Hi Fthr. Tony,

I think you are so right regarding property.  I’ll probably get into some hot water for what I’m about to say, but I really believe that both sides of this current issue are missing the boat when it comes to the property disputes.  What a wonderful opportunity for us to unload some of this overly expensive property to others and start anew!  Plus the energy that goes into creating a new space can do wonders to create stronger community, longer range visions and evangelistic efforts.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love our beautiful buildings.  My own home parish has the most exquisite stained glass that constantly edifies me every time I worship there.  But its very expensive to maintain all of it.  In my opinion, we should just let the “other side” (whoever that may be for each of us) have the property and the headaches that go with it.  Figure out a decent financial settlement for it and go on to create something else that is new and wonderful.

I also believe our endowments are our downfall in many ways.  I’m hoping this last economic recession will wake up our parishes, dioceses and seminaries that we cannot live solely on the grain that is stored in the storehouse.  We need to be out in the fields reaping because we don’t know when the storehouse is gonna burn down.

In Christ,
Shawn

Must be a record - I agree 100%

You critique property without falling into gnosticism.

Shawn:  I am increasingly of the view that the departed parishes who are losing their properties are getting the better of the deal.  They are in a sense being forced out of the complacency that all of TEC (both conservative and liberal) is mired in.  They are being forced to go back to the drawing boards and being church plants in today’s world.  Basically they are being thrown into the deep end of the pool and being forced to swim, while the rest of TEC remains stuck in the shallow pool unwilling to go further into the pool.  TEC gets to keep a bunch of old, empty, impractical, and costly buildings which they have to either keep up or sell.  Either way TEC loses in the long run, while the departed parish either dies off, or (as seems to be the case in the vast majority of situations) emerges stronger and better able to minister in the 21st century.

I am a priest-spouse and have read many a parish profile and been to many interviews.  The percentage of time that a parish is yoked to an expensive, impractical and limiting building (which they near worship as their god) is astounding.  I have also a lot of contact with ACNA parishes which have been evicted from their buildings or which have been recently planted.  The excitement, energy and vision of these parishes is truly inspiring.

I don’t like to presume on what God is doing, but it certainly seems like he has a definite sense of humor, and he is using it to prune North American Anglicans for better things down the road…

I don’t mean to belittle the parishes and dioceses which have left TEC, but a family member was wisely advised by her rector to get the pre-marital counseling recommended above, attend church with her fiancé a number of months before the wedding, etc. It was a wonderful experience; her mother, who had been away from the church for a long time, also attended and very much appreciated the rector’s sense of humor and good sermons.  However, soon after the wedding the rector led that parish out of TEC.  He himself, although he has moved out of state, stayed in TEC.  My relatives can’t in good conscience continue to attend that church; many members of the church besides them feel betrayed. This couldn’t be called the “condomization of church leadership,” but it does seem in this case that the shepherd abandoned the flock.