EPISCOPAL DIOCESE TO SELL HOLY TRINITY, OF CHARLESTON, PROPERTY

On yesterday, March 30, 2023, Bishop Woodliff-Stanley, of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, ANNOUNCED that the diocesan authorities had decided to sell the property of the Holy Trinity Church, in Charleston. HT was one of the eight local churches in contention the South Carolina Supreme Court finally ruled (Aug. 2022) belonged to the Episcopal diocese. The bishop gave two major reasons for the decision:  the area was already served by returning parishes. St James, of James Island, is a short distance down Folly Road. St John's, of Johns Island, is also not far, to the west. To the north, the diocese is likely to get back Good Shepherd, in West Ashley (still pending in the state supreme court). The second reason was that the state of the buildings at HT would require a great deal of investment for refurbishing, money better used elsewhere.

 

Everyone who knows the Charleston area knows that Holy Trinity stands on a major piece (1.96 acres) of highly desirable commercial real estate worth a small fortune. It is at 95 Folly Road, not far south of U.S. 17. Folly Road is the main artery running from 17 through James Island to Folly Beach. The church is in the area called South Windermere which developed as a suburb of downtown Charleston mainly after the Second World War. The completion of the James Island Connector, connecting James Island directly with downtown, in the 1990's produced an explosion of growth in the whole area south of U.S. 17.

Holy Trinity was a small parish of the old diocese. It was not an historic one. The earliest reference I have found to it dates from 1940 (register of tax exemption status). The church structure appears to be built in the 1950's and lacks any architectural sophistication. At the schism, the clergy and laity of HT adhered to the new Anglican diocese. Afterwards, the parish declined, from 204 baptized members in 2014 to 170 in 2021, and 96 confirmed communicants (2014) to 83 (2021). At the same time the budget drifted downwards from $226k to 212k.

Thus, slowly but surely, the Episcopal diocese is settling on the dispositions of the properties involved in the decade-long legal war. Yet, recall that three properties are still to be decided by the SC supreme court, Good Shepherd, of Charleston, Old Saint Andrew's, and Holy Cross (Stateburg). The court has been sitting on these issues for six months without a hint of resolution. Your guess on when they will move is as good as mine. Meanwhile, both dioceses are trying to move on into the future.  

 

MEMBERSHIP CHANGES IN THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 2014-2021

In their annual convention meeting earlier this month, the officials of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina made much about growing the diocese. This raises the question of whether the diocese has been expanding or shrinking in the past few years. To answer this, we must go to the diocese's own annual membership statistics from the local churches.

Although the schism occurred in 2012, it is best to start at 2014 because in that year the diocese adopted a new way of counting active members. Before it was "Communicants." In 2014, it became "Confirmed Communicants" and from then on. So, to be consistent, we should look at the figures from 2014 to the latest published set, 2021. Find the 2014 table HERE and the 2021 table HERE .

Overall, the numbers for the whole diocese show a clear decline in membership in the seven years of 2014 to 2021. "Baptized membership" went from 22,953 to 19,752, a fall of 14%. "Confirmed Communicants" dropped from 16,361 to 12,651, a decline of 23%.

But, what about the individual local churches? How did they fair?

A total of 42 local churches in ADSC submitted membership statistics in both 2014 and 2021. Of these, 25 (60%) showed declines while 4 (10%) grew and 13 (30%) remained the same or nearly so. Thus, the large majority of local parishes and missions in ADSC lost members in the seven years of 2014 to 2021.

 

Here are the rankings of the local churches of ADSC that lost members beginning with the largest percentage lost. The numbers are Confirmed Communicants:

---Good Shepherd, Charleston.  256-2014;  75-2021.  -71%.

---St. John's Chapel, Charleston.  30-2014;  11-2021.  -63%.

---Trinity, Myrtle Beach.  388-2014;  160-2021.  -59%.

---Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant.  775-2014;  325-2021.  -58%.

---St. John's, Charleston.  620-2014;  260-2021.  -58%.

---St. David's, Cheraw.  106-2014;  44-2021.  -58%.

---Epiphany, Eutawville.  100-2014;  44-2021.  -56%.

---Christ the King/Grace, Pawleys Island.  307-2014;  155-2021.  -50%.

