In an article posted yesterday, The Christian Post reiterated warnings that The Episcopal Church is lurching towards collapse. That assessment coincides with similar predictions elsewhere. At its height in 1966, almost 4 million Americans were members. As of 2018, official reports count just 1.676 million members. And while all mainline denominations are facing decline with the passing of… Read More »
As a former attorney and ardent follower of issues and trends at the US Supreme Court, this author knows that the court has a remarkable ability to center itself over time. The outcome of individual cases also can be difficult to predict, for justices often form alliances that to us seem unusual, sometimes resulting in suprising outcomes. Those… Read More »
Even as his church claims that it “welcomes all people,” Archbishop Glenn Davies of Sydney is noisily announcing that, as far as he’s concerned, the blessing of same-sex unions is unwelcome. Davies’ comments come after the Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta in Victoria voted last year to allow clergy to bless couples who were already married. That’s right —… Read More »
If there’s one thing that’s a constant in the Episcopal Church, it is turmoil and infighting. And in that regard, the parishes of the Diocese of Virginia never fail to deliver. Parishioners tell Anglican Watch that St. Anne’s, in Reston Virginia, is slowly struggling to regroup after the resignation of its last rector, The Rev. John CN Hall. Hall, a… Read More »
Wishing you and yours a happy, safe, and socially distanced Thanksgiving!
Sources tell Anglican Watch that they believe there is more to the story of the late Marshall Harrison Brown, former associate rector of Truro Church in Fairfax. Brown, who was fired for accessing online pornography at work in 2011, died in 2016. Truro is well known as one of the dissident groups that left the Episcopal Church, in part due… Read More »
As the ABC announces that he’s going to take time off for some self-care via a sabbatical, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell has spoken out on the Church of England’s failures when it comes to preventing sex abuse. His comments are spot on and should be considered carefully by provinces throughout the Anglican Communion. Before we go further,… Read More »
Imagine a situation in which the pope takes three months off for self-care. Not just the annual summer staycation at Castel Gandolfo, but three months to hang out, study, and recover from the stresses of the job. And while the Curia and the rest of the Vatican bureaucracy would no doubt continue to lumber along, Catholics would be… Read More »
In a recent comment from the DioVA bishop’s bi-weekly clergy conference call, someone said that TEC “doesn’t do” home churches. But in recent conversations with friends who, like me, as disappointed in The Episcopal Church and its lack of ethical awareness, as well as its inability to get its act together, home churches increasingly seem to be the… Read More »
In a recent announcement reported on Episcopal News Service, church leaders citing the pandemic announced that that they have decided to delay the 2021 General Convention. As a result, the meeting will be deferred to 2022. The move spells bad news for the church on multiple fronts. On a tactical level, the move deprives the church of an… Read More »
In a move unprecedented in modern history, delegates to the annual meeting of the Diocese of Virginia yesterday rejected the budget proposal from the standing committee. As a result, the standing committee will have to redraft the budget proposal. The rejection, which occurred both among clergy and lay delegates, spells bad news, both for the diocese itself and… Read More »
The long-awaited Roman Catholic report on former cardinal Ted McCarrick has been released, and to no one’s surprise it’s ugly. Titled the “Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick,” the document is the result of a two-year long investigation of McCarrick’s rise to the highest echelons of the church.… Read More »
Let me be the first to admit: I am no great fan of the ACNA crowd. (They are the dissident, supposedly “orthodox” folks who tried to usurp the Episcopal hierarchy and carry off church assets.) But I’m also prepared to give credit where credit is due. And in that respect, the situation that led to the recent resignation… Read More »
In a move that received relatively little news coverage (including none on Episcopal Cafe), implementation of the sexual abuse settlement agreement at St. Paul’s, the exclusive Episcopal school in New Hampshire, has collapsed. The move, and the actions that allegedly led to the resignation of Jeffery Maher, the independent overseer responsible for helping the school heal, serve as microcosms of… Read More »
Please remember to be safe this Halloween!
Every evening, as night falls and darkness spreads its long, icy fingers across the land, silence descends like a pall upon the cathedrals, churches and graveyards of The Episcopal Church. Buildings that, only a few hours earlier, were bustling and full and life, stand empty in the dark. Or do they? Some say that our majestic houses of… Read More »
Over the past year or so, we’ve seen the Roman Catholic Church suffer a devastating hit due to its handling of sexual misconduct. Similarly, the Southern Baptist Convention has had its own scandal, resulting in declining trust and plummeting membership. And the Church of England has been rocked to its very core by the recent IICSA and Whitney… Read More »
It’s taken me much longer than expected to write this post. To those who have been waiting for it, I am sorry. My struggle has been to find words adequate to express my dismay and disappointment in the Church of England and its hierarchy. – Editor In recent weeks, the Church of England (CoE) has been reeling from the… Read More »
The results of the 2019 annual parochial reports are in. While there are some positive signs, overall the numbers indicate a church in a state of precipitous decline. Indeed, many key metrics show that the rate of decline accelerated in 2019. Overall, the denomination shed 30 churches, while active membership dropped by 38,404 persons, accounting for a 2.29… Read More »
