Since the election of an openly gay bishop in 2003 and a female presiding bishop in 2006, reports of dissension and division within the Episcopal Church and its parent body, the Anglican Communion, has been prevalent.
Such unrest isn’t unfamiliar to Episcopalians along the Gulf Coast.
Several years ago, parishioners of a handful of congregations in the Pensacola, Fla.-based Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast — including what’s now Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile — left the Episcopal Church. In 2006, Daphne’s Church of the Apostles, started as an Episcopal mission congregation, dissolved its ties to the area diocese.
But on the cusp of the diocesan convention next week, Bishop Philip M. Duncan II indicated that the diocese’s days of division and departure may be done.
“I think that many of the people who wanted to leave have left,” Duncan said. “I’ve had people tell me that they may not agree with everything that the Episcopal Church is doing or the Anglican Communion is doing or that the diocese is doing or even that their own church is doing. But it really is about keeping the family together and not entering into a new schism. Because what some have said to me is that when churches divide, and this is probably true historically, they divide and then they keep dividing.”
And so we have another version of the current TEC leadership seeking to defend the status quo. News flash–Christianity is not about stagnation, it is about abundant life (John 10:10). The diocese of the Central Gulf Coast has declined .5% in membership from 2001-2006 according to the Episcopal Church’s own office of statistics. From 1996 to 2006 the baptized membership there went from 20,434 to 20,723. From 2003 to 2006 the Average Sunday Attendance in this diocese went from 7,646 to 7,099 (a decline of over 7%). I am confident that during this period the overall population in this diocese grew (Florida and Alabama as entire states certainly did from 2000-2007) so in economic terms this is a real decline.
I am sorry but these are portraits of stagnation and, yes, decline. Stagnant waters are calm, but that is not necessarily a good thing (Jesus certainly flunks by that criterion). The gospel is not about being “calm.”
In any event read it all.
How utterly tiring it is to read these statements and then think, “He actually believes what he’s saying.” A family might stay together but disfunction is disfunction. I don’t want that. I never wanted it. And I don’t see a way to capture TEC again and set it on a course of right belief. I really don’t.
“Unlike some denominations, Episcopalians are allowed to disagree on hierarchical and theological matters, and this is just part of that dynamic.”
At what point did theological education in the Episcopal Church become so poor that priests see no problem with an orthodox church that is accommodating of heretical doctrines? I hate the modern understanding of “Anglicanism” as being a version of Christianity in which diversity of faith is considered to be an essential aspect.
This is all totally predictable, normal institutional denial. The leaders of TEC desperately want to think that the worst is behind them and now they can move on. But this is just the very beginning of the New Reformation. Meanwhile, the new church start-up that broke away from big old St. John’s, Tallahassee, is thriving, just booming from what I’ve heard (over 1,000 ASA was the rumor I heard). It would be great to get a report form people on the ground in that area. I’ll bet the new Anglican churches in the Gulf Coast region aren’t stagnant.
David Handy+
I once had a congregation in that Diocese – next to an Air Force base, now closed with severe loss of jobs. Also dodged hurricanes in that storm-prone corner which periodically wreaks destruction. Where did you get your information about population growth, to be so self-righteously judgemental?
#1, I think the analogy of a family as it is used in this situation is un-thought out here. The Anglican Communion isn’t in a situation where there are family members living in the same house and one of the snotty kids has decided to dye his hair blue and listen to Slayer to impress his friends. It’s in a situation in which the kid has grown up, left home, and disowned his family. The rest of the family misses him and wants him to come home, but nothing will be helped by pretending he hasn’t left. You can’t arrange a search party until you come to grips with the fact that your son has left home and may not want to come back.
#2 it is important to describe where acceptable difference may and may not occur. “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty and in all things charity”–Meldenius’ statement is helpful in this regard. The problem today is that there is increasing allowance for difference in essentials.
“To be so self-righteously judgemental” says Patriarch, thereby exercising the very judgmentalism he or she deplores, and not only that, but attributing self-righteousness in the process. Pot, please call kettle soon.
#4, next to what closed base? It must have been a long, long time ago because I don’t know of any closed USAF bases in that area. But being old enough to be a USAF retiree, my memory is certainly fallible.
Many of the losses in the Central Gulf Coast Diocese occurred before 2003 when AMiA was formed. It didn’t take a gay bishop to get their attention — they could see what was coming.
David (3.), Tallahassee is in the DoFl, not CGC, unless they’ve changed diocesan boundaries since we’ve left the DoFl.
