THE TWO DIOCESES AND THE CULTURE WAR

The 2012 schism in the Episcopal diocese of South Carolina was a local manifestation of the overall culture war in contemporary America. To recap, the culture war is the clash between two great historical forces, revolution and counter-revolution. The revolution developed in post-Second World War America. It brought democratic reforms of equality and inclusion for many social elements that had been marginalized or powerless, most importantly blacks,  women, and homosexuals. The social and cultural elements that felt most threatened by this, mostly white men who had virtually monopolized power in American history, created a counter-revolution aimed at preserving as much as possible of the pre-revolution white patriarchy. To simplify, the revolution promoted democratic reforms while the counter-revolution resisted democratic reforms. Adding to the white patriarchy's urgency in opposing democracy was the looming reality that American was becoming a multi-cultural society, that is, one in which white people would be another minority.

The schism in South Carolina was sparked by local resistance to the democratic reforms favoring homosexuals, and to some degree women, that had been championed by the national Episcopal Church. By 2012, TEC had affirmed an open and partnered gay man as a bishop, had elected a woman as the presiding bishop, and had adopted church blessings for same-sex couples. This was more than the leadership of the diocese would tolerate. They planned and carried out a schism and brought along the majority of the laity of the diocese. They established a new diocese that went on to institutionalize the counter-revolutionary agenda. In 2015 they adopted a Statement of Faith that condemned homosexuality. Then they joined a denomination devoted to opposing equality for women as well as gays. It forbade women from being bishops, that is, in having authority over men. The new diocese sealed its place in the counter-revolution of the culture war.

The victory of the white patriarchy in the new diocese can be seen clearly in the clerical make up of the Anglican diocese today. According to the ADSC website, by my count, there are 92 priests attending the 53 or so parishes and missions. Looking at the active clergy in the local churches: 

white male priests - 82 (89%)

black male priests -  4 (4%)

white female priests - 5 (5%)

black female priests - 1 (1%)

Thus, nearly nine out of ten priests in the ADSC are white men. 

What about deacons? 

white male deacons - 18 (67%)

black male deacons - 0

white female deacons - 10 (33%)

black female deacons - 0

Once again, white men dominate. They account for two-thirds of diocesan deacons. There are no black deacons at all in the ADSC.

Women have never been allowed to chair a major committee (as the Standing Committee) of the ADSC, nor have they ever had a majority of the seats of a major committee. Moreover, no woman and no African-American has ever been head of a large or medium parish. As of now, the only black woman priest is a chaplain at Porter-Gaud. Among the white female priests, one is associate at Holy Cross, two are heads of small parishes, and one is vicar of a mission.

Of the 4 African-American male priests of ADSC, three serve small, dependent, missions. One, the Rev. Fred Onyanyo, a native Kenyan, is listed as a priest at St. Paul's, of Summerville. His work is described as a liaison of local parishes in ADSC with the Global South.

In short, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina is a bastion of the old white patriarchy. This is a not so insignificant victory for the counter-revolution in the culture war.

As one would expect, the picture is quite different in the continuing Episcopal diocese of South Carolina. There, blacks, women, and gays have found a far greater degree of equality and inclusion. This is to be expected in a denomination that long ago embraced the great democratic revolution of post-WWII America. Unfortunately, the EDSC lists only names of CLERGY of the diocese on its website. Anyway, from this, it appears that there are 68 priests of the diocese. Of these, 11 (16%) are women. Among the vocational deacons, 7 (50%) of the 14 are women.

At the time of the schism, most of the women clergy and most of the African-American clergy remained with the Episcopal diocese. They knew discrimination when they saw it. In fact, the only two historically black parishes stayed with the diocese as did numerous historically black missions. 

Women have excelled in the leadership of the ongoing diocese. Of course, everyone knows the diocese elected a woman as the new bishop. This was after the diocese had appointed a woman as archdeacon. Today, one of the large parishes, ALL SAINTS, of Hilton Head, lists an all female priestly staff, the rector and two associates. This is a first for South Carolina. There is another sizeable parish, ST. JOHN'S, of Johns Island, led by a woman. 

Thus, the Episcopal diocese has a far larger percentage of women priests and deacons than does the Anglican side. (Nevertheless, EDSC has a long way to go considering that 40% of the clergy in the national TEC is female. 16% is not even half-way there.)

As the Anglican diocese has secured its place in the counter-revolution, the Episcopal diocese has gone a long way in embodying the democratic reforms of the revolution. 

There are still some people who want to insist that the schism was about theology and not culture. Nonsense. The historical record is very clear. If one still needs convincing, I direct you to my 500 page history of the schism. (This is not to say there are no theological differences between the two dioceses. There certainly are. The new diocese has veered into a highly vertical quasi-fundamentalism removed from the mainstream of classical Anglicanism.)

Given the overall conservatism of South Carolina, I find it somewhat surprising that the counter-revolutionary diocese has declined so rapidly since the schism. It has seen a steady decline in membership, a third of active members since the break. Obviously the public is not racing to join this new church.

Where the culture war goes from here God only knows. The center of gravity has turned to politics. What is going on in Washington today and what will happen over the next year and a half will tell us where the culture war is going. The clash between the revolution and the counter-revolution is about to get a lot more serious. It may be all but over in the old diocese of South Carolina, but it is far from over in the rest of the country.

Diversity in the Episcopal Church. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, the first African-American PB of TEC. Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, the first female bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. Of the 280 active and retired BISHOPS in TEC, 46 are women and 53 are people of color or open homosexuals.

Diversity in the Anglican Church in North America. How many women bishops? None. How many bishops of color? I count 3 of the 41 in the picture. How many white males? 38. 

 

CHANGES AT ST. JAMES'S ANGLICAN

The previous rector of St. James's Anglican Church, on James Island, Charleston, has apparently been removed from the parish. Last month, the vestry of St. James's asked the Rev. Toby Larson to resign as rector. On today, the parish WEBSITE  , deleted references to the Rev. Larson, and to the temporary priest-in-charge, the Rev. Timothy Surratt, of St. Michael's, Charleston. The only clergyman now listed for St. James's is the Rev. Richard Grimball, the associate rector. 

