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. 

 

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS, 2022

                                 from Hagia Sophia, Constantinople

Wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas this year, 2022,

Ron Caldwell

I will return next week with end-of-year reflections.

DIOCESE OF SC CONVEYING TWO PROPERTIES TO SCHISMATICS

The self-styled Anglican Diocese of South Carolina has announced that one property has already been conveyed from the Episcopal diocese to a local breakaway congregation and another is about to be. 

The property that has been sold to the separatist congregation of "St. David's Anglican" church is the rectory of St. David's parish. Find the announcement of that HERE . The Anglican diocesan "Development Fund," aka the "Jerusalem Fund" kicked in $25,000 which, combined with contributions from the congregation allowed the new congregation to buy the Episcopal Church property of the old rectory. The breakaway congregation then sold the house to the Rev. Varnadore, the clergyman of the group. Neither the sale price from the Episcopal diocese nor the sale price from the congregation was disclosed.

The property in process of being sold to a breakaway congregation is St. Matthew's Church, of Ft. Motte. According to the new ADSC newsletter, the sale price is $275,000. The deadline for the sale is January 27, 2023. The congregation still needs $100,000 to meet the goal. One donor has promised $20,000 if someone else will match this. The congregation has set up a "Save Our Church" fund.

The SC Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that both St. David's, of Cheraw, and St. Matthew's, of Ft. Motte, are property of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. Moreover, one should not forget that the federal court has ruled that the Episcopal diocese is the one and only heir of the historic diocese and has placed an Injunction on the breakaways from claiming in any way to be the historic diocese.

Yet, the breakaways are still having trouble processing the reality of the day. The new diocese, set up at the schism in 2012, inserted the word "Anglican" before the title that legally belongs to the Episcopal diocese. Technically it changed its name but left no doubt about its attitude. The same is true of all the parishes that have been returned to the Episcopal diocese. In every case, the breakaway congregation has relocated under the old name of the church with the word "Anglican" attached. As with the diocese, they have refused to embrace the legal reality and still pretend to be the essence of the old entities. One can only wonder about the good faith of their negotiations for a final settlement.

So, when the breakaways at St. Matthew's talk about "Save Our Church" they are refusing to accept that the church building is property of the Episcopal diocese. It is not "our" church until the Episcopal diocese hands it over. Likewise, when the separatist congregation of St. David's talks about "allowing parish to retain property" it is the same. The parish property belongs to the Episcopal Church, not the breakaway group. 

In his remarks on these property issues, the Rev. Lewis, said, "for generations, the people of this Diocese..." How many "generations" can fit into ten years? The Rev. Lewis knows very well that there is a federal court Injunction forbidding the new "Anglican" diocese from claiming to be the historic Diocese of SC. In fact, the "Anglican" diocese has already been held in contempt of court TWICE for infractions of the Injunction. They are slow learners.

The two dioceses have indicated they are engaged in ongoing negotiations for a final settlement of all issues in dispute between them. No details have been released other than the few that were actually publicized by the schismatic side. 

If the sales of these two properties are any indication, the people of the Episcopal diocese might get prepared for some dramatic deals that may well be more controversial than what has been announced so far. 

One has no choice but to wait on the announcements of the settlements from the diocesan offices.

 

A VICTORY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Yesterday produced a milestone in the long and hard struggle for human rights. The United States Senate passed a bill entitled The Respect for Marriage Act. The act will give federal guarantees for same-sex marriage and interracial marriage. In its 2015 decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment meant that states had to grant and recognize same-sex marriages. The new bill would federally codify and protect this. 

Reflecting the sharp swing in recent public attitudes to same-sex marriage, the vote was not close. It was 61 for and 36 against. Unsurprisingly, both South Carolina senators voted against. A dozen Republicans joined the Democrats to carry the bill over the line. The Senate has 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans.

Perhaps the most remarkable of the Republican Senators to support the bill was Romney of Utah. In fact, in the run-up to the vote, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had very publicly endorsed the bill. At long last, an institution that had invested so much of itself for so long in opposing gay rights came around to support same-sex marriage. Who says people cannot see the light and change their minds? The Mormons are showing the way.

Next, the bill will go to the House of Representatives where it is expected to pass. After that, it will head to the president's desk for signing. Pres. Biden has already said he will sign immediately.

The significance of this should not be missed. The great democratic revolution is on the move and is scoring major victories against the reactionary counter-revolutionaries. To be sure, the war is not over. Just look at the news from Colorado a few days ago. Discrimination, hate, and violence are still there but they cannot stop the rising tide of freedom, equality and justice. For those who love democracy and human rights, today is a day for rejoicing.

HERE is an article giving more info on this.

 

GIVING THANKS

Welcome, blog reader. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Of all the holidays of the year, Thanksgiving is the most social. It is traditionally the time when family and friends gather together to give thanks for all the blessings of life and to (over) indulge on delicious foods. After stuffing, one group might migrate to the television to flop down and yell at a football game while the kids go off to play on their own away from the domineering adults and another gaggle talks non-stop in the kitchen. 

When I was young, Thanksgiving was always a wonderful time. We did not have a "crazy uncle" spouting off and it was understood that no one should speak of religion or politics. Conversations were usually about individual matters as who was about to get married, who was about to have a baby, who was going away to college, who got a new car, that sort of thing. If the house got too busy, there was always the retreat outside to pick up pecans generously deposited by trees as old as my grandmother or to toss a football back and forth. I once spent a Thanksgiving Day in Grenoble, France, where it was not a holiday. I was buried in the archives and had spaghetti for lunch. I have never missed family as much as on that day.