#6, I think the problem is a lack of clarity in which essentials are, in fact, essential.
#9, TonyinCNY,
I stand corrected. Thanks for setting the record straight. My memory was faulty.
#6, Kendall, much esteemed host of this blog,
I agree 100%. But therein lies the rub, doesn’t it? Our foes won’t admit to many things being “essentials,” that have historically always been considered such by the whole one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And not least this includes the basic doctrine of the unique and unrivalled authority of Holy Scripture as the Word of God written. Surely, if there is anything which is a “core doctrine” of Anglicanism since the Reformation, that is one chief example of something that is truly a non-negotiable “essential” of the Faith.
And yet, so much of the strife we see taking place all around us is due to the fact that the Bible is no longer regarded as the authoritative Word of God (in any meaningful sense) by large numbers of Anglican leaders in the western world, both lay and ordained. Instead, the biblical teaching on sexual ethics, and on many other matters, is cavalierly tossed aside and treated with arrogant contempt and a haughty disdain, as if we “enlightened” westerners had somehow outgrown its “obviously” outmoded ways of thinking.
When the Canadian General Synod decided formally last summer that same-sex blessings were not contrary to any “core doctrine” of the Anglican Church of Canada, they thereby implicitly declared that the authority of Scripture was no longer a “core doctrine” for them. TEC made the same fateful and outrageous blunder at the time of the +Walter Righter trial back in the mid 1990s. You know this, of course, Kendall. I’m rehearsing it for the sake of the readers who bother to wade through the comments on this thread.
My point is that it’s precisely our inability to agree on upholding the classic “essentials” of the Christian faith and life that dooms TEC and the whole western part of the AC to experiencing all the agonies (and fruits!) of a New Reformation.
David Handy+
Hi Patriarch . . . not that it will really matter to you since your real point is that Kendall shouldn’t point out STAGNATION in the Episcopal diocese of Central Gulf Coast . . .
But of the six coastal counties in Alabama, according to the latest US Census Bureau stats — two of those six experienced very slight population decline, the other four experienced excellent population growth.
The total net gain in population growth in those six counties was [drum roll] . . . 39,050.
Patriarch, would you care to withdraw your judgemental assessment of Kendall Harmon’s quite accurate analysis? ; > )
SaintCyprian, I’m simply using his analogy: “But it really is about keeping the family together . . . .” Within TEC we are dysfunctional, cannot operate with good sense, and the House of Bishops were good enough to claim thais dysfunction in the past. As I see it, they lead the way in this behavior. Yes, it is institutional blarney, words in the air that fall to the ground the minute the words are said. Perhaps it is the hurricane winds continuing to roar in that corner of TEC.
#13, re-looking at my earlier post I can see that it may have come across that I was criticising you, which I didn’t intend- I was instead criticising the Bishop for using the “family” analogy in an inappropriate way.
Diocese membership increased about 5 percent from 1996 through 2002 and then dereased about 2 percent from 2002 through 2006. Plate & Pledge increased about 25 percent from 1996 through 2002 which covered inflation plus a bit. From 2002 through 2006 Plate & Pledge increased about 12 percent which just about covered inflation. Looks pretty stagnant to me. Statmann
# 4 you are incorrect
Since I am retired Military and lived in the Pensacola/Ft Walton area from 2000-2007 and was in a Gulf Breeze Parish (shortly after over 100 folks walked out in 2000 along with the rector), I feel I am qualified to discuss this area. Ft Walton area, next to Eglin AFB and Hurlburt Field (home to Special OPs) is in a dynamic growth pattern due to BRAC…other units being deployed to Eglin due to other base closures or realignment…..The GC Diocese in my opinion is in complete denial. I would characterize they are in decline, not stagnant…But we still give daily prayers for those wonderful folks in Gulf Breeze FL
Anglican Ron
I am retired USAF, and I can name the bases closed in the Gulf Coast area: Eaker AFB, AR, Dec 92, Myrtle Beach AFB, SC, Mar 93, Bergstrom AFB, TX, Sep 93, Carswell AFB, TX, Sep 93, and England AFB, LA, Dec 92. The financial hardship caused by these closures has been…….to put it nicely…….considerable.
SaintCyprian (#14 etc.),
I think I understand your point and I share your concern that the bishop’s invoking of the family analogy is all too familiar and troubling. On the one hand, it’s of course true that Christians are part of a spiritual family that transcends all earthly ties. We all call on the same God as Abba, Father, and Paul endlessly refers to his hearers and readers as “brothers” (and sisters).