---St. Luke's, Hilton Head.  664-2014;  355-2021.  -47%.

---St. Matthias', Summerton.  141-2014;  89-2021.  -37%.

---St. Philip's, Charleston.  2,135-2014;  1,395-2021.  -35%.

---Trinity, Pinopolis.  166-2014;  110-2021.  -33%.

---Holy Apostles, Barnwell.  95-2014;  69-2021.  -27%.

---Prince George Winyah, Georgetown.  625-2014;  477-2021.  -24%.

---Resurrection, Surfside.  360-2014;  275-2021.  -24%.

---St. John's, Florence.  395-2014;  325-2021.  -18%.

---Old St. Andrew's, Charleston.  509-2014;  422-2021.  -17%.

---St. Helena's, Beaufort.  964-2014;  798-2021.  -17%.

---Trinity, Edisto.  145-2014;  122-2021.  -16%.

---Holy Trinity, Charleston.  96-2014;  83-2021.  -14%.

---Holy Comforter, Sumter.  246-2014;  217-2021.  12%.

---St. Matthew's, Darlington.  141-2014;  125-2021.  -11%.

---St. Michael's, Charleston.  1,015-2014;  937-2021.  -8%.

Eight churches lost half or more of their active members. In raw numbers, rather than percentages, St. Philip's, of Charleston, lost the most, 740, followed by Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant (450), St. John's, of Charleston (360), St. Luke's, Hilton Head (309), St. Paul's, of Summerville (238), and Trinity, of Myrtle Beach (228).

Of the 42 parishes and missions reporting, 4 gained significant numbers. Church of the Cross in fast-growing Bluffton is now the largest parish in ADSC, bypassing St. Philip's, of Charleston. Church of the Cross rose from 1,520 to 1,604 Confirmed Communicants (+6%). Holy Trinity, of Grahamville, had the largest percentage gain, from 91 to 141 (+55%). The Well by the Sea, in Myrtle Beach rose from 106 to 126 (+19%) while Our Saviour, on Johns Island, reported 200 to 227 (+7%).

Meanwhile, 13 local churches stayed the same or nearly so in Confirmed Communicants between 2014 and 2021: Holy Cross, Sullivans Island (1,000/1,050);  St. James, Charleston (500/533);  Christ/St. Paul's (245/239);  St. Paul's, Conway (212/217);  Redeemer, Orangeburg (173/179);  All Saints, Florence (160/152);  St. Bartholomew's, Hartsville (125/120);  St. Matthew's, Ft. Motte (86/91);  Ascension, Hagood (48/45):  Resurrection, North Charleston (44/41);  St. Barnabas, Dillon (39/35);  St. Paul's, Orangeburg (19/18);  Grace, North Myrtle Beach (13/13).

The above figures are all for Confirmed Communicants. If we look at the broader baptized membership numbers, we would find the same general pattern. Likewise, if we go year-by-year, we would see a consistent downward trend.

Here are the conclusions we can draw from studying the diocese's published statistics for the local churches:

---The ADSC lost significant numbers of members in the seven year period after the schism, from 2014 to 2021.

---The only large/medium parish that is showing healthy growth is Church of the Cross.

---Most of the large parishes lost significant numbers of members, with several remaining about the same.

---The parish that used to be the largest, St. Philip's, of Charleston, lost a third of its members in the seven year period after the schism.

---The schism was not the overwhelmingly popular event the diocesan leaders claimed at the time of the schism. Well after the break occurred, nearly a quarter of the active members of the ADSC left the diocese in just seven years. The numbers of people leaving the diocese far exceeded the numbers of people coming in.

---ADSC's falling membership is in stark opposition to the demographic boom of coastal South Carolina. 

---At its recent rate of decline, the ADSC will soon start experiencing challenges of an existential nature. This year's budget is less that last year's. Adjusted for inflation, the ADSC annual budget has fallen significantly in the last decade.

---There is nothing on the horizon to indicate that the decline of the ADSC will turn around.

---One possible outcome of this crisis is the joining of the overlapping ACNA dioceses, The Anglican Diocese of the Carolinas and the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina.

---Judging from the ADSC's own statistics, one may say the schism has been a failure. The ADSC is in relentless decline.     

