“I think the Episcopal Church has really shot itself in the foot by doing this,” the IRD spokesman comments. “They’re losing one of their larger, more vibrant dioceses. Indeed this diocese is one of the few that’s posted growth in recent years, and there is just nothing that the liberal leadership of the Episcopal Church is really gaining by effectively forcing this diocese out the door.”
Walton does not believe the national office wants to tolerate the type of public dissent displayed by South Carolina.
The Enlightened Leadership of the Club wants to get the riffraff out, is what it comes down to.
Just my opinion with my own limited view, but I think that for the centrist and right of center parishes and dioceses left, all of this is going to encourage congregationalism. The left will continue to cheer and appease she-who-must-not-be-questioned and the rest will focus on their parishes, their communities, and their parishes’ status and interaction in those communities.
The national brand has become the punchline and butt of jokes. The best that we can hope for is that if we forge strong, Christ-centered parishes, then we can be faithful witnesses and bearers of Christ to our communities. And we can ignore and belie what the national church is doing as something that has no standing or relevance to us.