But on the other hand, there is a limit to the applicability of this analogy. In our physical families of origin, once a brother or sister, always a brother or sister. Not so in the spiritual world! If you stop being a believer in Jesus Christ, or stop following his ways, you CEASE to be part of the family. Now I know that there is actually a long unresolved theological debate over whether people can lose their salvation or not (the Calvinists among us insisting on the Perseverance of the Saints or “once saved, always saved,” the rest of us demurring).
So let me put it bluntly. The family language the bishops used usually imports the common but totally fallacious assumption that “Hey, we’re all part of the same big family. We may disagree on some things, even major things (what family doesn’t?), but we just have to learn to get along, because whether we like it or not, we will always be family.” WRONG. Disbelief and disobedience can cast you out of the family, both in this life, and in the life to come.
David Handy+
#12 Sarah, I live in Alabama and there are only two coastal counties in this sate. One, Baldwin County, experienced over 20% growth in population between 2000-2006. The other, Mobile, grew about 1.1%.
Cennydd,
We were speaking of the ‘base closure’ in the Diocse of the Central Gulf Coast which the bishop mentioned. As far as we know, there hasn’t been one base closed in the diocesean area.
I used to attend a parish in CGC, it went steadily downhill under +Charles Duval and a series of rectors who really didn’t care about the parish, only their own prestige (it was a wealthy parish).
Recently I went back to visit a relative, and she was excited about a study they were doing on Matthew Fox’s book “Original Blessing”, the book that got him kicked out of the Roman Catholic priesthood for his New Age/heretical thought. (e.g.,The renaming of ‘original sin’ as the ‘original blessing’).
From an [url=http://www.levity.com/mavericks/fox.htm]interview[/url] with Matthew Fox:
[blockquote]Matthew Fox: I think that the deeper you go into your own tradition in terms of spirituality, the closer you come to the living waters of wisdom. In this image, [i]God is a great underground river[/i]. There are many wells into this river: there’s Buddhism, Taosim, Judaism, Sufism, the Goddess, Native traditions and Christianity. To connect with the great river, we all need a path, but when you get down there, there’s only one river. What I’m doing is connected with the East. I have a Hindu from India teaching Shakta yoga in my program. We teach T’ai Chi and Aikido. We have Sufis, Buddhists, Jews, Catholics and Protestants and witches. (laughter) So the future of religion is interdenomination.
David: But you have a certain kind of loyalty though to Christianity.
Matthew: Why should I, they just kicked me out?[/blockquote]
(Italics in original)
So, if this is what they are teaching, I’m glad to have left it behind.
Hi Kubla, thanks for making that clear. I counted the four “border” counties on top of Florida as “coastal” although they are not. In the two Alabama counties you mention the net gain in population was 33,061.
Further, perhaps Patriarch was using a location on the Florida coast that is within Central Gulf Coast. So I have included the population shifts by the Census in the Florida panhandle counties, though technically not all are on the coast either. Out of 9 counties, one showed a slight decrease of 711 people. The rest showed nice increases.
Santa Rosa: +22.8%
Okaloosa: +5.7%
Walton: +28.7%
Bay: +10.3%
Gulf: -3.5% [decrease of 711]
Washington: +8.3%
Calhoun: +3%
Holmes: +3.9%
Jackson: +5.4%
I’m still waiting patiently on Patriarch’s formal withdrawal of his harsh judgement of Kendall’s correct analysis, which was that the Central Gulf Coast declined in ASA and membership in the last several years, during a large increase in population.
The place that I probably disagree with Kendall on [or maybe not] is that the bishop of the Central Gulf Coast is most likely deeply satisfied, nay even merry, over that result.
We in TEC, you see, have [i]very different standards[/i] of “success” these days.
Sarah, thanks now I understand what you meant. By the way, Baldwin county is the fastest-growing county in the state and has been for several years now. It’s also the location of the six fastest-growing cities in the state, by percent population gain. It would be interesting to isolate church membership and ASA in that county and compare it to an area such as southeastern Alabama, which is also in the Diocese of the CGC but has experienced either fairly slow population growth or even lost population (especially in rural areas – the exception being the city of Dothan, which has grown fairly quickly) over the first part of this century.
Hi Kubla . . . interesting note on Baldwin County from you. Thanks! I got curious and went and found all the places in Baldwin County large enough to be listed as “cities” [not towns].
