Up to now, I did not think the actions of the current TEC General Convention would significantly increase the loss of members from that denomination. I thought so many conservatives have already left that there weren’t that many left to leave. Also, if what has occurred in recent years is not enough to make one depart . . . . Well, you’ve heard the jokes about the parishioner who fulminates that he’ll leave if there is one more abomination.
But this report from a South Dakota parish is making me think again. Good Shepherd, Sioux Falls has already lost a vestry member and three families before General Convention is officially over. This is only one parish, but it certainly makes one wonder what may be happening elsewhere.
Don’t expect much crying from the oh-so-inclusive crowd that now runs The Episcopal Church, however. There inclusivity excludes the orthodox. Their deletion of a conscience clause is just one indication of that. And many of them can barely constrain their glee at getting conservatives out of the way.
The Episcopal Church is certainly doing a good job of that.
South Dakota, dude. Sioux Falls is in South Dakota.
ReplyDeleteThe story of the death of the Episcopal Church isn't one of dramatic episodes. Four dioceses have left, but if you run the numbers, that's not the bulk of the departures.
ReplyDeleteThe death of the Episcopal Church is the family that stops attending one week and switches to a Lutheran Church. It's the guy who marries a Catholic and joins her church. It's the woman who was raised an Episcopalian but goes to the local megachurch because they teach the Gospel in Sunday school.
It's the lingering death of a thousand paper cuts.
Oops! I think the blog title Northern Plains Anglican got me thinking "North."
ReplyDeletePost corrected. Thank you.
wannabe
I was thinking that we'd not see many more leave TEc, even though people at the ACNA Assembly were saying otherwise. I think that the events of this last week will push more people out than I'd thought...but then again, I thought that they might have listened to the ABC...silly, silly, me.
ReplyDelete