On last Sunday, Bishop Edgar visited St. James's to preside over the 10 a.m. Eucharist. The only priest attending him was the Rev. Grimball. Edgar told the congregation there would be more information about the parish situation "later." He refrained from saying anything more on camera. There was to be a parish luncheon after church, so perhaps Edgar talked with the crowd then about the changes in the clergy of the parish. It is hard to imagine what other purpose would explain his visit. A video of the church service is available on St. James's Facebook page.

Grimball is still listed as "Associate Rector" on the church website. Who has become, or will become rector, has not been publicly revealed.

So, from this bit of circumstantial evidence it appears that the vestry won its tug-of-war with the former rector. The issues and the handling of the matter have been equally covered in secrecy. I doubt that either of these will ever be publicly revealed. 

MEMBERSHIP TRENDS IN THE TWO DIOCESES

The Episcopal Church recently released its membership statistics for the year 2022. In the last decade, the baptized membership of the national church declined from 2,009,081 in 2013 to 1,584,785 in 2022. This is a fall of 424,279, or 21%. Find TEC's latest statistics HERE .

What about South Carolina? Let us look at membership in the two dioceses that emerged from the schism of 2012 as related in the official parochial reports.

THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Baptized membership in the churches of the Episcopal diocese:

2013 - 5,781

2014 - 6,387

2015 - 6,706

2016 - 7,053

2017 - 7,309

2018 - 7,587

2019 - 7,763

2020 - 7,467

2021 - 7,254

2022 - 7,476

The figures show that in the decade after the schism, the Episcopal diocese gained membership of 1,695, or +29%. Unfortunately, the figures do not tell us how many of these people were new arrivals from off, refugees from schismatic parishes, or new local people.

To be sure, the South Carolina low country has boomed in population growth, particularly the Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Hilton Head areas. The population of Charleston County grew from 361,815 in 2013 to 425,644 in 2023, a rise of 63,829, or +17%.

Thus, the growth of the Episcopal diocese is favorable to the overall population growth of lower SC.

THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Baptized Membership.

2013 - 23,181

2022 - 18,130

A decline of 5,051, or -22% in the decade after the schism.

Communicants.

2013 - 17,798

2022 - 11,673

A decline of 6,125, or -34%.

Average Sunday Attendance.

2013 - 9,292

2022 - 8,353

A decline of 939, or -10%.

The ADSC has seen a severe fall in "communicants," or active members, less so in overall membership and ASA. Still, the ADSC suffered relentless decline in every metric in the decade after the schism of 2012.

CONCLUSION. 

The Episcopal diocese of SC has enjoyed a 29% rise in membership since the schism of 2012. Thus bucks the trend in the Episcopal Church of the serious decline in membership nationwide. Meanwhile, the new Anglican diocese has suffered significant decline in membership, made even more problematical in view of the booming population of coastal South Carolina.

Unfortunately, the statistics do not reveal the reasons for the steady decline of the ADSC. Surely it would benefit the diocese to make a study of its membership problem which percentage-wise is actually much worse than that of the Episcopal Church. At the rate the ADSC is falling, it will soon face an existential crisis. Where that would lead, no one knows. There is always the possibility the future remnant of the ADSC could melt into ACNA's Diocese of the Carolinas, based in Mt. Pleasant, a Charleston suburb.

Finally, the relentless decline of the ADSC membership makes one wonder about the connection of the schism and God's will. The ADSC leadership has always claimed that what they were doing was favored by God. Every time the ADSC won anything in court (but, not when they lost), their spokespeople proclaimed it as God's will. If the schism and the new diocese were God's will, would not there be some positive manifestation of that by now? Would not God's favor be tangible in some way? One certainly does not see such in the empirical data of the new diocese and given the clear trends, one should not expect to see such in the future.

 

ANGLICAN DIOCESE BUYING NEW CAMP SITE

On September 15, 2023, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina announced it had entered into a contract to buy 80 acres of land for the development of a camp. The site is on "the north end of Lady's Island, in Beaufort County," and has a mile of waterfront on Broomfield Creek. Find the announcement HERE .

Lady's Island is just east of the town of Beaufort. No purchase price was given although one would imagine a multi-million dollar figure. Since the land is undeveloped, the diocese will have to raise, or borrow, a great deal of additional funds for the construction of camp buildings and infrastructure. Thus, the ADSC will have to tap its members to pay twice, for the land and for the buildings. The name ADSC has chosen is "Camp Jubilee."

Not too far away stands the Episcopal Diocese's Camp St. Christopher with its 314 acres and oceanfront expanse on Seabrook Island. The new Anglican diocese had occupied this property from the time of the schism, in 2012, until they vacated it, under court ruling, last year. Apparently, the ADSC did not pay any rent for the decade-long use of the Camp (nor for any of the other Episcopal property they occupied, as the bishop's residence). Nevertheless, they are expecting the Episcopal diocese to pay them for improvements in the properties of the seven parishes (the eighth parish was sold to the Anglican occupants) returned to the EDSC. This is the "betterments" suit in circuit court.

 

ARE BIDEN AND TRUMP TOO OLD TO BE ELECTED PRESIDENT NEXT YEAR?

The talk of the day on the national scene, at least in politics, is the issue of age, specifically whether Biden and Trump are too old for the presidency. Biden would be 82 when sworn in as president in January of 2025 and would be 86 at the end of his term. Trump would be 79 and serve until he age of 83. If age is an issue for Biden, it would have to be for Trump too since he is only three years younger than Biden. 

Only once before in American history was age a significant issue in a presidential race, that was with Reagan's election in 1980, at age 69. He easily beat Jimmy Carter. When Reagan ran for reelection, in 1984, at age 73, age was rarely mentioned and he went on to one of the greatest landslide victories in American history. Obviously no one thought age mattered then. He was the oldest president in office up to that time. Ever since Reagan, conservatives have promoted him to iconic stature. Interestingly enough, many of the people who worship Reagan are now loudly protesting that Biden is too old to be elected.

