What complete and utter rubbish. This is nothing but a regurgitation of the MDG’s and the propaganda of 815. A quick search of the .pdf revealed 4 mentions of the name of Jesus, and nothing that even marginally resembled the Good News of the Gospel. It’s the continued invocation of the “spirit is doing a new thing” mantra. The only problem is that this poor bishop doesn’t know which spirit he is following. Lord, Have Mercy.
Well, I think that may be a bit harsh, Cranmerian (#1). I agree that the address is disappointing and institutionally centered rather than Christ or gospel centered, and dominated by means to an end considerations like how to fund the rather vague mission of the diocese, instead of issuing a clarion call to share the gospel and make disciples. But what is sad is that +Gordon Scruton is NOT a lackey of 815, he is probably the most theologically moderate of the bishops in New England, next to +Geralyn Wolf in Rhode Island, e.g., he abstained from voting to confirm Gene Robinson in neighboring NH back in 2003.
For me, the most striking lesson from the diocesan stats that Kendall provided a link for was the rather discouraging evidence that the two dioceses that had the steepest decline in ASA from 1998 to 2008 were precisely the two with the most moderate (least liberal) bishops. That is, Rhode Island lost 26% of its ASA in that decade, and W. Mass lost 24% (by way of comparison, Mass, CT, and NH all lost 19%). That may perhaps have more to do with demographics and the imploding economy than with internal factors like the degree of theological orthodoxy (or lack thereof), for it’s quite possible that W. Mass was particularly hard hit economically (I don’t know the data on that), but it’s certainly conceivable.
But maybe I’m damning with faint praise here. If +Scruton’s diocese is in free fall, it’s far from being the only one. My own former diocese of Albany, just across the border into NY, also lost 15% of its ASA during the same eleven year period, and it’s about as solid theologically as TEC gets.
So I guess I’m saying that it’s not all the bishop’s fault. At the same time, it’s certainly symptomatic of TEC’s decline that W. Mass has now joined several other dioceses in deciding that it can’t afford a diocesan camp and conference center anymore (e.g., Milwaukee). The closing of Camp Bement is a sad sign of the times, typical of TEC’s misery and ill health these days.
When one considers losses from 2002 through 2008 in Members, ASA , and real (adjusted for inflation) Plate & Pledge, I would rank Western Massacusetts at 42 out of 95 dioceses considered. (If you want to view some train wrecks, consider Rio Grande, Western Kansas, Northwest Texas, Central New York, Western New York, just to name a few.) This ddiocese faces Aging and declining real Income. Of 66 parishes there were 51 (that’s 77 percent) in 2008 that had Plate & Pledge of less than $150 thousand. That means that each “large” parish has three small ones to help. I would guess that more closures are certain. Statmann
What complete and utter rubbish. This is nothing but a regurgitation of the MDG’s and the propaganda of 815. A quick search of the .pdf revealed 4 mentions of the name of Jesus, and nothing that even marginally resembled the Good News of the Gospel. It’s the continued invocation of the “spirit is doing a new thing” mantra. The only problem is that this poor bishop doesn’t know which spirit he is following. Lord, Have Mercy.
Well, I think that may be a bit harsh, Cranmerian (#1). I agree that the address is disappointing and institutionally centered rather than Christ or gospel centered, and dominated by means to an end considerations like how to fund the rather vague mission of the diocese, instead of issuing a clarion call to share the gospel and make disciples. But what is sad is that +Gordon Scruton is NOT a lackey of 815, he is probably the most theologically moderate of the bishops in New England, next to +Geralyn Wolf in Rhode Island, e.g., he abstained from voting to confirm Gene Robinson in neighboring NH back in 2003.
For me, the most striking lesson from the diocesan stats that Kendall provided a link for was the rather discouraging evidence that the two dioceses that had the steepest decline in ASA from 1998 to 2008 were precisely the two with the most moderate (least liberal) bishops. That is, Rhode Island lost 26% of its ASA in that decade, and W. Mass lost 24% (by way of comparison, Mass, CT, and NH all lost 19%). That may perhaps have more to do with demographics and the imploding economy than with internal factors like the degree of theological orthodoxy (or lack thereof), for it’s quite possible that W. Mass was particularly hard hit economically (I don’t know the data on that), but it’s certainly conceivable.
But maybe I’m damning with faint praise here. If +Scruton’s diocese is in free fall, it’s far from being the only one. My own former diocese of Albany, just across the border into NY, also lost 15% of its ASA during the same eleven year period, and it’s about as solid theologically as TEC gets.
So I guess I’m saying that it’s not all the bishop’s fault. At the same time, it’s certainly symptomatic of TEC’s decline that W. Mass has now joined several other dioceses in deciding that it can’t afford a diocesan camp and conference center anymore (e.g., Milwaukee). The closing of Camp Bement is a sad sign of the times, typical of TEC’s misery and ill health these days.
David Handy+
When one considers losses from 2002 through 2008 in Members, ASA , and real (adjusted for inflation) Plate & Pledge, I would rank Western Massacusetts at 42 out of 95 dioceses considered. (If you want to view some train wrecks, consider Rio Grande, Western Kansas, Northwest Texas, Central New York, Western New York, just to name a few.) This ddiocese faces Aging and declining real Income. Of 66 parishes there were 51 (that’s 77 percent) in 2008 that had Plate & Pledge of less than $150 thousand. That means that each “large” parish has three small ones to help. I would guess that more closures are certain. Statmann