Here’s the population density map for Baldwin County:
http://www.co.baldwin.al.us/uploads/Population_Density_citylimits.pdf
Then I found any Episcopal congregations listed in those cities [some did not have congregations] and looked up their ASA and trends. Here’s the list for anyone who’s curious.
Out of seven parishes in that county — which remember has experienced according the census data a population increase over a six year period of about 29,000 or some 20% — three parishes in those cities are in serious serious trouble and systemic decline. One I can certainly imagine why — smack dab on the coastline.
One additional parish MAY be experiencing a turn-around [one year spike in growth, so too soon to tell].
One is stagnant/flat.
Two are healthy and growing steadily in ASA.
When do you think that Patriarch will come and do a mea culpa about both the population growth and his harsh judgement of Kendall?
************************
Bay Minette — Immanuel
ASA 30
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_217200885131AM.pdf
Status — all over the map
Daphne — St. Pauls
ASA 325
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_217200885942AM.pdf
Status: Generally slow, steady growth in ASA
St. James — Fairhope
ASA 400
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_217200890118AM.pdf
Status: Generally steady growth
Foley — St. Pauls
ASA 175
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_217200890224AM.pdf
Status: Essentially flat
Gulf Shores — Holy Spirit
ASA 130
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_217200890417AM.pdf
Status: Precipitous decline
Magnolia Springs — St. Paul’s Chapel
ASA 90
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_217200890549AM.pdf
Status: From general decline to a spike in growth
Robertsdale — St. John
ASA 50
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_217200890723AM.pdf
Status: Steep decline
If one looks over the growth chart (Go [url=http://www.episcopalchurch.org/growth_60791_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=50929 ]here[/url] and choose View Diocese Chart) then one must assume the bishop is looking at church membership rather than ASA. The later is going down, down, down. I imagine that the CGC diocesan membership rolls have more dead people listed than Jim Wells County in south Texas had in 1948. (Yea, look that one up!)
Or perhaps he is comparing his performance to Katherine Jefferts Schori’s performance in Nevada where she managed to shrink the rolls by 10% in the fastest growing state in the union, a remarkable feat. This would be the principle that if one sets the bar low enough, even a one-legged drunk can stumble over it. ;^)
New Reformation Advocate, give me a break, I’m trying my darndest to make the analogy fit! 😉
That aside, I was just strolling through TEC stats and I’m quite certain that the one parish of Christ Church in Plano, Texas has roughly the same sunday attendance of the whole diocese of Nevada. Go Schori!!!
re #23: I was for most of the 1990’s the associate rector at St. James’, Fairhope under the now deceased Gil Green. Fr. Gil was at one point in his career, a long time ago, the Pres. of Episcopalians United. He preached the Bible and nothing but. The place grew tremendously under his leadership, so much so that in the early 90’s, we had to build an entirely new campus to accommodate the growth. The eastern shore of Mobile Bay, (Primarily the cities of Daphne and Fairhope) have been growing tremendously for several decades now. IN Fairhope, we had a large and growing retirement community, plus many, many families who were escaping troubled public school systems across the Bay in Mobile. We were once asked how we managed to make the parish grow? We would answer, we built it because they were already coming and then we offered them Jesus and we couldn’t keep them away. I have been away from CGC for 9 years now, but I can tell you that Immanuel, Bay Minette has been fluctuating up and down for years and years. When they can get a priest in, they seem to flourish. When they can’t they seem to decline. If you could track the clergy in and out of there, you will probably find a correlation to their attendance statistics. St. Paul’s, Daphne, when I was there, also expereinced a fair amount of growth due to the rising population. They tended to be more “moderate” than St. James’, so many of the Fairhope people, who didn’t really want the Scriptures, would drive the 15 minutes up the road to Daphne and go there. Made for some interesting dynamics at times.
Holy Spirit, Gulf Shores, was started by a very dynamic priest, who has since moved to a different cure, so I’m not surprised they see a decline.
I can’t really speak to the other situations in the other parishes since I have been gone for so long.
I would agree, though, that there has been a lot of sticking of heads into a lot of sand (which that area has in abundance.)
I find it interesting that a lot of the original folks forming the AMIA at the parish level arose out of CGC. When they left in 2000, the conservative voice in the diocese was severely weakened and eviscerated.
Dad Howe, thank you for the very interesting reflections on that county.
Sarah, You’re welcome. We miss that parish in many ways and continue to pray that its current leadership will steer them wisely and well in this present darkness.