In retrospect, whether Reagan was too old to be reelected is a matter of debate but he did the job until the end although there were rumors of mental decline. In fact, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years after he left office and died of complications of the disease.

Then, of course, South Carolinians would be well aware of Strom Thurmond who served as senator until his late 90's and died at age 100. Age was often mentioned but obviously was never a serious issue in his repeated landslide reelections.

This is not to say that age should never be a factor in politics. Senators Mitch McConnell (age 81) and Diane Feinstein (age 90) are painful to watch on the news. McConnell has blanked out twice on camera and Feinstein sometimes has to be told what is going on. These two should collect their gold watches and ride off into the sunset.

Age by itself should not be the deciding factor in any election. There are people who function quite well into their 80's and even 90's. What should be considered is the condition of the person. Do Biden and Trump have the mental and physical health and stamina necessary for the position of president? That is the question of the day, and a fair one, but unfortunately it is addressed in the context of politics. 

Time is of the essence. The first caucus is only four months away and shortly afterwards will come a torrent of primaries. So far, no one has seriously challenged Biden or Trump, and neither man has shown even a glimmer of hesitation. Unless a strong contender appears very soon, both Biden and Trump will win their nominations.

Mainly thanks to Republicans, age has been injected into the campaign. As an issue, it will not go away. If nothing else, Fox News will see to that. Many Democrats are terrified that Biden's age could become the focus of the race rather than Trump's vast record of alleged criminality. It is possible that the Republicans will succeed in making Biden's age the overriding question of the election.

To assess whether Biden is too old, one should consider his record in his present term. In fact, he led the country out of the worst pandemic in a century. His list of accomplishments is long and impressive. Age has not been a factor since his election except in the eyes of his opponents. In fact, his long history of experience has paid off in major ways. This is what people ought to consider before they vote. Consider the man before the age. 

The presidential election of 2024 is lining up to be the most important since the Civil War, more than a century and a half ago. The two candidates are very well known. With Biden we get a continuation of the evolution of the egalitarian democratic republic. With Trump we get a fascist dictatorship and the end of the Constitution and the American experiment in democracy. So, the impending election is fundamentally not about a man's age. It is about something far, far more important, the future of the country.

 

THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THIS BLOG

Today, September 11, 2023, marks the tenth anniversary of this blog. The first entry was on Sept. 11, 2013. My original purpose was twofold: to inform the public of interactions of the two entities post-schism, and to update the public on my progress in writing a history of the schism. I had never had a blog before, and I really had no idea of how things would unfold. Still, I felt it important enough to play it by ear and see how matters occurred after the "divorce" of 2012. Looking back, I am astonished at what happened after the schism, how it happened, and its effects.

It has been a wild roller coaster ride, and one I could never have imagined beforehand. I have always said it is best that we do not know the future. There were two big issues coming out of the schism: who owned the old diocese and who owned the local churches. On the diocese, at first the breakaways insisted they owned it. They got a ruling and injunction from the circuit court to support this. Then, six years later, the federal court said no, the old diocese was the exclusive property of the Episcopal Church. The judge even issued an injunction against the separatists and then twice found them in contempt of court over their violations. On the second issue, local churches, 36 went to court against the Episcopal Church claiming the local properties. The circuit court agreed. Then, the state supreme court said no, 29 of the 36 in question actually belonged to the Episcopal diocese. And then, the lower court said no to that, all local churches owned their own properties. A couple of years later, the state supreme court said no both to itself and the lower court and ruled that 15 of the 36 actually belonged to the Episcopal Church, and then turned around and said on third thought, only 8 of the 36 really belonged to TEC. Perhaps Mr. Toad's Wild Wide would be a good analogy. 

As we know now, the diocesan leadership planned the schism. It was not a spontaneous accident. In fact, they had been laying the groundwork within the diocese for many years. In that time, the anti-Episcopal leadership had a virtual monopoly over the public message in the diocese and it was unrelenting in its criticism of the national church. Nevertheless, the pro-Church party in the diocese, although a nearly ignored minority, did not remain silent. Two forces fought back against the increasingly obvious aims of the leadership. The Episcopal Forum tried its best to defend loyalty to the Episcopal Church. The indomitable Steve Skardon provided the only exposure of the shenanigans of the anti-Church leadership. For years, his blog was the sole source of information not controlled by the diocesan leadership. He has not received enough credit for his hard and long work for truth. The next time you see him, give him a big "Thank You."

Slow to catch on at first, my blog gradually became the second favorite read on the ongoing status of the schism, after Skardon's. In the ten years, there have been over a million hits on its one thousand posts. It proved to be in such demand that after I published my history of the schism, in 2017, I decided to continue the blog to help people stay informed of the still unfolding saga of separation. Here are then ten most popular blog posts:

1-CHRONOLOGY. 15,200 hits. A detailed listing of significant events concerning the schism in time order. 

2-CERT DENIED. 12,400 hits. June 11, 2018. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to accept the appeal of the separatists challenging the SC Supreme Court ruling of 2017.

3-THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 6,850 hits. Aug. 26, 2017. I, along with everyone else, assumed the SCSC decision of Aug. 2, 2017 was final. 

4-A REMARKABLE BISHOP, A REMARKABLE THREE AND A HALF YEARS. 5,310 hits. Sept. 1, 2016. Showing the strength of the Episcopal diocese in the first few years after the break.

5-A NEW LETTER TO THIS EDITOR. 2,710 hits. July 2, 2018. The Rev. Rob Donehue won the blue ribbon with the most popular letter to the editor.

6-BREAKING NEWS!! SC SUPREME COURT RENDERS DECISION. 5,310 hits. Aug. 2, 2017. After five years of litigation, the SCSC handed down a "decision." No one could know this was not a final decision. 

7-SEPTEMBER 10, 2018--LETTER TO THIS EDITOR. 2,240 hits. Sept. 10, 2018. Wayne Helmly's eloquent letter was the second most popular letter to the editor.

8-SOURCES. 2,240 hits. 2017+. A bibliography of the primary and secondary sources of the schism in SC.