As for the schism, matters are on hold right now although one may assume the two sides are continuing their private negotiations for a final settlement. We will have to wait until the bishops announce what they have agreed on. Meanwhile, there are five issues hung up in court and seeming to go nowhere. Three parishes are still in dispute of disposition: Old Saint Andrew's, Holy Cross, and Good Shepherd. In addition, the Anglican side has a suit in circuit court against the Episcopal side for betterments payments. Finally, the Remittitur of the state supreme court is still standing in the circuit court awaiting implementation. 

Since Thanksgiving is a social time, it is an appropriate moment to consider the social outreach of one's local church. What does your church do for community, both internally, and beyond its walls? Grace Church Cathedral does a great job supporting countless charities in the Charleston area but then it is a large and wealthy parish. Most churches nowadays are small and limited. They cannot do as much as Grace does. 

But then, it is not quantity that counts, it is quality. My local church, St. Luke's, of Jacksonville AL, is a small parish in a small (10,000) town. The people who built this church more than a century and a half ago were very much community-minded people and incorporated service to the community in the parish DNA. Over the years, the understanding of community has evolved and matured. St. Luke's is now well-known as the most welcoming and inclusive church in town and also the most generous in service to the greater community. In its long list of outreach, it is best known in town as the Thanksgiving meal church.

Last year, the church served more than 600 meals free of charge, even delivering hundreds to homes. This project started modestly twenty-seven years ago and has grown beyond anyone's wildest dreams, so much so that the Methodists generously agreed to help out. This year, thirty-five turkeys and mountains of sides are being prepared.

Even though St. Luke's fame comes largely from this meal, it is far from being the parish's only outreach. It is just one among many. Another is the only free food pantry in town. Kept by the local chapter of the Daughters of the King, it has fed many hungry neighbors. (In this picture, my reflection is in the glass.)

Thus, a parish does not have to be a big one to do big work for the community, both within the congregation and beyond the walls. Of course, a positive side effect of all of this is evangelism. I do not know how many people over the years have come to St. Luke's because they wanted to be a part of a congregation so committed to doing God's work in the world. Love is contagious.

So, as you give thanks this year for family and friends, give thanks too for your local worshiping group whether you are in a big beautiful building or not. Contemplate too on what your group is doing to make a better world all around you. Even small churches can accomplish a great deal with a little imagination and a commitment to living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the world. But then, in the end, isn't this what Christianity is ultimately all about? We fill ourselves by emptying ourselves.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and yours, blog reader. I am thankful to you for being here. 

NOTES,  19 NOVEMBER 2022

Welcome, blog reader. The 232nd annual meeting of the Diocese of South Carolina has concluded. It was held yesterday and today, Nov. 18-19. I watched the sessions that were live streamed on Facebook and also the Eucharist service at Grace Church Cathedral. Here are my thoughts on the convention, for whatever they are worth.

There were two visitors of great interest. One was the archbishop of Ghana and primate of the Anglican Communion province of west Africa. His presence in the convention proved that not all of Equatorial Africa is going along with GAFCON's assault on the Episcopal Church in an attempt to replace TEC with its proxy in the U.S., the Anglican Church in North America. GAFCON has cut off communion with the Episcopal Church, specifically over issues around homosexuality. The other visitor was the bishop of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic. His presence demonstrated his diocese's attachment to the mainstream of the Episcopal Church. Both of these important visitors were morale boosters for the convention-goers.

As for the legal issues of the schism, nothing specifically came out in the sessions. The new chancellor of the diocese, Bert Utsey, made brief remarks and said his written report would have more substance. Unfortunately for me, that report was not posted online, or at least I could not find it.

Of course, there was rejoicing at the return of Episcopal services in five returning parishes (St. John's, St. James, Christ Church, St. David's, and St. Bartholomew's) and at the restoration of Camp St. Christopher which had been hijacked by the breakaways and held captive for nearly ten years.

I found it interesting and a bit curious that the overall theme of the convention was racial reconciliation. To be sure, South Carolina needs racial reconciliation given its distinct history and culture. That is not debatable. The point is that this was not the substance of the schism. The direct cause of the schism was the church's interface with homosexuality. The secondary cause was misogyny, that is, institutionalized subjection of women to male authority. These two have been well documented as the wedge issues of the schism. I believe racism was also a factor in causing the schism but was much more in the background when the break happened in 2012. Some people have speculated that the schism was actually delayed reaction to the Episcopal Church support of the Civil Rights movement, mainly in the 1960's. That may well be, but it has not been documented. Race was not an overt issue boiling up in the diocese in the thirty years leading up to the schism of 2012 the way homosexuality and women's roles were. Yet, equality for and inclusion of homosexuals and women were barely mentioned in the sessions yesterday and today.

The keynote speaker, Stephanie Spellers, certainly did a great job of making the case for racial reconciliation. Her bring-down-the-house "homily" at Grace was a stem winder. As a student of history, I was delighted at her emphasis on recognizing and embracing the past, all of it, as a guide to a better future. Amen. God, and everybody, knows lower South Carolina has an abundance of the past to deal with and much of it is uncomfortably ugly. It is hard to imagine anyone doing a better job of the theme of racism than Spellers did.

I kept waiting for someone to say the word "reparations." I did not hear it. Friend, we are not going to get serious about racial reconciliation until we deal with the question of reparations for slavery. I did not really expect the subject to come up in the meeting. Right now the diocese has all it can do to recover and rebuild after the devastating house fire of ten years. Yet, reparations must be dealt with somewhere down the road if the diocese really means to heal racism in lower South Carolina.

Many dioceses in the Episcopal Church have set up payments of reparations or have established commissions to do so. Even the neighboring diocese of GEORGIA has set aside 3% of its unrestricted endowments for a racial reconciliation center. Virginia, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and numerous other dioceses have either set up substantial reparations programs or are moving to do so.