A LETTER TO THIS EDITOR, 22 MARCH 2023

In my last two blog posts, I brought up the issue of the ownership of the historic (pre-schism) diocese. Three and a half years ago, the federal court in Charleston declared that the Episcopal Church was hierarchical and that the Episcopal diocese was the only heir of the historic Diocese of South Carolina. Moreover, the judge issued a permanent Injunction explicitly barring the new breakaway association from using the names, symbols, and marks of the pre-schism diocese. In other words, the breakaway contingent could not legally claim in any way to be the continuation of the pre-schism Diocese of South Carolina. The new association had to be taken to court twice to enforce this decree and was found in contempt of court. Yet, after all this, at their annual convention this month, that association, now called the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, apparently remained in defiance of the Injunction.

Today we have a letter from one of this blog's readers who kept an eagle's eye on the various proceedings and documents posted from the convention. His thoughts are well worth considering:

Dear Ron:     I was curious of the Anglicans' convention and looked through the documents and found a lot of references to the historic Diocese of South Carolina. In one of the documents they used the names Diocese of South Carolina and Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina. They mentioned bishops of the historic diocese. They used words of the past bishops of the diocese. They mentioned the division of the diocese and the creation of the upper South Carolina diocese in 1922. They mentioned the articles of incorporation in the 70's. They really made a lot of references showing to the public that they are the historic diocese but, of course, avoided mentioning the Episcopal Church. At the time they mentioned the historic diocese as an independent entity. The cherry on the cake was the historic seal in their official documents. They just missed announcing their convention as the 233rd using "2023 convention" to ignore the reality that this was their 11th convention. They mentioned Edgar simply as bishop of their diocese instead of 2nd bishop.

So sad that they refused to accept reality. Is it not enough for the separatists that the court sided with them after overturning themselves several times and harming the diocese pretty badly? Yet, they want to keep saying that the diocese separated from the Episcopal Church in 2012. They are still announcing this on their website and Facebook page indirectly showing people that their diocese pre-existed 2012.

The Diocese of South Carolina has lost a lot in this and they should take action against this. We are Christians but what is legal is legal and has to stop even if that means going back to court to force the separatists to accept the reality that they are not historic at all, their current bishop is the second bishop, and their past convention was the 11th convention. They need to rewrite all of their constitutions and canons instead of keeping on editing and using the documents of the historic diocese.

Their bishop said "the war is over," but it looks in reality for them it is not over until they completely destroy the historic diocese so they can freely claim that they are the historic diocese.

Yours, Eric Smith

________________________________ 

Thanks, Eric, for sharing your thoughts with which that I am sure many people would agree.

The ball is now in the Episcopal diocese's court. What they will do remains to be seen but I would not hold my breath expecting much to come out of this apparently egregious violation of the federal Injunction. The climate in the war of the schism has changed drastically in the last year or so. The Episcopal diocesan officers seem to value above all peace and an end of the issues around the schism. They have given two clear signals which perhaps encouraged the Anglican diocese to persist in its allusions as the continuation of the old diocese. One came in the "Final Settlement" of last September that allowed the Anglican diocese co-rights to the archives of the pre-schism diocese. Since the Anglican diocese did not exist before 2012, it had no legitimate right to any control over any of the archives of the historic diocese. They are the exclusive property of the Episcopal diocese. By giving them co-rights in the disposition of the archives, the Episcopal diocese gave tacit recognition of the Anglicans' claims to the historic diocese. The second signal, and perhaps the most important, was the declaration that the litigation was over. The only way the Episcopal diocese has achieved any enforcement of the Injunction has been through the court. It had to go to court twice, not once but twice, to get the Anglicans to abide by the Injunction. If the Anglicans know they are not going to hauled into court again, they could choose to disregard the Injunction at will. The Injunction is good only if it is enforced; and the only way it has been enforced in the past is by court action.

However, we are being told that the two bishops have become chatty friends. Bp Edgar even likened they to the Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This is a poor analogy. While those two had polar opposite world views, they were both passionately committed to the same institution, the Court. Edgar and Woodliff-Stanley share no such unifying factor. In fact, the whole history of the schism has been the breakaways' demonization of the Episcopal Church. It has not gone away if the exiting cries of the occupants of the seven parishes returning to the Episcopal diocese last year were any indication. Let's not kid ourselves; the Anglican diocese looks on the Episcopal Church as the enemy and they act on such. Any such idea that the friendship between the two bishops is going to make any substantial change in the character of this schism is ill-founded and naive.