9-SPIN CYCLE. 1,800 hits. Aug. 1, 2018. Compilation of first hand accounts of Bishop Lawrence's talk in Sumter. At the time, everyone assumed 29 of the 36 local churches would be returned to TEC.

10-GOING OUT. 1,640 hits. Mar. 14, 2018. Report on Bishop Lawrence's somber address to the diocesan convention when everyone thought 29 parishes were to be returned to TEC.

Since the SCSC decision of 2017 turned out not to be final, I thought about compiling a second volume of the history of the schism to bring the story up to date over the past six years or to revise the original history to add new material. However, I doubt seriously that I will be able to do either. Age is catching up with me and my eyesight is probably not up to the hours of pouring over small print that would be required. In a way this is a shame because I have faithfully collected all the public documents of events all these years. My house is bulging with stacks of paper. However, I am not closing the door. Perhaps the Holy Spirit has other ideas.

Meanwhile, my history of the schism is still in print and easily available on Amazon. So far, the publisher has kept the book in print, for six years, but they could take it out of print at any time. If anyone else wants a copy he or she would be wise to go ahead and get it.

Likewise, I have no control over the existence of the blog. This blog space is provided free to me by Google. They own the space, not I. I suppose at any time Google could decide to eliminate my blog. It would be their right. Therefore, people who are seriously interested in the events of the schism should print out "Chronology," at least from Aug. 2, 2017 (the end of the book) because it is a detailed listing of litigation, and other matters, up to the present day. If Google should remove my blog they would be removing Chronology too.

"Sources" is a bibliography of the source material of the schism. It needs to be edited and brought up to date since it is six years old. I will work on that the next time I go to the duPont library at Sewanee. It has been a while since I have driven the couple of hours to "the mountain."

It is interesting to note that readership of my blog has fallen off sharply in the past few months. This is understandable since the bulk of the schism has been settled. I suspect the general feeling among the public now is to accept the reality and move on. Most people passed the point of exhaustion with the schism long ago. I have considered discontinuing the blog but there are still people who want to read what I have to say and, besides, I cannot resist a "classroom." I signed my first contract to teach in college when I was 22 years old.

Too, the schism is not over. There are still loose ends to be wrapped up, and who knows when all of this will occur? There is still an active court case, the separatists suit against TEC for payments for "betterments," that is, improvements the occupants made on the properties returned to the Episcopal diocese. It is not a strong case and I expect it to be tossed out, but this has not happened yet. Moreover, the circuit court is sitting on the Remittitur from the SCSC to effectuate the SCSC ruling on the local parishes and the other decisions.

Then there is the question of what is to happen to the Church of the Good Shepherd, in West Ashley, Charleston. The separatists there appealed to the SCSC but the court rejected the appeal and ordered the property to be handed over to the Episcopal diocese. The breakaways have left the property. On yesterday they started meeting at the Northbridge Baptist Church, on Sam Rittenberg Blvd. I have not seen any announcement from the Episcopal diocese about what they plan to do with the now vacant property. I have seen nothing about an Episcopal clergyperson to develop a congregation. In fact, the original worshiping group of West Ashley, that went by the name of St. Francis, has dissolved as the members have moved into nearby Episcopal parishes. These people were mostly refugees from Old St. Andrew's. So, we are all awaiting word from the diocese about what is to happen to the Good Shepherd buildings. It is a desirable location, near the entrance to Charles Towne Landing.

In looking back over the last decade, it would be easy to despair. The ruins of a once great diocese, one of the original nine that founded the Episcopal Church in the 1780's, are still smoldering. The original goal of the anti-Episcopal movement in the 1990's was political. Deep-pocket right wing forces resolved to destroy, or at least severely wound, the Episcopal Church in order to diminish its "liberal" influence in American life. In South Carolina, they found willing allies in the diocese who were pushed by evangelicalism and its parallel socio-cultural conservatism. Spurred on by homophobia and misogyny in defiance of the general movement of the national church, the leaders of the Diocese of South Carolina resolved to remove the bulk of the diocese from the errant larger church. They told their followers they could take the diocese with them, they could keep their local properties, and they could remain in the Anglican Communion. None of this was true. But,  that did not matter to most people in the new diocese either.

Not only did the promises turn out to be false, but it quickly became evident that the schism would not be popular. Every metric of church membership in the separatist diocese has shown significant decline in the decade of the schism. Baptized membership dropped from 23,187 in 2013 to 18,130 today. Active members fell sharply from 17,798 in 2013 to 11,637 today. Average Sunday Attendance has declined from 9,292 to 8,353. All of the large parishes, except Church of the Cross in booming Bluffton, have witnessed falling numbers of active members. St. Philip's, of Charleston, went from 2,677 communicants before the schism to 1,249 today. At nearby St. Michael's, the numbers fell from 1,847 before the schism to 747 now. Budgets in the new diocese struggled to keep even, actually declining significantly accounting for inflation. The new diocese joined the Anglican Church in North America which, in spite of its name, is not in the Anglican Communion. It is a separate and independent Christian denomination, and one explicitly formed to keep women and gays from equality and inclusion.

The human and other cost of all this is something even I do not want to contemplate today. I estimate the cost of the litigation has been in the neighborhood of $10m. We will probably never know the true amount since neither side is forthcoming.

So, after all is said and done, what good came from the schism? How is anyone better off? It is imperative the we find some good or we will simply drift off into endless despair. I suppose the good we see will depend on where we stand. Just speaking for myself, I see an Episcopal diocese that is brimming with a remarkable zest for human rights. Such a thing was unthinkable in the diocese before 2012. All around I see good church people fighting for the rights all all, gays, women, blacks, the handicapped, you name it. We are called to love one another, not to stand in judgment on them. This I see in wonderful abundance in the new flowering of one of the oldest of all dioceses. This is a new day. This is a new birth. This is the good legacy I see of the schism.

Where do we go from here? We go on doing what we believe is the right thing to do. I regret deeply the choices of the majority of the clergy and laity of the diocese in 2012. They brought needless pain and disruption in the Body of Christ. However, I do not question their motives. One can never know what is in another's heart. I question their choices. We can all see the destruction they have caused.

