Anyone Want to Buy a Headquarters?

http://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/home-page-news-and-views/why-is-the-episcopal-church-near-collapse.aspx#PJ2OcUub0CpRC7Oi.01

It seems the wave of the future is not more but less. Not full but empty. Not fiscally sound but in debt.

How much can you change an institution before it loses its reason for being? When is change needed and when is it important to stand firm?

In the article it stated that there are twice as many Mormons as this type of Episcopalian. That shocked me. Also the ability to accept the most basic of Christian doctrine. If crossing boundaries is the goal why should anyone stay.

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13 Responses to Anyone Want to Buy a Headquarters?

  1. BrentB67BrentB67 says:

    The first two paragraphs are enough:

    The headlines coming out of the Episcopal Church’s annual U.S. convention are stunning — endorsement of cross-dressing clergy, blessing same-sex marriage, the sale of their headquarters since they can’t afford to maintain it.

    The American branch of the Church of England, founded when the Vatican balked at permitting King Henry VIII to continue annulling marriages to any wife who failed to bear him sons, is in trouble.

    Talk about dead religion. Good riddance.

  2. TKC1101TKC1101 says:

    When an institution becomes about process instead of values and results, it loses the type of people who make it live and attracts the type of people who suck the life from it.

    In nature, it is called cancer.

  3. DouglasDouglas says:

    The Episcopal Church is just one more predominantly white, Western cultural edifice that is dying not by an invading pathogen, but by suicide of the host. Suicide stemming from guilt… “we’re too evil to live” could be the motto from San Francisco to Berlin.

  4. ctlaw says:

    The #NeverTrumpers could buy the whole organization and make it the Church of #NeverTrump.

  5. PencilvaniaPencilvania says:

    This is no surprise, albeit depressing beyond words. My husband’s Episcopal Church, when we first met, was run by a conservative male rector, and the church enjoyed a growing, youthful congregation. I attended many absolutely beautiful High Masses there on holidays, as well as ordinary Sundays. (I’m Roman Catholic, but love the grace and poetry of the KJV Bible, which they used.) After that rector retired the church had a few less popular priests, and the most recent was a very kind woman, but very much a fan of the female Presiding Bishop they mention in the article above, who is ultra-liberal. Church attendance there is down, and the congregation has now skewed more and more liberal. They are seeking a new rector now, and the 3 remaining candidates are male and, my husband says, conservative leaning. We are hopeful – it is a wonderful church with many gifts to offer the community, I hope they can also be a beacon of traditional Christian values.

  6. PencilvaniaPencilvania says:

    I just remembered I wanted to add, to illustrate the liberal drift – the interim priest at my husband’s church had it announced in the church bulletin, right after the November election, that he was offering counseling sessions for anyone who was having a hard time dealing with he outcome of the election. Seriously.

  7. DevereauxDevereaux says:

    So all of you recollect the old joke about how a pastor was about to start the service when suddenly 6 men dressed in armor vests and balaclavas storm in and shoot a burst of automatic fire into the ceiling. The leader then declares,

    “OK. Last chance. All of you unbelievers may leave NOW. Those with true belief are to stay!”

    Pretty much the whole church empties with only a few left. The leader then walks up to the pastor, pulls off his balaclava and says,

    “Ok, pastor. Now that we’ve gotten rid of the rotten eggs, carry on.”