It is imperative for the Episcopal diocese that it protect its legal rights at this point. By refusing to accept that the Episcopal diocese is the one and only heir of the historic diocese, the Anglicans are rejecting the major conclusion of the settlement: exchange of the diocese for the bulk of the parishes. It seems to me the Anglicans have refused and still defiantly refuse to accept this trade off. They are still clinging to the notion that in reality they are heirs of the historic diocese. They are not; and the federal court has said so, three times now. If the Anglicans expect a good-will settlement of this nightmare schism, they must change their attitude about history. They do not own the old diocese; the Episcopal Church does. It is now incumbent on the Episcopal diocese to press this point.

THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE AND THE INJUNCTION

While I am not a lawyer and not offering legal advice here, I am of the opinion that the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina is apparently still in defiance of a federal court Injunction. What makes this most disappointing is that we are supposedly in a new era of good feelings between the two dioceses. Maybe the truth is we are not.

On September 19, 2019, the federal district court in Charleston, Judge Richard Gergel presiding, issued a JUDGMENT that the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina was the one and only legal heir of the historic Diocese of South Carolina owing to the principle of hierarchy that governed the Episcopal Church. At the same time, he issued an Injunction forbidding the separatist association from using the names, emblems, and marks of the historic diocese. The next day, the separatists adopted the name of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina. Otherwise, they were very slow in adhering to the Injunction, so slow that the Episcopal side complained to the judge and Gergel issued an enforcement of the Injunction on December 8, 2019. The Injunction remained in effect during the Anglican's appeal of Gergel's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals (the Anglicans withdrew this appeal as part of the "final settlement" announced in 2022). However, the Anglican side continued to drag its feet on following the Injunction, so that the Episcopal side went back to court listing twenty-seven violations. On October 27, 2020, Gergel found the ADSC in contempt of court a second time. He did not impose any punishment because, he said, the EDSC side had not asked for any. So, the Anglican diocese has now been under a federal court order for three and a half years not to claim to be in any way the pre-schism diocese. They have been held in contempt of court for violating this formal Injunction, not once but twice. Well, the ADSC held its annual meeting this month, and here we go again. It appears to me they are still in serious defiance of the federal court order.

In this meeting, the convention revised the Constitution of the ADSC while making numerous allusions to the historic diocese. Bear in mind that the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina has sole ownership of the names and symbols of the pre-schism diocese. The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina did not exist before the schism, which occurred at noon on October 15, 2012. "The diocese" before that date was the Episcopal diocese.

In the first place, on the DRAFT COPY of the revisions to the diocesan constitution, apparently the seal of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina appears at the top of all nine pages. If this is true, it would be a direct violation of the Injunction which forbids the new diocese from using the historic seal. Now, it is also true that on the FINAL COPY , the seal was omitted on every page. This raises the question of why it appeared on any version of the ADSC constitution. (To my knowledge the ADSC has not adopted a seal.) 

Moreover, both the draft and final copies listed thirteen resolutions "passed" by conventions before 2012, going all the way back to 1872. The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina did not exist before 2012. What they were referring to were resolutions passed by the historic diocese which was the Episcopal diocese. Under the Injunction they cannot claim to be the historic diocese. It seems to me these are thirteen violations of the federal court Injunction.

On a curious point, on page 6, we see this: "The Anglican diocese of South Carolina is incorporated..." It does not say when it was incorporated. If the ADSC were incorporated after Oct. 15, 2012, I missed it. Perhaps the ADSC diocesan office could remind us when the Anglican diocese was legally incorporated under state law. The Episcopal diocese was incorporated under state law in 1974. The ADSC did not exist at that time.

It seems to me that the breakaway diocese refuses to give up its claim to history in spite of courts. This attitude permeates the whole diocese. For instance, the occupants of every one of the seven parishes that returned to the Episcopal diocese last year left the properties but kept the old names of the parishes and simply tagged "Anglican" on them. This was a refusal to accept in good will the decisions of the courts. 