What will happen in the next ten years? God only knows. It is best we do not. We are called to go on to the end keeping the faith and fighting the good fight. The Episcopalians of South Carolina did not ask for the schism, did not deserve it, but when the hour came, they did not shrink from doing the right thing even when it was very hard to do. They are my heroes and this blog is for them.

THE SOUTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT'S "SLIPPERY SLOPE TO IRRELEVANCE"

The Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, Donald Beatty, ended his opinion in yesterday's DECISION (p. 50-51) with two big conclusions. First, that the 2021 and 2023 state laws on abortion were virtually identical and that the court had already declared the 2021 law to be unconstitutional because of its gross violation of the right to privacy; and second, that the supreme court had abdicated its power to the state legislature. Both of these are very serious issues that will have profound ramifications for the people of South Carolina for years to come. Beatty wrote: This outcome is not an affirmation of the separation of powers, as the majority declares, but an abdication of this Court's duty to ascertain the constitutionality of the challenged legislation. He ended with this warning: This lack of judicial independence renders a court powerless and places it on the edge of a slippery slope to irrelevance.

It seems to me Beatty is saying the SCSC has become nothing more than a puppet of the state legislature. Therefore, it is one more political institution controlled by the social reactionaries who have a super majority in the SC state assembly. 

One will recall that SC is one of only two states in the United States in which the state legislature elects all the judges and justices in the state court system (federal courts are under national and not state jurisdictions). The five justices of the SCSC are elected by the legislature for ten year terms and may be reelected any number of times until the mandatory retirement (end of the calendar year in which the judge/justice reaches the age of 72). The legislature also chooses the chief justice. The present Chief Justice, Beatty, has to retire by Dec. 31, 2024. Before then, the assembly will elect his replacement. Obviously no one objectionable to the reactionary majority will get onto the bench.

The increasing politicization of the state courts was reflected in the courts' handling of the church schism case. The majority of the SCSC strained hard to find ways to give the local properties to the separatist parishes. It took them five years but they did remove 21 local churches from Episcopal Church ownership after the initial SCSC decision of 2017 had recognized 29 of the 36 in question as property of TEC. Of the 29, TEC wound up with 8. The fundamental issue in contention of the schism was the rights of homosexuals to have full equality and inclusion in the life of the church, the TEC in favor and the separatists opposed. The SCSC was obviously reflecting the will of the socially reactionary state legislature.

It must have been quite a surprise, then, when the SCSC issued a long and detailed decision on January 5, 2023 declaring unconstitutional the 2021 law of the state assembly which banned abortions after six weeks. Justice Kaye Hearn, the only woman on the SCSC at the time, wrote a masterful opinion declaring the law to be an outright violation of privacy and equal protection under the law. She was joined by Beatty and Few who supported her reasoning. Justices Kittredge and James wrote dissenting opinions defending the legislature's power to override a woman's privacy in defense of an embryo/fetus's rights. (BTW---there were five separate opinions in yesterday's decision. Each justice contributed his/her own opinion. When the SCSC issued its decision in the church case, on Aug. 5, 2017, it too had five separate opinions. At that time, the breakaways declared that, because there were five opinions, the court was "fractured" without a majority---absurd then as now. There were clear-cut majority decisions.)

Even though the majority in the assembly must have been stung by the court's rejection of the 2021 abortion law, they had only to bide their time, and not for long. Hearn had to retire on Dec. 31, 2022. The legislature lost no time. On February 8, 2023, they elected a white man as her replacement. This made the SCSC four white men and one black man (Beatty---to retire on 2024). SC is the only state in the union with an all-male supreme court. It was all so obvious.

Then, the legislature passed a new abortion law that, according to the Chief Justice was exactly like the earlier law---a six week ban. They made only a few semantic changes while ignoring the SCSC decision of Jan. 5. The court accelerated the new law's appearance before the bench. Seven months later (remember the SCSC held the church case for five years), and voilà the SCSC revokes its Jan. 5 decision and approved the new law.

The vote in the August 23 decision was 4-1. Only the Chief Justice voted to keep the earlier decision. The other justice who had voted in the majority flipped to the reverse. Justice Few had agreed with Hearn on Jan. 5 that the 2021 law was a violation of privacy. This time he changed his mind. He held the new law gave "reasonable" protection for privacy. He voted with Justices Kittredge and James to uphold the 2023 law even though the 2021 and 2023 laws both virtually banned abortion after six weeks. To no one's surprise, the new justice, D. Garrison Hill, joined Kittredge, James, and Few making it 4-1. The majority opinion was written by Kittredge who had contributed a long dissent in the Jan. 5 ruling. There is talk he is the favorite to succeed Beatty as CJ. If he is angling to replace Beatty, his roles on Jan. 5 and Aug. 23 should improve his chances in the state assembly. 

As the church case, in the short run, what the SCSC has done is a smashing victory for the social reactionaries in South Carolina. The court has struck major blows against human rights for homosexuals and for women in the state, all for the sake of preserving some antique vision of the proper social structure. There is no sense in pretending otherwise. However, as Chief Justice Beatty has pointed out, the long term cost may be profound. The SCSC has greatly weakened its standing as a co-equal branch of the government by shamelessly reversing itself, apparently to please the majority in the state legislature, who after all put the judges on the bench. We should worry, along with CJ Beatty that the SCSC is on the road to irrelevance. Its recent actions in the church and abortion cases strongly suggest the thorough politicization of the SCSC. So much for Montesquieu's theory of checks and balances.

In conclusion, all this leads us back to the big picture which we should keep in mind. Equal rights for homosexuals and women are parts of the overall culture war raging in contemporary America. The great democratic revolution of post-WWII America brought us giant steps in equal rights and inclusion for blacks, women, homosexuals, and other minorities. That ongoing evolution is happening at the same time that America is changing into a multi-cultural society composed entirely of minorities. This reality has produced a backlash of the social elements that had monopolized power and now feel threatened, namely the white male. This anti-democratic backlash has control of practically all of the southern state legislatures and offices. 