In my view, racial reconciliation in the diocese of South Carolina must have two big parts. The first is recognition of and contrition for the evil of slavery. Germany gave us a model on how to do this. In 2015, on the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Chancellor Merkel led her cabinet to the German Parliament for a most remarkable event. After historians laid out the highly uncomfortable details of Nazi history, in the name of the German people, the assembly embraced the guilt for enabling National Socialism to come to power and the guilt for the war and all the evil that ensued. They begged forgiveness from the rest of the world and promised that they would never again allow such a regime to come to power in Germany. They committed themselves to true democracy and human rights. No nation-state in the history of the world has ever done such a thing. Even before this, Germany had been paying Israel many billions of dollars in "reparations" making Germany second only to the United States in financial support of Israel. Of course the money could never repay the apocalyptic Holocaust that Germany made but it was significant given that Germany itself was struggling to rebuild after a war that destroyed virtually every German city and town.

The second big part has to be material. Talk is easy and cheap. Only when the diocese of SC commits to share a significant part of its wealth to heal the disparities caused by racism can it really call itself doing racial reconciliation. So, down the road, when the diocese is back on its feet, the diocese as an institution should 1-formally apologize for the evil of racism and 2-pay reparations as a goodwill gesture to help make amends. What forms these take would be up to the people and their leaders. In my view, there will not be significant racial reconciliation until both of these things happen in the Diocese of South Carolina (or any other southern diocese for that matter).

On the whole, the convention was a joyous event. It showed the remarkable health and vitality of the diocese. Although only a fraction of what it was before the schism, the diminished old Diocese of South Carolina is bouncing back as well as it can and moving on into the future bravely self-aware of its mission to do God's work in the world.

 

NOTES, 16 NOVEMBER 2022

Greetings, blog reader on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. The Diocese of South Carolina is about to meet for its 232nd convention. This is history-making in more ways than one.

The first convention was on May 12, 1785, in Charleston, when representatives of eight of the twenty parishes in the state of South Carolina met to begin organizing a state association of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the heir of the Church of England parishes in the old colony. In 1789, the association in SC sent a delegation to Philadelphia to help draw up the Constitution and Canons of the church. SC was one of nine states participating. It has one of the nine little crosses on the church flag today. Except for the brief episode of the Civil War, the Diocese of South Carolina remained very much a part and parcel of the national Episcopal Church for nearly two centuries. In the 1980's this identity began to change and for certain reasons the diocesan leaders opened a long process of disengaging the diocese from the mainstream of the Episcopal Church. One may think of the schism as ten years old, but actually the roots go back much farther, thirty years farther.

After all these years of troubles, the old diocese lies battered and wounded, but still very much alive with a strongly pounding heart. It will not be vanquished, and it will not be because its people refused to bend to the popular but ill-begotten winds of discrimination, hate, dissension and division. They courageously stood for the human rights for all of God's children, even at cost to themselves.

This selflessness for others showed itself clearly last Sunday when Grace Church Cathedral handed out check after check to a very long list of Charleston-area charities. It was quite a crowd in the picture. This was money, a small fortune, made by parishioners in the Tea Room and Mouse Boutique, long traditions at Grace. This remarkable service to the community was horizontal Christianity at its best.

Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend this year's meeting of the Diocese. I will watch whatever is available on live stream. There is a luncheon on Friday at noon followed by a Plenary Session, then 5:30 Eucharist at Grace. The business meeting will be on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. With all the swirling legal issues of the schism, one can imagine lively discussions in the sessions.

Finally, as a long time student of the history of the schism, I must say I am lost in respect and admiration for what the Diocese of South Carolina has done, and is continuing to do, in the face of daunting odds. You did the right thing when it was the hard thing to do. This is my definition of heroism. I want you to know you are my heroes, every one of you because without you, the separatists would have devastated the whole old diocese. You refused to let that happen. So, when you gather together this weekend, I hope you will remember what you have done and put this in perspective. While you grieve for the departed brothers and sisters, you also have good reason to rejoice, for the 232nd time.

I think it is worthwhile to repeat my blog posting of Nov. 3 on where the diocese stands now. Peace.

NOTES,  3 NOVEMBER 2022

Greetings blog reader, on Thursday, November 3, 2022. My last entry, on the sale of the church in Ft. Motte, has generated an energetic response, to say the least. The fact that not one of the emails I have received is printable should tell you something. There is rather strong opinion out there, both pro and con. This should not surprise anyone.

This has been a hard year for the Episcopal side of the schism. In April the South Carolina Supreme Court took away 15 of the 29 parishes it had earlier recognized as property of the Episcopal Church. This just happened to include all of the large parishes of the pre-schism diocese (except Grace). Coincidence? It got worse. In August, the SCSC revisited the scene and snatched away another 6 from TEC. Do you see a trend here? After that, the Episcopal diocese was left with 8 of the original 29. One of the 8 is now in court asking for a redo while another one of the 8 is now buying the property from the Episcopal diocese. So, it is possible the EDSC will wind up with a total of 6, for a loss of 23. Hard to take. 

Moreover, the Episcopal faithful have watched as their bishop announced "settlement" deals that, from what we know so far, were generous to the secessionist side while that side really gave up nothing it actually had. Head scratching. 

At the time of the "settlement" deal in September the separatist bishop made a joint announcement of the terms with the Episcopal bishop. Since then, the secessionist side has gone silent on this matter. Have you noticed that there has been no word about the Ft. Motte sale on the Anglican diocesan website, nor on the St. Matthew's Church website, nor on anglicanink.com, the main anti-Episcopal website? Of course, if they mentioned this they would have to give credit to the Episcopal bishop, something they certainly are loathe to do.

