THE YEAR 2022 IN REVIEW
The year 2022 saw the beginning of the end of the legal disputes arising from the Episcopal Church schism of 2012 in South Carolina. On the whole, the separatists made significant gains in the year while the historic diocese made important concessions in order to move to resolution of the long-running crisis.
The year started on an uncertain note in the wake of the South Carolina Supreme Court hearing of December 8, 2021 that had left nothing resolved in spite of the fact that the SCSC had issued a majority opinion in 2017 and the circuit court had overturned this in 2020 and substituted a diametrically opposed opinion. The justices seemed at a loss on how to resolve the disputes of the schism. All this indecision was only to magnify throughout the year as the SCSC lurched back and forth and finally refused to make a final settlement before the year's end.
On April 20, the SCSC issued a "final" and absolute order addressing the 29 the parishes that the court had assigned to TEC in 2017. It gave 15 of them their own property while handing 14 over to TEC. With this, the court shifted the 29-7 division of 2017 to 14-22. The SCSC sent a Remittitur to the circuit court for implementation.
Then, on May 8, 8 of the 14 that had been assigned to TEC filed appeals to the SCSC. The SCSC denied one appeal, Christ Church of Mt. Pleasant.
On August 17, the SCSC discarded its "final" order of 20 April and declared that 7 of the 8 appellants (of the 14 assigned to TEC) owned their own property. The TEC side filed appeals claiming the rights to 2 of these, Old St. Andrew's, and Holy Cross, of Stateburg. Good Shepherd, of Charleston, appealed for a rehearing. These petitions were filed by September 1. As of today, there has been no response from SCSC to any of these three.
Meanwhile, in other significant developments in the schism:
---Camp St. Christopher returned to the Episcopal diocese on Oct. 1
---The Episcopal diocese announced the sale of St. Matthew's, of Ft. Motte, to the local separatist congregation.
---The new Anglican Diocese of South Carolina announced a Jerusalem Fund to raise $1m for the separatist congregations relocating after the restorations of their parishes to the Episcopal diocese.
---The departing congregation "Christ Church Anglican" announced, on Dec. 20, that a donor had given $3.2m for the purchase of a parcel of land in north Mt. Pleasant.
---The two bishops announced in April the opening of a process of negotiations for the resolutions of legal issues. The Episcopal side made major concessions such as the surrender of any claim to the diocesan headquarters, on Coming St.
What will 2023 bring for the schism? God only knows. The SCSC has done absolutely nothing on the issues before it in the past four months. It is anyone's guess when and how they will act next. Moreover, the talks between the two sides are secret. The Anglican side has a habit of leaking news but the Episcopal side remains silent. Presumably, we will know the terms of settlement whenever the officials on the two sides decide on finality. If 2023 is like 2022, it will be a beneficial one for the separatists and a hard one for the historic diocese. Meanwhile, peace does seem off on the horizon, if still in the fog.
PEOPLE OF THE YEAR
Person of the year
Volodymyr Zelensky. No contest. No one in the world has done as much to defend the moral values of civilization against the dark forces that would destroy it. In this story of David and Goliath, every decent person in the world is rooting for the brave little man with the great heart. He is fighting for his country; he is fighting for all of us.
American of the Year
Liz Cheney. A rising star in conservative circles, this daughter of the former vice-president had a bright future in the Republican Party. The insurrection of January 6 shook her to her core and changed her life. She arose to defend the Constitution and the democratic republic against the president and party which would overthrow it. She became the leading light and face of the House committee to investigate the insurrection and she held nothing back even as it cost her reelection and probably her future in the Republican party. She is heroic because she put her country over her party and over her own political future. Every right-thinking American owes her respect and admiration.
People of the year, in the schism
The four clergy people who volunteered to take on the hard work of rebuilding parishes that had been decimated by a decade of schism and years before that of anti-Episcopal propaganda. They could have said "No" when the call came to them. They did not. Instead, they responded and took on the daunting tasks of reconstructions of the old parishes. I, for one, am lost in admiration for these heroes of the schism:
---The Rev. Calhoun Walpole, the first clergy person to answer the call and to lead the restoration of St. John's, on Johns Island.
---The Rev. Michael Bye, who agreed to lead both St. David's, of Cheraw and St. Bartholomew's, of Hartsville. He deserves double gratitude.
---The Rev. Furman Buchanan, who left a major parish in the upstate to take on the restoration of another major parish, Christ Church, of Mt. Pleasant. The former occupants left the place with a lot of anger and bitterness not to mention anti-Episcopal broadsides. Buchanan has his work cut out for him.
---The Rev. Taylor Smith, who took on the rebuilding of St. James, on James Island, like Christ Church, a major parish in suburban Charleston and one that had been decimated by years of hostility to the Episcopal Church.
Booby Prize of the year, in the schism
The South Carolina Supreme Court. They have issued three decisions on the schism, each one contradicting the one before. In 2017, a majority of justices awarded 29 of the 36 parishes in the lawsuit to TEC. In April of this year they revoked this and declared that only 14 of the 36 had adhered to the Dennis Canon. Then, in August they revoked the April decision and declared that actually only 8 of the 36 had adopted the Dennis Canon. For the last four months they have fallen silent. All of this does make one wonder about the competency of the justices, or perhaps their political leanings.
The problem is they are trying to settle a religious dispute by state laws and this leads them to splitting hairs on interpretation which is ultimately subjective and changeable. In fact, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution mandates separation of church and state. The justices ought to bear this in mind.
Most tiresome individual
Elon Musk. Enough about him already. Does anyone care if he is the first or second richest man in the world or, that he is driving Twitter into the ground? The news is giving way too much coverage to this tiresome man.
Most tiresome couple
Harry and Meghan. People who are born into privilege and incredible wealth and benefit greatly from it then want us to pity them as innocent victims of mean people around them make me sick. The world has many real problems at the moment. Enough of this whining about how hard life is for the (spoiled and narcissistic) rich and famous. Gimme a break.
Most tiresome scary clown
Donald Trump. Just when one thinks he cannot possibly get more ridiculous and absurd, he does. For only $99 he hawked digital trading cards of his face superimposed on super heroes. He was serious. They sold out immediately. Even his closest friends cringed. As his star fades and people tire of his antics, he seems to get more extreme in his quest for attention. He will not leave the stage quietly, not this man who tried to overthrow our constitutional government and to disrupt the peaceful transition of power. Will someone please get the hook?
Anyway, back to earth. My best wishes to you for the year ahead, 2023. My intention is to continue observing and commenting on the schism in SC in the new year, plus throwing in other thoughts I have on other subjects. We have all been at this schism for a long time now. We should all hope fervently that we can see it out, and sooner rather than later.
Finally, always remember, friend, that we were all called for the living of this hour. This is the time that God has given to us. Peace.
