One Florida priest tries to keep an Episcopal parish on track amid a national uproar

Reaction among parishioners at the conservative Redeemer church has varied. Some have left. Others struggle over whether national leaders have erred, and many have redirected their money from the national church to a foreign diocese.

Pat Mudgett, 56, is one of them.

“I just felt loud and clear in my own mind that the Lord does not condone what was happening in the national church, and I shouldn’t be supporting that, ” said Mudgett, explaining why she redirects her donations.

Robinson believes his charge is to keep his parish together as congregations around the country pull out of the Episcopal Church in protest. Forty-five have done so thus far, and last month, a group of Anglicans based in Nigeria consecrated a Virginia priest to oversee a North American group of Episcopal defectors and other Anglicans not associated with the Episcopal Church.

Scholars call the situation unprecedented in the Episcopal Church and say it poses a greater potential for fissure than previous controversies, such as the ordination of women in the 1970s or changes to the prayer book.

“This thing is just an unholy mess, ” said David Hein, chair of the religion and philosophy department at Hood College in Frederick, Md. “This is the kind of thing that drives people into secularism.”

At Redeemer, Robinson tries to insulate his flock from the larger debate. Like leaders in the 33, 000-member Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, he has no plans to leave the Episcopal Church. Such a move could prove costly, as legal battles over property rights would certainly break out between the national church and the parish.

With 775 attendees on a typical Sunday, Redeemer is the diocese’s largest parish. Its members, a diverse group of singles, retirees, empty nesters, young families, gay and straight, exemplify the struggle that grips the church.

Robinson works hard to keep their focus off the controversy, but he doesn’t ignore it either. He has preached about it, held forums and invited the head diocesan bishop, the Rev. John B. Lipscomb, to talk to parishioners.

Robinson also backed the leaders of Redeemer last year when they wrote the diocese asking it to pursue national leadership by a more conservative presiding bishop. Three other churches made the same request, but the diocese declined to act.

Still, Robinson admits his efforts sometimes fall short. So far, he’s lost several families and some homosexual members.

Kevin Beachy, 48, left Redeemer about two years ago for the Lutheran Church. He and his wife did not want their children suspended in a prolonged identity crisis.

“We just felt that the church had abandoned a lot of its traditional teachings on morality and sort of put the Bible on the back burner, ” said Beachy, a finance manager.

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