There is at least a good measure of confusion, disappointment, and concern among the Episcopalian faithful about the future of the diocese. This is understandable given the many different factors swirling about. The Episcopal diocese will hold its annual meeting in a few days. This is an appropriate time to put things in perspective. Let's review the big picture of the schism. I think this will help. 

In the second half of the Twentieth Century, the Episcopal Church committed itself to a crusade for the equality and inclusion of all people in America, and particularly in the life of the church. This resulted in sweeping reforms for African Americans, women, and homosexuals, especially in the internal life of the Episcopal Church. 

The schism of 2012 was a concerted and deliberate movement of the diocesan leaders to remove the bulk of the diocese from the Episcopal Church in order to prevent the reforms of the Episcopal Church from settling in lower South Carolina. It worked very well. The majority of the clergy and laity followed their leadership out of the Episcopal Church to form a new Christian denomination based on social conservatism.

The schism was not a sudden or accidental event. In fact, it was the product of a long train of opposition to Episcopal Church reforms. In 2003, the diocese rejected and condemned the Church's affirmation of the first open and partnered homosexual bishop. In 2008, the diocese strongly approved of and adopted the Jerusalem Declaration that condemned homosexuality and broke communion with provinces that had pro-homosexual policies, e.g. TEC. In 2012, the diocesan leaders plotted in advance of General Convention to oppose the expected approval of liturgies blessing same-sex unions. After GC, they used the momentum to finalize a secret plan to remove the bulk of the diocese from TEC. 

After the schism, the new diocese solidified its social reaction. In 2015, it adopted, and made mandatory, a homophobic Statement of Faith. In 2017, it joined the Anglican Church in North America, a non-Anglican Communion body set up to oppose rights for homosexuals and also to keep women from the office of bishop. It also allowed local dioceses to ban women from the priesthood.

As rationales to bolster their social policies, secessionist leaders demonized the Episcopal Church on theological grounds. For instance, they claimed TEC had abandoned the central doctrine of the uniqueness of Christ, something that was demonstrably untrue, but widely believed and still is to this day. They tried to make the break about theology instead of the real reasons, social policies. The deep and pervasive hostility to the Episcopal Church is strongly entrenched among the new diocese with no sign of letting up. It is highly dubious that any amount of concession to them will change this fixed mindset.

So, as a longtime student of the schism in SC, my advice, for whatever it is worth, to the good folks of the Episcopal diocese is to stand back and reconsider the big picture. Take stock of where you are.

You are in a moral crusade to promote the God-given worth and dignity of every human being. There is a right side and a wrong side in this conflict. It is not a clash of two equals. In the first place, you are in a war of sorts. In the second place, this war was not of your doing. It was deliberately made by people who opposed the social reforms of the Episcopal Church. The fight was presented to you through no fault of your own. However, it is now on your plate for the time that God has allotted to you for your life. You did not choose it. You did not deserve it. Nevertheless, here it is. It is the right thing to do to fight the good fight. 

Nothing differentiates the two sides better than the services of baptism in their respective prayer books. In the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer we find the Baptismal Covenant  (p. 305):

Will you seek to serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

The keys are serving Christ in all people, loving your neighbor, striving for justice and peace, and respecting the dignity of every person.

The Anglican (ACNA) prayer book (p. 165-166) completely omitted this Covenant. It skipped from the Apostles' Creed to prayers. Coincidence? Certainly not. This speaks volumes about the separation of the social reactionaries from the Episcopal Church.

So, my point of the day is to remind the Episcopalians of lower South Carolina on the eve of your convention why you are in this fight. It was presented to you. Your had a choice to stand or flee. You chose to stand. This is a moral crusade. You are in it for the right reasons. They are the promises you made, or that were made for you, at your baptism. I, for one, am lost in admiration for your faithful courage and endurance.

Often in life the right thing is also the hard thing to do. Yet, we do it anyway because it is the right thing to do and that is what our religion has taught us. Please bear this in mind regardless of whatever is going on around you in the courts or in institutional or administrative issues. Peace. 

 

THE WINNER:  DEMOCRACY

Greetings, blog reader on the day after the mid-term elections of 2022. On yesterday, the American people went to the polls to vote for the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, and many state races. The turnout was heavy. My polling place had twice the usual numbers of voters.

So, on the day after, what do the election results tell us? Votes are still being counted and numerous races are still too close to call but the big picture is clear. Yesterday was a major victory for the great democratic revolution over the reactionary anti-democratic counter-revolution. The historical importance of this should not be underestimated.

As of this moment, it looks as if the Democrats will keep control of the Senate and the Republicans will have a slight majority in the House of Representatives. Historically, the party out of power (the Republicans in this case) gains a big win in the off-year elections. This did not happen yesterday. There was no "red wave." In effect, we have a split Congress.

If the big winner of the day was democracy, the big loser was the Republican Party even though they won the majority in the House. This is true for several reasons. In the first place, voters all over the country arose to stand for a woman's right of freedom over her own body. Even in conservative states, the people arose to defend women's rights. Everyone knows it was the Republican Party that packed the Supreme Court with anti-abortion justices. 

Even more serious for the Republican Party is the lurking Frankenstein's monster they created and is now threatening to devour them. The ex-president, Donald Trump, is not leaving the stage. His ego will not allow it. He still dominates the Republican Party. As of this moment, he will still get the nomination of the Party in 2024 if he wants it. He has shown every sign of going for it. Along the way, he will destroy anyone who gets in his way, just as he did in 2016. He has already zeroed in on his main competitor, the governor of Florida. It will be very interesting to see if Desantis puts up a fight or quietly steps aside for Trump. As of now, the Republican Party is the Trump party.

