days is doing a Google search and checking out a church’s website.
The Dio of Florida had a really bad 2002 through 2010 experience with ASA down 31 percent. And the longer term stats are even worst with both Marriages and Infant Baptisms down 51 percent. SDtatmann
Dear Messrs RomeAnglican and Keller,
Unfortunate, indeed, that parishioners cannot designate who or what should receive their donations. Have you seen the court results in the TEC v Anglican churches (The Falls Church, Truro, et al) in Virginia? Judge Bellows awarded donations made before TEC filed its lawsuits to TEC, despite the fact that faithful Anglican parishioners had earmarked them not to go to TEC. This is but one more instance of the organization that is The Episcopal Church receiving (favorable) treatment different than the treatment accorded other (nonreligious) entities. So much for donees’ express, written directions.
Statmann – where are the various diocesan statistics on marriages and baptisms online? I can’t seem to find those. Thanks.
pendemis: Go to TEC Website. Look up Statistics in the A to Z Directory and then find section on Reports. The new website version is less friendly but the data are there. Statmann