The disputes of the schism are moving ever closer to being settled. Essentially, the Episcopal side got the historic diocese (and its assets and properties) and the breakaway side got the bulk of the local churches. It is incumbent on the Episcopal diocese to protect its position at this point and going into the future. Its validity in this dispute rests on its historic identity. This must be protected against all violations.

So, what to do? I do not think anyone could envision the arrests of the Anglican bishop and chancellor, although I suspect some Episcopalians have harbored images of them being handcuffed and pressed into squad cars. That is not going to happen. Then, what about money damages? Being nice has not worked. If we have learned anything at all in this decade of litigation, it is that the Anglican lawyers skillfully played hardball. Maybe the Episcopal side could try that here. What about a million dollars for every violation of the Injunction this month? I count 22 violations in the draft and final copies of the ADSC Constitution. I think $22m would be a fair sum, don't you? That would get their attention. Since the Anglican side has apparently flagrantly disregarded the federal court Injunction for three and a half years, something needs to get their attention.

Apart from the Injunction, there is something else in the ADSC Constitution that should get our attention. The last page reminds us in no uncertain terms the aim of this schism, homophobia and anti-trans. This schism was to keep homosexuals and trans people from having the same human rights as everyone else. However, the rationales were based on false assumptions. In the first place it asserted that God made every person "male or female." This is non-Biblical. The Bible says repeatedly God made human beings "male and female." The word is "and" and not "or." Besides, there are humans born with no definable gender and there are others born with both sets of genitals. So it is demonstrably false to say that God made all humans male or female. 

A curious point about this part of the Constitution is that it has been revised since it was first established in the diocesan  Statement of Faith in 2015. The original Statement held that marriage is for lifetime. Some parishes balked at this and deleted that provision before ratifying the Statement (they would have lost many of their congregants if this were enforced). Note that the 2023 iteration of the Statement in the Constitution omits the provision of lifetime marriage. The point is that the Statement, the Constitution, indeed the schism were not about marriage. They were about homophobia.

This leads us back to the overall significance of this schism. It is an important part of the contemporary culture war. The Episcopal Church made a bold decision in the 1950's to join in the great democratic revolution that was just beginning to sweep America. Once in, TEC championed equality for and inclusion of racial minorities, women, homosexuals, and trans people among others. A minority in the Church rebelled against this reform movement. The breaking point came in the 1990's when it was clear that TEC had made a de facto settlement for homosexuals. A separatist movement began boiling up in the Diocese of South Carolina as a backlash against the national church's democratic trajectory. The break was thirty years in the making in SC, coming to a head in 2012. Hence, the Anglican diocesan constitution as in its latest version, of this year. 

What the Episcopal diocese got out of the schism was ownership of the historic diocese. Apparently, the separatists are not quite on board with this. The EDSC must find ways to bring this about.    

 "THE WAR IS OVER" (?)

Last week, Bishop Edgar declared to his diocesan convention, "The war is over," meaning the legal war with the Episcopal Church is over. Find his address here . If only this were true. The schismatics in SC declared war on the Episcopal Church on Jan. 4, 2013, more than ten years ago. They sued the church in a hand-picked state court. It has been a violent roller coaster ride ever since. Everyone, except perhaps the lawyers, are longing to get off this wild ride. Unfortunately, the war is not quite over.  

The two bishops did announce a "final settlement" last year but it was hardly final. In the first place, the settlement explicitly protected the ADSC betterments suit in circuit court. This suit is going forward and, if successful, (this was the court that overturned the SCSC decision of 2017) could possibly cost the Episcopal side millions of dollars. In the second place, there are three local churches that are still in legal contention. The Episcopal diocese has petitions before the state supreme court claiming Old Saint Andrew's and Holy Cross (Stateburg). The Anglican side has a petition before the court claiming Good Shepherd's independence from the Episcopal diocese. The SCSC has been sitting on these three petitions since last September without a hint of a response. Curious that the court had no trouble in responding quickly (four months) to petitions from the schismatic side granting them the bulk of the local churches that the court had awarded to the Episcopal side in 2017. The SCSC issued sweeping decisions in April and August of last year revoking their earlier ruling on twenty-one of the local churches. Of the twenty-nine local churches the SCSC recognized as property of the Episcopal diocese in 2017, the court moved all but eight over to the breakaway side. Now, they are dragging their feet on three parishes.