If Trump gets the Republican nomination in 2024, he is almost certainly going to lose, and drag down much of the Republican Party with him. He has never won a popular election. This will be bad for both the Party and the nation. Democracy works best on a strong two-party system.

As the good folks of lower South Carolina know all too well, the culture war is far from over, but I have the sense that it has passed an important milestone. Donald Trump and his followers tried to overthrow our constitutional democratic republic. He unleashed a mob on Congress. He watched gleefully for hours as the mob sought to capture and or kill his own vice president and the Speaker of the House. The American people have arisen to reject Trump and his threat.

Bottom line:  the American experiment in building a democratic nation-state is safer today than it was two days ago. It is safer because the people have made it so. 

 EPISCOPAL DIOCESE TO SELL LOCAL CHURCH TO SECESSIONISTS

On 29 October, Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley announced that the Episcopal diocese had reached an agreement to sell St. Matthew's Church, of Fort Motte SC, to its present occupants, a congregation affiliated with the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina which itself is part of the Anglican Church in North America. She provided no details of the deal.

St. Matthew's was one of the 8 local churches the South Carolina Supreme Court had assigned to the Episcopal Church (Aug. 2017, Apr. 2022, Aug. 2022). It had been one of the 36 parishes that had joined in the lawsuit against the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Woodliff-Stanley's rationales for the deal were:

---there was no Episcopal "seed congregation" ready to move into the property.

---the diocese needed to invest its resources into areas with good potential for church growth.

---"the displacement of the ACNA congregation would undermine the healing we seek to foster in this particular community." [what does this mean? Numerous other ACNA congregations are being "displaced."]

Unfortunately, the bishop's announcement raises far more questions than it answers. Here are some that come to mind right off:  ---did the bishop talk with the congregation, or at least the vestry, about the advantages of returning to the Episcopal diocese which would give them free use of the property? ---did the standing committee explore keeping the property for the Episcopal Church and leasing or renting to the present occupants? ---did the national church officials sign off on this deal? if so, why? The Dennis Canon holds that all local property is held in trust for the Episcopal Church and its local diocese.

Judging from the public records on the Internet, one could say this is an advantageous deal for the congregation. Calhoun County records online list the "Market Value" of this property at $153,000, certainly a very low figure. If the congregation agreed to this sum, and secured a 30-year mortgage, they would be paying $858/month at today's interest rates. This would be less that what many a small church pays to a part-time organist. In other words, under these figures, the diocese would be practically giving away the property to the secessionist congregation.

Why would the diocese do this? Good question. At the moment we have only the bishop's rationales and none of the details of the deal so it is difficult to come up with evidence-based answers. Nevertheless, it seems clear that this is part of a bigger picture in which the Episcopal diocesan officials are rushing headlong into making peace with the opponents with whom they have been in conflict for ten years.  Just last month (27 September) the two bishops jointly announced a sweeping "final settlement" agreement. Adding in the deal on St. Matthews, here is the outline of the significant points of that settlement:

---ADSC transfers control of diocesan real estate to EDSC.

---EDSC withdraws claim to diocesan headquarters, on Coming St.

---EDSC issues quit claim deeds to "several" missions in ADSC that were not in the lawsuit.

---Vague remarks about financial deals.

---No future litigation except cases pending in SCSC and ADSC's betterments suit in circuit court.

---ADSC withdraws appeal in federal court.

---EDSC to sell property to Ft. Motte congregation.

What is EDSC giving up here?

---diocesan headquarters.

---claims to (apparently all) the dozen local churches in ADSC that were not in the lawsuit.

---future litigation against ADSC.

---St. Matthew's church, of Ft. Motte.

What is ADSC giving up?

---possession of diocesan properties.

---appeal of federal court ruling, in appeals court.

In fact, ADSC is not giving up anything it actually has. Both state and federal courts ruled that the Episcopal diocese owns the historic diocesan properties. Moreover, ADSC had virtually no chance of success in the appeals court since Gergel's order was all but appeal-proof.

Bottom line, the secessionist diocese should be very happy with this "settlement." It is a lopsided deal.

Of course, it is true everyone longs for peace and tranquility. After so very many years of ugly legal warfare everyone (except possibly the lawyers) longs for an end to the conflict. That is not the issue. The issue is the best way to make the best peace.

The Episcopal diocese is being very generous in all of this. Whether this is the right or the wrong approach is up to the people of the diocese to say. They might convey their feelings to the standing committee.

As a student of the history of the schism, I can only wonder if the Episcopal authorities hope they are buying good will from their longtime adversaries in litigation. If so, one can only wait to see any sign of change of attitude. So far, there is none. Indeed, even after the settlement was announced last month, several congregations have vacated Episcopal church properties with no apparent change of heart. The people who left St. John's, St. David's, Christ Church, and Holy Trinity continue to call themselves by those names (with "Anglican" attached) as if they are the true churches. For instance, St. John's calls itself St. John's Parish Church even though they do not meet at St. John's church.

The reality is that there is deep-seated animosity among the secessionist diocese against the Episcopal Church. There are several important historical reasons for this, but regardless it is very much there. Moreover, there is no sign now of change. If the Episcopal diocese expects their generosity to wash this negativity away, they are likely to be disappointed.

Certainly, beyond a doubt, everyone wants an end to the conflict of the schism. The problem is how the two sides get there in a way to make the strongest settlement. A peace agreement has to be worthy of the war. In this case it has to be a negotiated, or compromise, agreement. Both sides will have to give and take. From what one knows so far, one side is doing more of the giving.  