The reactionaries in America have succeeded in overturning a woman's right to control her own body. However, this may well be the bridge too far. There are signs all over the country that women are not going to settle for this state of affairs. The vast majority of women, and in fact of Americans, favor sensible laws to protect a woman's right of autonomy and privacy. It looks more and more as if the momentum nationally is shifting back to the democratic side. Apparently the counter-revolution is not strong enough to sustain its victory in the courts. Where all this goes from here is an open question. Having failed in the last national election, extreme counter-revolutionaries turned to violence. They tried to overthrow the government while threatening the lives of the elected leaders. They could try again.

  

 SOUTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT REVERSES ITSELF---AGAIN

The South Carolina Supreme Court today issued a decision revoking their ruling of earlier this year on abortion. Find it HERE . As we know from its sorry history in the church schism case, the only thing consistent about the SCSC is its inconsistency. In the church case, it issued three different "final" decisions, each one revoking the last one. It was chaos.

As the church case slowly progressed in SCSC (five years), I wondered if the court was acting from political reasons. We do not have to wonder any more. It is glaringly obvious today that the SCSC is thoroughly politicized. This is a travesty. 

The SCSC today is a group of five men. It is the only state supreme court in the U.S.A. that is all male. The four white men united to revoke the January 5, 2023 majority decision, that was written by the only woman justice at the time, Kaye Hearn. As soon as Hearn retired under the mandatory retirement law, she was replaced by a white man. Today's decision was written by Justice Kittredge, who is apparently the front runner to be elected by the state assembly as the new Chief Justice next year. After today, my money is on him.

I will return soon with more observations on the court and today's decision. 

VESTRY OF ST. JAMES'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, JAMES ISLAND, ASKS RECTOR TO RESIGN

On July 5, 2023, the vestry of St. James's Anglican Church, on James Island, Charleston, asked the rector, the Rev. Toby Larson to resign. Larson started as rector on June 12, 2022. Apparently, Larson refused to leave.

St. James' Anglican is the separatist element that left St. James's Episcopal Church on James Island in the schism. They remained in occupation of the old property until 2022 when the state supreme court ordered the return of St. James's to the Episcopal diocese. 

Bishop Chip Edgar, of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, has appointed the Rev. Tim Surrat to serve as priest-in-residence of St. James's Anglican starting on 1 August.

On today, 30 July, the Rev. Jim Lewis, Canon to the Ordinary, read a letter from Edgar to the congregation of St. James's Anglican. One may find today's service on YouTube. Lewis appears at minutes 45-50. Lewis said the vestry's action triggered Canon XXVIII of the ADSC Constitution and Canons. Find this HERE , pages 17-18. 

Edgar has placed Larson on paid leave for the duration of the "inquiry process" which may take several weeks. In the end, the bishop will decide whether Larson remains as rector or is terminated.

Kendall Harmon  has called the situation "messy and painful" whatever that means. He gave no explanation. If a vestry asks for resignation and the rector refuses, well, we get the idea of an unpleasant tug-of-war.

What we know about this matter now raises far more questions than it answers. All that is being publicly revealed is the list of facts above. We know the vestry voted to terminate Larson. Larson is still officially there and drawing salary. Since he has been rector for only a year (June 12, 2022), the issues must have boiled up quickly to separate the vestry from the rector. The issues causing this "mess" are being concealed in the parish and diocesan office.

What caused the crisis at St. James's? That is the question of the day. I have nothing more to add. If I get more information on this, I will share it with you.

Christians of good will everywhere should wish the best for this congregation. The people of St. James's Anglican made some wrong choices in the past but these were not from malevolent motives. They were trying to do what they thought was the best. I do not question their motives. I think every one should join in prayer that healing comes to a group of Christians now beset by turmoil. As the membership figures for the Anglican diocese show, schism may not produce the rosy outcome the perpetrators led the people to believe.  

 

A TWENTY-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

We are approaching the twentieth anniversary of one of the most important events in the history of the Episcopal Church, the church's affirmation of its first openly gay bishop. On August 5, 2003, the House of Bishops, meeting in the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, voted 62 in favor, 43 against, and 2 abstain, to approve of the Rev. Gene Robinson as the next bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. For better or for worse, this was a major turning point in the life of the Episcopal Church. It finally resolved the issue of the interface between the church and homosexuality, a problem at issue since at least 1976. The decision was an unqualified embrace of open and partnered homosexuals as equal and empowered participants in the life of the church. Although it was not the first Christian denomination to do this, TEC's stand in 2003 was powerful far beyond its limited domain. It also caused a crisis within many Episcopal dioceses, at least the most socially conservative ones, particularly ones given to strong evangelical or anglo-catholic identity. What has changed in the twenty years since?

On homosexuality, the Episcopal Church has gone all in on equality and inclusion of gays in the church. Five more openly gay bishops have been consecrated in the Episcopal Church. General Conventions went on to elaborate on gay rights by devising a liturgy for the blessing of same-sex unions and then by adopting same-sex marriage in the church. No diocese is now allowed to ban same-sex weddings. Episcopal churches around the country now participate in and promote pro-homosexual demonstrations, as pride marches. By now, the Episcopal Church is well known in American society as a "gay-friendly" denomination. This has attracted a number of high-profile homosexuals from more conservative churches to TEC. It has also caused some conservative Episcopalians to head for the exits.

A conservative backlash arose within the Episcopal Church as a direct result of the church's policies for homosexuals. Having failed utterly to stop the progressive reforms for gays, some conservatives individually bolted TEC. Of the 109 or so dioceses of the Church, a dozen were in a coalition to oppose the pro-gay movement. Of this dozen, five went on to vote to leave TEC (2006-2012). South Carolina was the fifth and last to do this. In 2012, the leadership of the diocese of SC led the majority of the clergy and laity out of the Episcopal Church, the diocese, and the Anglican Communion. They went on to form a new church and to join a new non-Anglican Communion denomination, one that, in the wake of Robinson, had been established on social conservatism, e.g., homophobia and misogyny.