Bishop Edgar made much of his friendship with the Episcopal bishop Woodliff-Stanley. Apparently this amity is rather superficial. He said that she invited him to join her in writing an editorial decrying the rampant gun violence in America. Edgar declined saying he was not "political." The "Anglicans" are oriented to vertical religion---human beings have to be "saved." This is all that really matters. The Episcopalians are oriented to horizontal religion---human beings were created in the image of God to do his work in the world. Hence, apparently Edgar thinks gun control is irrelevant while Woodliff-Stanley thinks it is an expression of the Christian life. Thus, we have two very different views of the nature and purpose of religious institutions.   

Edgar raised an interesting point in his address that he did not explain. He said his diocese had "lost" $8m in "cash assets" in the final settlement. Pray, tell us more! Exactly what were the assets and how were they "lost"? Did that money go to the Episcopal diocese, as he implied?

Of course, the breakaways are continuing on in their old mindset of thinking of themselves as the continuation of the historic diocese. Edgar referred several times to the diocese before the schism of 2012. Actually, the federal court ruled in 2019 that the Episcopal diocese is the one and only heir of the historic diocese. In fact, he issued an Injunction forbidding the breakaways from claiming to be in any way the pre-schism diocese. Moreover, they have been held in contempt of court, not once but twice, for violating the Injunction. The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina was created in 2012 at the schism. It did not exist before then; and its spokespeople had better be careful about alluding to the "Diocese of South Carolina" before 2012. That claim belongs to the Episcopal Diocese---and its has the federal court behind it. 

Edgar did point out that there is a great difference between the new Anglican and the old Episcopal dioceses. I think everyone would agree with that. 

The difference struck me clearly in Edgar's address. There was nothing there about the two great commandments, loving God and our neighbors. In fact, I did not see the word love at all. There was nothing there about making a better world for the people in need all around us. Instead, it was all about establishing "righteousness," whatever this means; he did not define the term; and "saving the lost." Again, he did not explain what this would mean in practical terms. It is clear that this new diocese has veered off far from the mainstream of historic Anglicanism toward a narrow quasi-fundamentalism. Unspoken in all of this was the homophobia and misogyny that were the actual reasons for being of the schism and the reactionary Anglican Church in North America that the ADSC is now part of. Using scripture as a screen, the schism is all about keeping gays and women from enjoying the same human rights that others have. The social reactionaries left a church that had been championing human rights for all people for more than a half-century. 

So, how has the breakaways' experiment been going? Judging from their own statistics, not very well. Between the schism of 2012 and the covid disruption of 2020-21, we can see decline across the board in the churches that broke away from the Episcopal diocese. Baptized membership fell from 23,455, in 2012, to 19, 597 in 2020, a loss of 16%. Communicants (active members) declined from 17,812, in 2012, to 11,337, in 2020, a fall of 36%. Average Sunday Attendance declined from 9,931 in 2012 to 8,215 in 2020 (pre-covid), a reduction of 17%. The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina declined seriously in every measurable category in the few years after the schism. The trajectory is clear.

The war is over? It is true that most of the legal issues have been put to rest, but in other ways the war to be waged by the new Anglican diocese is far from over. Now, the biggest war it has is with the future. A denomination established on discrimination against homosexuals and forced submission of women to men is going against history in a big way. This is the age of the great democratic revolution. Young people will not be drawn to anachronisms in this day and age, and so this socially reactionary new church will have increasing challenges of an existential nature. This is the real war the ADSC now faces; and again, it is a war of its own making.  

 

NOTES,  1 MARCH 2023

Greetings, blog reader. It is Wednesday, the First of March, 2023. It is a new month and signs of spring are all around us who live in the deep south. I would send garden pictures but my garden is suffering from the effects of a hard winter. The severe cold snap last December killed or damaged many of the more cold sensitive plants. It will be a while for the survivors to recuperate. Nevertheless, many other plants are coming back to life and putting out their lovely colors. I intend to enjoy this new springtime.

I have no news of the schism to report today. We are still waiting on the SC Supreme Court to respond to the three requests before it. It has been five months since we heard a word from the high court in Columbia.