A DECADE OF SCHISM:

Reflections on the break, the causes and the results of the Episcopal Church split of 2012 in South Carolina

Part 3. The Results

This is the last in a series of blog postings marking a decade since the schism of October 2012. We have examined what happened in the split itself and at the long term and immediate causes of the break. Now, we will look at the results of the schism in the ten years since. Again, we will have to summarize an enormous amount of detail of what has transpired in the last decade.

Essentially what we have now is a situation where the Episcopal diocese owns the entity of the old diocese while the separatists have the bulk of the local churches.

This is the outcome (not finalized, to be sure) of a long and hard-fought legal war. Of all the five cases of dioceses that voted to leave the Episcopal Church in the period of 2007-2012, the litigation in South Carolina has been the most involved. For instance, it was the only one in which the local parishes joined in the diocesan lawsuit. It was also the only one to be fought in both state and federal courts. Moreover, it was the only one in which the state supreme court directly intervened only to reverse itself, not once but twice, leaving undefined and unsettled outcomes.

The litigation in state courts falls into three periods.

1-2013-2015. Total victory for the separatists. 

The circuit court immediately issued an injunction banning the Episcopal diocese from claiming to be the historic diocese. (This allowed the separatists to hold the names and emblems of the old diocese until the federal court ruling of 2019.)

The circuit court held a two-week trial in 2014 favorable to the separatists. In February of 2015, the court published an order entirely in favor of the separatists on the assertion that the Episcopal Church is a congregational organization.

2-2015-2020. Presumed victory of the Episcopal side.

In 2015, the South Carolina Supreme Court held a hearing dismissive of the circuit court decision.

August of 2017, the SCSC issued an opinion with three majority decisions 1)29 of the 36 parishes in question belonged to the Episcopal Church, 2)8 local churches owned their own properties trust-free, and 3)Camp St. Christopher belonged to the Episcopal diocese. It also held that the Episcopal diocese was the one and only heir of the historic diocese. Thus, the Church side won the entity of the old diocese and the bulk of the local churches. The SCSC decision was remitted to the circuit court for implementation.

3-2020-present. Disqualification of presumed TEC victory and a split decision.

The circuit court, to which the SCSC Remittutur had been sent, refused to enact two of the three majority decisions and instead ruled entirely (as the 2015 decision) entirely in favor of the separatists. The TEC side appealed this to the SCSC.

The SCSC discarded the circuit court order and issued new decisions on the local properties contradicting its 2017 majority decisions. In two rulings, April and August of 2022, the SCSC removed 21 of the 29 local churches that the 2017 decision had awarded to the Episcopal side. This left the Episcopal diocese with 8, instead of 29 of the 36 parishes in question. However, the SCSC consistently ruled that the Episcopal diocese was the one and only heir of the historic diocese including Camp St. Christopher.

The SCSC thus released three different, and contradictory opinions, the gist of which was to remove the bulk of local churches from Episcopal Church to local ownership that the original court decision had ordered.

The chaotic behavior of the state courts in the decade of litigation has raised questions about their competency, or politicization.

Meanwhile, there was litigation in federal court. In 2013, the Episcopal Church bishop of lower SC sued the separatist bishop in the United States District Court, in Charleston, for violation of the trademark laws, essentially that the breakaway diocese was fraudulently claiming to be the Episcopal diocese.

In 2019, District Court Judge Richard Gergel ruled that the Episcopal diocese was the only heir of the historic diocese. He also issued an Injunction banning the separatist contingent from claiming in any way to be the Episcopal diocese. Very importantly, this was the first time that a federal court ruled that the Episcopal Church is an hierarchical institution.

The state supreme court and the federal court agreed that the Episcopal diocese was the heir and owner of the historic diocese and its properties. This became a non-issue even though the separatist side appeal Gergel's ruling to the U.S. appeals court. The recent announced settlement said this appeal would be withdrawn. This would settle once and for all the question of which side owns the entity and assets of the pre-schism diocese.

The effects of the state and federal court actions are: the Episcopal side owns the old diocese and all of its assets while the separatists own the bulk of the local churches. This is in effect a split settlement.

Legal issues aside, what about the rest of the schism in the past decade? Let us begin by looking at what happened to the big promises the diocesan leaders made in the run-up to the schism.

1-the diocese was sovereign and could secede from the Episcopal Church at will. 

Both state and federal courts rejected this and ruled in the opposite. Both found that the Episcopal Church had authority over the local diocese. Hence, the Episcopal diocese is legally the heir of the historic diocese.

2-as a result of the All Saints decision of the SCSC in 2009, local churches owned their own properties unless they had committed in writing to make a trust for the Episcopal Church and its diocese. In other words, the local churches could leave TEC and take the property with them.

The SCSC has ruled that this is not the case. If a local church clearly resolved to adhere to the Dennis Canon, it in fact made a trust for the Episcopal Church even though it did not make a separate document creating a specific trust. At last word, the SCSC ruled that eight local churches did in fact make trusts through this manner and therefore belong to the Episcopal diocese.

3-After breaking away from the Episcopal Church, the diocese of SC would remain "Anglican." 

Not necessarily. It depends on how one defines the world "Anglican." The dictionary defines it as one in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Under this, the new diocese is not Anglican. The Archbishop has said repeatedly he does not recognize the present parent denomination of the separatist diocese of SC, the Anglican Church in North America. However, many bishops of GAFCON, the coalition of socially conservative/reactionary bishops mostly in the Third World, have recognized the validity of the separatist diocese of SC. In fact, GAFCON created ACNA as its proxy in the U.S. as a planned replacement of the pro-homosexual rights TEC.

All of the major promises the breakaway leaders made to the people turned out to be untrue in the decade following the break.

Even though predictions turned out to be off, the new diocese persisted in carving itself a certain identity and to differentiate itself from the Episcopal Church.

