Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue has preserved its residential Choir School by handing the core academic instruction over to the Professional Children’s School. There’s no doubt about that. What hasn’t been produced in any of the public disclosures that we’ve seen (all of which have been reviewed by Anglican Watch) is any evidence that this actually solved the parish’s financial problem at all. It’s just a case of rearranging the deck chairs on Fifth Avenue.
Remember the alarm bells in 2024. The vestry reported the Choir School cost around $4m per year, 89% of which came from parish funds. The wider institution was running an annual operating deficit of $3–4m and leadership had already warned that the unrestricted General Fund was down to a point of extreme concern. In other words the parish was literally burning through its savings to keep the lights on.
The parish had already pared $1m off the operating budget in December 2023 and put capital projects on hold. Then on November 8, 2024, they announced the academic partnership as the path to financial sustainability, with boarding and musical training both remaining. Problem solved, we were told.
Show the numbers
The restructuring came into effect in September 2025. A full year has now elapsed and Anglican Watch can still find not one single public figure who has in any way addressed the questions which any sensible vestry would have asked by now.
- What are the net savings from the restructuring?
- What is the Choir School’s current parish subsidy?
- Have withdrawals from the unrestricted reserves actually got down to sustainable levels or is the parish still effectively dipping into the piggy bank?
These are not exotic metrics at all. They are the parish’s own metrics. The task force was specifically charged with minimising the impact of the school on the General Fund and with keeping withdrawals from the invested funds at 5% or less. If they’d achieved that, you’d expect the leadership to be all over the place about it.
Instead Rector Carl Turner describes it as “flourishing.” Lovely. But “flourishing” is a feeling, not a financial statement. The West African dance classes and composer workshops are great; they don’t tell you whether the General Fund is still bleeding. Saint Thomas ought to publish the budget, the actual results and the remaining subsidy so that the congregation and donors can judge for themselves whether the restructuring has delivered on what leadership promised or whether “sustainability” was just the word of the year.
Accountability remains overdue
Meanwhile Anglican Watch is still calling for the resignations of Turner and the Rev. Mark Schultz over the way they’ve handled the sexual assault allegations and the conduct alleged in the lawsuit. The allegations have not been adjudicated and the parish has tried to reframe that as a vindication.
The Living Church reported in March 2026 that the plaintiff had withdrawn the lawsuit with prejudice. Turner told the publication there was no settlement. Anglican Watch disputes that account, reporting that the church’s insurer paid a settlement despite a stipulation stating that no settlement had been paid.
A parish that can’t be clear about a settlement is not one we’d put our trust in to do its own financial accounting. Show the numbers.
Sources
- Vestry letter and financial FAQ, March 2024, as reported by The Living Church.
- Task force mandate, March 23, 2024.
- Rector’s announcement of restructuring, November 8, 2024.
- Professional Children’s School announcement.
- The Rector’s message for the week of October 18, 2026.
- “Lawsuit Against New York Diocese, Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue Withdrawn,” The Living Church, March 18, 2026.
- Anglican Watch reporting on the disputed settlement account.