In the Anglican world, the homophobe/misogynist coalition has been in nuclear meltdown since the Church of England voted last month to approve of in-church blessings of persons in same-sex relationships (some people are saying the Church is not blessing the unions but blessing the people involved in them--a distinction without a difference). One has only to scan the anglican.ink website to see the numerous doomsday protests from around the world. One was truly appalling. It came from none other than Vladimir Putin. He ridiculed the C of E. This is Putin, arguably the most immoral political leader on the world stage today. Why would anyone pay any attention to what he would have to say on the judgments of other people?

Also in the chutzpah line up is Foley Beach. He is not even in the Anglican Communion. He shot off a letter under his name alone to declare that the Archbishop of Canterbury was no longer recognized as head of the Anglican Communion. Then there was the Archbishop of Uganda raining down criticism even though Uganda has one of the harshest set of laws in Africa persecuting homosexual citizens, including life in prison. 

Then, the Global South coalition issued a letter virtually declaring a schism in the Anglican Communion. It was signed by 10 of the 25 primates affiliated with the GS. Where were the other 15? This raises the issue of the strength of the schism movement pushed by GS and GAFCON. Last year, the socially reactionary movement at the Lambeth Conference gained only 125 signatures of the 600+ bishops in attendance. There are signs that the move to break up the Anglican Communion along social policy lines is not as strong as its proponents claim. 

Next month, GAFCON is holding a world conference at Kigali. Rwanda, from April 17 to 21. There is no doubt what the main topic of discussion will be. 

This month, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina will hold its eleventh annual meeting, at Bluffton, March 10-11. They will have plenty of reason to rejoice. Since their last meeting, March 2022, they have made huge gains in the war of the schism. First, the SCSC awarded the ADSC 15 of the 29 parishes it had earlier recognized for the Episcopal diocese. Then the SCSC turned around and presented another 7 of the 29 to ADSC. By August of 2022, the EDSC was left with just 8 of the 29 the SCSC had awarded to EDSC on Aug. 2, 2017. One of these 8 the EDSC subsequently sold to the local schismatic congregation leaving EDSC with a net gain of 7 of the original 29. On top of this, the EDSC disposed of 4 other properties to the ADSC. In addition, apparently in the "final settlement" announced between the two dioceses last year, the EDSC has dropped claim to the dozen or so local church that did not enter the lawsuit and stayed with the separatist diocese. All in all, the ADSC had its best year ever since the division of 2012. They have every reason to party away in Bluffton. One has to hand it to them; they snatched a sort of victory from the jaws of defeat.

Changing gears to another story coming from South Carolina, did he do it? Did Alex Murdaugh murder his son and wife? This is the issue in the trial underway. The whole world seems to be watching this grizzly southern gothic story. 

I have watched only bits of the trial and certainly do not understand all the complicated, even bizarre, twists and turns. However, from what I have seen, it seems to me the circumstantial evidence is strong for conviction. The cell phone video showing him present at the crime scene just minutes before the murders is compelling. Moreover, I have seen no evidence at all of the presence of another person or persons who could have committed the killings.

However, I am not sure that the prosecution has proven the case beyond a reasonable doubt. All the defense need is to sway one of the twelve jurors to get Murdaugh off the hook. It was reported that a couple of the jurors were weeping during his testimony on the stand last week. 

In my opinion, the weakest point in the prosecution's presentation was failure to establish a plausible motive for the crime, not that they have to do this. Still, motive would go a long way to moving the jury. Why would the defendant murder, in cold blood, his son and wife? I, for one, am left baffled. I would imagine the jury is thinking the same. 

Watching some of the trial did make me a bit sad thinking about the schism. The judge presiding in Walterboro, Clifton Newman, has done an excellent job of being fair, reasonable, and thorough. He is closing off any grounds of appeal from shortcomings of the court. If only the church litigation had had such a judge the outcome could have been different. Instead, the plaintiffs (ADSC) chose the court in Dorchester County that turned out to rule so over the top on their side that the SC Supreme Court ridiculed the lower court. Then, another judge in the same circuit discarded the SC decision and replaced it with a new one which was actually a return to the first court ruling. What a mess. But that was not all. The SCSC went on to reverse itself, and not once but twice. So, to be charitable, the state courts in SC leave something to be desired. Thank God for Judge Newman for restoring a bit of faith in the SC courts. Peace.