How did the defections affect the membership figures of the Episcopal Church? All along, the reactionaries have asserted that the "liberal" policies of the Episcopal Church were causing falling membership. Is this true? Is the decline in membership of TEC directly attributable to its pro-homosexual policies?

Membership in the Episcopal Church reached its height in 1967, at a bit more than 3.6m. The last statistics, in 2021, show 1,678,157 members, a fall of more than 50% since 1967. In other words, Episcopal Church membership is half as large now as it was a half-century ago. The struggle over gays in the church began in earnest in 1990, well more than two decades after TEC began its membership slide. Thus, we can rule out the issue of homosexuality as the prime cause of the membership decline.

However, the post-Robinson individual and group defections certainly had some impact on TEC membership. In 2003, TEC listed 2,433,340 baptized members. In the last figures, of 2021, the church cited 1,678,157, a fall of 31%. Thus, is less than two decades, TEC lost nearly a third of its members. What caused this decline is a good question.

The vast majority of individual dioceses lost members, some more than the 31% of the whole church and some less. In the five dioceses in which the majority left TEC, the declines were, of course, drastic, none more than South Carolina which fell from 29,988 members in 2003 to 7,254 in 2021. This was a loss of 76%. 

In some conservative dioceses where the leadership and majority remained with the Episcopal Church there were also major declines. The state of Florida has the fastest population growth in the U.S. Yet, its dioceses are seeing the reverse. The Diocese of Central Florida fell from 37,088 members in 2003 to 23,664 in 2021, a drop of 36%. One has only to look on YouTube at a Mass from St. Luke's Cathedral in Orlando to see the empty pews, ones that were often full when I attended there in the 1960's. The Diocese of Florida declined from 32,674 in 2003 to 23,075 in 2021, a drop of 29%. Check a YouTube service at St. Peter's Anglican (ACNA) Cathedral in Tallahassee to see where the crowds are. (St. John's, of Tallahassee, had a major split in 2004.)

St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral, Tallahassee.

There is no doubt that many dioceses of the Episcopal Church have seen significant membership losses to the reactionary "Anglican" denominations. However, on the whole the figures do not indicate mass movement from TEC to ACNA. According to Wikipedia, ACNA has a 2022 membership of 124,999 (down from 134,593 in 2017). From 2003 to 2021, the membership drop in TEC was 755,183. This means that the vast majority of people who left TEC did not go to ACNA. It was only a small fraction. They left the TEC membership rolls for other reasons such as death, movement to other denominations, or simply dropping out of organized religion. We do not know because there are no detailed statistical studies of membership movements. What we do know for a fact is that most people who dropped off the TEC rolls did not move to ACNA churches.

In conclusion, the decline in the membership of the Episcopal Church has been going on a long time, over a half-century. This may be attributed to a number of reasons but we have no studies that quantify the possible factors. They could be items such as low birth rate, low retention, low evangelism, and changing social and cultural habits. Since 2003, conservative defections from TEC have been highly visible in some local places but relatively insignificant in the overall decline of church membership. The decline in TEC numbers since the Robinson matter of 2003 is not primarily in migration from TEC to an "Anglican" separatist church. The vast majority of people who left TEC after 2003 did not join splinter "Anglican" churches.  

 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH DENIES CONSENT TO BISHOP-ELECT OF FLORIDA

The Episcopal Church has denied consent to the Diocese of Florida's choice of the Rev. Charlie Holt as its next bishop. A majority of both the bishops and the diocesan standing committees voted against consent. To be accepted as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, he would have had to receive a majority of both the bishops and the standing committees. Holt carried neither. Denial of consent means Holt cannot now become bishop of Florida. 

Rejection of a diocesan choice for bishop is a rare but not unknown occurrence in the history of the Episcopal Church. It happens only when a consensus of church people believe there is compelling reason to deny the episcopacy to a duly elected diocesan choice. This is not something to be taken lightly. In this case there seemed to be serious questions about Holt's commitment to the policies of equality and inclusion in the life of the church, particularly for homosexuals.

I have two observations on this. In the first place, the vote shows a firm commitment of the Episcopal Church to defend, indeed enhance, the policies of equality and inclusion that long evolved in the church. Human rights for all was not a passing fancy. 

In the second place, I can only wonder if this vote is not a delayed reaction to the consents given to Mark Lawrence, who was also elected twice by a diocesan convention, in 2007. Enough wavering bishops and committees gave Lawrence the benefit of the doubt about his loyalty to the Church to put him over the 50% mark. No doubt, many who voted "yes" lived to regret this. Four years into his episcopacy Bishop Lawrence led the majority of the clergy and laity of the diocese of South Carolina out of the Episcopal Church and eventually into the reactionary shadow Episcopal Church, the anti-human rights Anglican Church in North America. Perhaps Holt is paying the price for this. We can only know when the bishops and committees tell us why they voted the way they did. So far, the diocese of South Carolina has not revealed how its bishop and committee voted. And, so far, the Episcopal Church has not revealed the individual votes of the bishops and committees.

Find the ENS article about this HERE .

The present bishop of Florida, John Howard, lost no time in blasting "secular politics" for the failure to gain consents. Read his rather ungracious letter HERE .

 

MEMBERSHIP TRENDS IN ADSC CHURCHES,

2011-2022

In my last blog piece, I surveyed membership trends in the whole Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, in the decade after the schism of 2012. The statistics show significant, and unrelenting, decline in virtually every membership metric published by the diocese. ADSC lost a third of its active members in the decade after the break. 

What about the individual local churches in the Anglican diocese? What are the membership trends in the fifty or so parishes and missions associated with the ADSC? How many of them are showing gains, and how many declines?

Let us consider the reported "Communicant" (active members) numbers in the last whole year before the schism, 2011. Then, we will look at the listed statistics of 2014, well after movements in the schism had died down. Finally, we will compare the numbers before the schism with the latest reported figures, of the year 2022. That way, we can see the overall effect, in the decade, on membership in the local church as a result of the schism, as well as trends after the schism occurred.