Since the schism had been prompted by social issues, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina enforced its stands on these. In 2015, it adopted and made mandatory in the diocese an homophobic "Statement of Faith." In 2017, it joined the ACNA that banned women from offices of authority over men and allowed local dioceses to ban women from the priesthood.

While institutionalizing its social reaction, the ADSC also carried on a demonization campaign of the Episcopal Church. After the SCSC ruled in 2017 in favor of TEC, certain ADSC leaders developed a curriculum for use in local parishes that blasted the supposed wrongs of TEC. It taught essentially that TEC had abandoned true faith. This propaganda campaign was aimed at keeping people from remaining in the buildings after the return of the Episcopal church.

This hard attitude toward their former denomination may well have led to the separatists' rejection of all offers of compromise and settlement up to the present year. In 2015, the Episcopal side offered to give up claim to all local churches in return of the historic diocese (which was then in the possession of the breakaways). The separatists summarily dismissed this offer, and with disdain. They also failed to reach any settlement in the various court-ordered mediations. 

What about the internal state of the ADSC in the past decade? Before the break, diocesan leaders depicted the Episcopal Church as a dying institution. This implied that leaving TEC would lead to new life and vitality. Has It?

The statistics released by ADSC show a different picture. They show constant and relentless decline in membership and participation of their new diocese. As for communicants, in 2011, just before the schism, the 50 churches that adhered to the break listed 21,993. In 2013, the year after the schism, they numbered 17,798, a drop of over 4,000. In 2019, the ADSC listed 11,451 communicants. This means the new diocese has about half as many active members as it has on the eve of the schism, in other words it has lost half its communicants in the decade.

What can we say about the future?

At the time of the schism, I was one of those optimists who believed there would be a reconciliation and settlement in the near term. As the decade has progressed, I have lost my optimism. It was swept away in the deluge of ill-will. I underestimated the depth of the animosity of the separatists to their former church. I now think it is unrealistic to hope for reunion in the foreseeable future. I could be wrong. I often am.

So, without reunion, what is there? Both sides should accept the reality of the situation even though this might be painful. It is in their self-interests to work together in mutual acceptance and respect. They do not have to like each other, but they do have to love each other.

Finally, back to the big picture that is the theme of my blog. The schism in SC is part of a much large struggle for human rights in contemporary society. The Episcopal Church, rightly so in my opinion, has made itself a champion of the worth and dignity of every human being. This has led to dramatic changes for African Americans, women, and homosexuals. The people who disagreed with this movement have a right to their opinions, but they should recognize what this means. 

In the end, vertical religion is the starting place. Every human being should make a conscious attachment to the divine. However, vertical should not be an end in itself. It must evolve into horizontal to reach its mature flowering (faith without words is dead). Human beings were made by God in the image of God to be God's representatives in the world. We are here on a mission. We were given the time of our lives not just for ourselves but for God's work. The Episcopalians of lower South Carolina are doing just that even through the unfortunate trials and tribulations of many years.  

LETTER TO THIS EDITOR,

26 OCTOBER 2022

Today's letter to the editor refers to the last blog piece on the schism and guilt. In this, I said that the homosexual community of lower South Carolina should not feel guilty about causing the schism. This writer suggests there is more to it:

Hello Ron,

Read your latest blog entry. Plus, I was at the Roundtable meeting via Toutube. Very interesting and very humbling.

The second gentleman who spoke, I did not get his name. He came to the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina from New York...a former Catholic priest. He goes into the history of his arrival and a meeting with former Bishop Suffragan William Skilton and the late Bishop Edward Salmon. Searching for a possible administrative position...yet was being encouraged to become an Episcopal priest. Until, that is, the late Bishop Salmon learned he was "gay" and told him he would not be a good fit here.

He goes on to suggest (as you pointed out so well in your blog) that he felt somehow the LBGTQ community might bear partial responsibility for the schism.

You are correct...the LBGTQ community does not bear and should not feel they have any responsibility for the schism at all...not one iota.

Who is to blame? You have covered that well in your history of the schism here in eastern SC. But, I would go a step further. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said of the Civil Rights struggle..."the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

Yes, the so-called good people...such as I. The "good people" who sat in the pews of the Episcopal churches and remained silent. The so-called "good people" who were afraid of speaking out...who were afraid to speak up and speak up loudly and often in protest. People like myself. Yes, I bear some responsibility for the schism, due to my view of "well the church will work this out in time." My lack of courage contributed to the schism. However...the "good people" of the LBGTQ community were not the problem and not the cause. They were just "good people" who, like me...simply wanting to worship God...seeking a closer relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Perhaps someday I will have the chance to meet this gentleman and shake his hand and say...I'm sorry.

Thanks for listening and reading,

Randolph Wilson,

St. Anne's, Conway

________________________

If you have not watched the video of St. Stephen's roundtable discussion, I suggest your should. It is available on Youtube.

What do you think about this? Do you agree with Randolph that too many people sat silently while the majority of the pre-schism diocesan leadership and laity put into practice their homophobia? If the silent people had spoken up could they have prevented the schism?

Send you thoughts to the email address above. You may choose to remain anonymous.

Ron Caldwell

 

THE SCHISM AND GUILT

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, in Ansonborough, Charleston, is celebrating its bicentenary (1822-2022). In honor of this, on October 16, 2022, the parish held a roundtable conversation where parishioners shared their memories and thoughts about the history of the church. Historically, St. Stephen's has been well known as a "gay friendly" parish. A video of the roundtable discussion is available on Youtube.

In watching the video, it occurred to me something that I had not known before, that at least some people in the local gay community feel guilt over causing the schism. As I have said repeatedly, the issue of homosexuality was the direct, or immediate, cause of the schism. So, the question at hand is:  If the issue of homosexuality were the direct cause of the schism, should the homosexuals of lower South Carolina bear the guilt of the schism? Did they cause the schism?

