The problem facing historic churches is vividly illustrated in the heart of New Haven.
Trinity Episcopal Church, one of the three iconic churches on the New Haven Green, has a makeshift awning over the front doors, set on a scaffolding across the front of Ithiel Towns’ Gothic Revival masterpiece.
Much of the tower is made of sandstone, which absorbs water, freezes and cracks over time.
“Some of that loosened stone came off and almost hit somebody in the head,” said the Rev. Andrew Fiddler, Trinity’s rector.
Challenges such as falling stone, which Fiddler said must wait until spring to be repaired, were among the issues scheduled to be addressed at the New Haven Museum and Historical Society in a recent panel discussion about preserving historic churches.
Funny thing it is about those historic churches, in Connecticut and elsewhere. If you run out all the parishioners, if you scream “stay away!” to families and anyone looking for some sort of bedrock values, if you spend all your money suing churches that are doing well–then it’s rather unsurprising you’ve got a leaky roof and don’t have the money to fix it. These buildings that bishops like Smith are so keen to keep they simply cannot pay for, so they’ll be empty and fall apart in short order, a metaphor for the dioceses themselves, and the spiritual condition of the larger Episcopal Church.