In a word, no. Here are my thoughts on this:

In the first place, it is well known that victims of wrongdoing or abuse often blame themselves for their own predicaments. For instance, battered wives and girlfriends often blame themselves for the abuse they suffer. This is one reason why so many people in abusive relationships stay in them even though this can lead to further and increasing suffering, despair, and even death or suicide. Psychologists could explain why victims blame themselves better than I could.

In the second place, historical problems that arise from social factors do not necessarily derive from the people involved. For instance, the fundamental cause of the Civil War was slavery. So, were the slaves themselves guilty of causing the Civil War? Certainly not. Personally, they had nothing to do with bringing on the war. They had no reason at all to feel guilty about the most horrific conflict in American history. The war was caused by white people who either favored or opposed the institution of slavery.

Moreover, it is a fact of life that bad things sometimes happen to good people. This is oldest known written problem of humankind. The oldest extant work of literature, the Sumerian The Epic of Gilgamesh addressed that very issue. In the Bible version of this story, the book of Job, a "friend" told Job he had fallen away from God and this had caused his miseries. The only way back was to make amends with God. In other words, the friend told Job he was the cause of his own problems. Job refused to believe it. He knew had not turned against God. He remained true to God and to himself to the very end. Here was a case where the victim refused to blame himself. 

Arguably the worst calamity of the Twentieth Century was the Holocaust. Jews across Europe were subjected to horrors to the point that six million of them were murdered by evil-minded men. Many European Jews wondered out loud what they had done wrong to merit such treatment. In truth, they had done nothing wrong. They were simply the innocent victims of satanic forces that had taken over much of Europe. It was the malignant and deranged minds of the murderers at fault, not the Jews themselves.

Now, to the schism in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. Although the direct cause was the interface between the church and homosexuality, this was part of a much larger and more complicated picture. The underlying and background causes of the schism derived from a split between the national church and the local diocese on the relationship between God and man and the proper place of man in the social institutions. The national church adopted a course of social reform, primarily in equality for and inclusion of African Americans, women, and homosexuals. The diocesan leaders recoiled from the reforms in favor of what they saw as the traditional God-given social conventions.

The Diocese of South Carolina was the very last of all dioceses to integrate its convention. The first historically black parish, St. Mark's, of Charleston, was finally admitted in 1954, after seven years of being denied its annual requests for admission and nearly a century after the parish had been formed. It was no coincidence that the first parochial (St. Philip's, of Charleston) criticism of the national church appeared immediately afterwards. Parochial and diocesan opposition to the policies of the national church concerning race became louder and louder as the 1960's went along. Some people suspect that the schism of 2012 was actually a delayed reaction to the racial integration of the diocese. Perhaps, but I have no empirical evidence of this. It is, however, part of the bigger picture.

The DSC was also the very last diocese to give women equality and inclusion in parochial and diocesan institutions. By the time of the schism, there were relatively few women among the clergy, half the national average. Women had never been allowed to be rectors of large or medium sized parishes. Women had never been a majority on any important diocesan committee. No woman had ever been chair of such a committee. It was no surprise then that all the historically black parishes and most of the women clergy stayed with the Episcopal diocese at the break.

So, the problem was the embedded and systemic prejudice and discrimination against elements outside of the white patriarchical power structure of the diocese. African Americans, women, and gays were the victims of bias, not the perpetrators of it.

As the diocesan leadership reacted in opposition to the Episcopal Church social reforms of the age, they became neo-Pharisees, quoting scriptural laws hiding behind Bible verses supposedly supporting their positions, and standing in judgment on others who were not like themselves. In reality, Jesus had come to replace, or displace, the Pharisees, that is, to put love of God and man above law and tradition. This was the Great Commandment.

And so the Pharisees of the DSC adopted positions against human rights and for traditional social institutions, at least for women and homosexuals. They strongly endorsed the Jerusalem statement of 2008 that both condemned homosexuality and broke with the Anglican provinces (as TEC) that had favored and incorporated rights for gays. After the schism, the breakaway diocese institutionalized homophobia in its Statement of Faith, of 2015, that was made mandatory throughout the diocese. Then, they institutionalized the inferiority of women by joining the Anglican Church in North America that banned females from the office of bishop and allowed local dioceses to ban women from the priesthood. Since there were no historically black parishes in the schismatic diocese, race was not really an issue. It was on the roles of women and gays that the schismatic diocese made its stand against human rights.

So, back to our original point. Should the homosexual people of lower South Carolina feel guilty for the schism? Absolutely not. Blaming them would make as much sense as blaming the slaves for the Civil War. While the historical problems came from social institutions, the people involved in those very institutions did nothing to bring on the crises. They were the victims of forces beyond them. Let us not confuse the victims with the perpetrators.

The Episcopal Church has struggled hard for seventy years now for the worth and dignity of every human being. This is the baptismal covenant put into action. This movement has been a great democratic revolution which itself was part of a larger sweep of democratic reforms in America, and even the world. It is fair to say there have been vast improvements in human rights as the result of the revolution, and the Episcopal Church's part in it. 

The people who broke off of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, and the Episcopal Church, in 2012 believed this human rights revolution was bad religion. It is wrong to question their motives, but it is not wrong to question their judgments. In my view, their judgments were short-sighted and unfortunate. These caused the schism of 2012 and the terrible decade-long aftermath of civil war. 

In my view, there is a right side and a wrong side of the schism in South Carolina. The right side is the one that values the worth and dignity of every human being who is, after all, made in God's image. This is consistent with the Great Commandment.