ST. HELENA'S, Beaufort

2011-1,737   2014-964   2022-1,096

2011-2022:   -641 (-37%)

CHURCH OF THE CROSS, Bluffton

2011-1,701   2014-1,520   2022-1,731

2011-2022:   +30 (+2%)

ST. LUKE'S, Hilton Head

2011-951   2014-664   2022-277

2011-2022:   -647 (-71%)

HOLY TRINITY, Grahamville

2011-98   2014-91   2022-139

2011-2022:   +41 (+42%)

ST. JUDE'S, Walterboro

2011-200   2014-220   2019-229 (no report after)

2011-2019:   +29 (+15%)

ST. LUKE AND ST. PAUL, Charleston

2011-305   2014-256   2020-200 (no report after)

2011-2022:   -105 (-33%)

ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, Charleston

2011-39   2014-30   2022-10

2011-2022:  -29 (-74%)

ST. MICHAEL'S, Charleston

2011-1,847   2014-1,015   2022-747

2011-2022:   -1,100 (-60%)

ST. PHILIP'S, Charleston

2011-2,677   2014-2,135   2022-1,249

2011-2022:   -1,428 (-53%)

CHRIST CHURCH, Mt. Pleasant

2011-935   2014-775   2022-283

2011-2022:   -652 (-70%)

HOLY CROSS, Sullivans Island

2011-25,40   2014-1,000   2022-716

2011-2022:   -1,824 (-72%)

HOLY TRINITY, Charleston

2011-96   2014-96   2022-78 

2011-2022:   -18 (-19%)

OLD ST. ANDREW'S, Charleston

2011-962   2014-509   2022-388

2011-2022:   -574 (-60%)

ST. ANDREW'S MISSION, Charleston

2011-38   2014-49   2022-38

2011-2022:   same

ST. JAMES, Charleston

2011-612   2014-500   2022-450

2011-2022:   -162 (-26%)

GOOD SHEPHERD, Charleston

2011-302   2014-256   2022-100

2011-2022:   -202 (67%)

TRINITY, Edisto

2011-183   2014-145   2022-122

2011-2022:   --61 (-33%)

OUR SAVIOUR, Johns Island

2011-195   2014-200   2022-227

2011-2022:   +32 (+16%)

ST. JOHN'S, Charleston

2011-566   2014-620   2022-220

2011-2022:   -346 (-61%)

ST. PAUL'S, Summerville

2011-773   2014-750   2022-270

2011-2022:   -503 (-65%)

CHRIST/ST. PAUL'S, Yonges Island

2011-330   2014-245   2022-216

2011-2022:   -114 (-35%)

ST. PAUL'S, Bennettsville

2011-61   2022-20

2011-2022:   -41 (-67%)

ST. DAVID'S, Cheraw

2011-113   2014-106   2022-44

2011-2022:   -69 (-61%)

ST. MATTHEW'S, Darlington

2011-139   2014-141   2022-130

2011-2022:   -9 (-6%)

ST. BARNABAS, Dillon

2011-47   2014-39   2022-35

2011-2022:   -12 (-26%)

ALL SAINTS, Florence

2011-144   2014-160   2022-159

2011-2022:   +15 (+10%)

ST. JOHN'S, Florence

2011-453   2014-395   2022-356

2011-2022:   -97 (-21%)

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S, Hartsville

2011-160   2014-125   2022-70

2011-2022:   -90 (-56%)

ADVENT, Marion

2011-27   2014-22   2022-16

2011-2022:   -11 (-41%)

HOLY COMFORTER, Sumter

2011-525   2014-246   2022-220

2011-2022:   -305 (-58%)

HOLY CROSS, Stateburg

2011-177   2014-81   2022-96

2011-2022:   -81 (-46%)

ST. PAUL'S, Conway

2011-270   2014-212   2022-219

2011-2022:   -51 (-19%)

PRINCE GEORGE WINYAH, Georgetown

2011-450   2014-625   2022-484

2011-2022:   +34 (+8%)

TRINITY, Myrtle Beach

2011-595   2014-388   2022-160

2011-2022:   -435 (-73%)

RESURRECTION, Surfside

2011-282   2014-360   2022-116

2011-2022:   -166 (-59%)

HOLY APOSTLES, Barnwell

2011-91   2014-95   2022-68

2011-2022:   -23 (-25%)

EPIPHANY, Eutawville

2011-75   2014-100   2022-37

2011-2022:   -38 (-51%)

ST. MATTHEW'S, Fort Motte

2011-71   2014-86   2022-101

2011-2022:   +30 (+42%)

REDEEMER, Orangeburg

2011-265   2014-173   2022-179

2011-2022:   -86 (-32%)

ST. PAUL'S, Orangeburg

2011-19   2014-19   2022-13

2011-2022:   -6 (-32%)

REDEEMER, Pineville

2011-82   2014-74   2022-50

2011-2022:   -32 (-39%)

TRINITY, Pinopolis

2011-184   2014-166   2022-110

2011-2022:   -74 (-40%)

ST. MATTHIAS, Summerton

2011-128   2014-141   2022-80

2011-2022:   -48 (-38%)

SUMMARY

---From 2011 to 2022, 33 local churches of ADSC lost active membership. 16 of those lost more than 50% of their active membership.

---From 2011 to 2022, 6 local churches gained members.

---From 2014 to 2022, 31 local churches lost active members.

---From 2014 to 2022, 8 churches gained members.

CONCLUSIONS

---The  majority of ADSC local churches lost members as a result of the schism.

---The majority of ADSC local churches continued to lose members steadily well after the schism occurred.

---Most of the large parishes of ADSC saw severe membership declines. St. Philip's and St. Michael's, the two large downtown parishes in Charleston, each lost more than half of their active members in the decade after the schism.

---St. Philip's, of Charleston, was the largest parish of the pre-schism diocese. It lost 53% of its membership between 2011 and 2022. Of all the parishes of the old diocese, Grace Church Cathedral, in the Episcopal diocese, is now the largest in membership. In the ADSC, Church of the Cross, in Bluffton, is now the largest parish.

---The empirical data give us only the facts. They do not provide any explanation of the reasons for the clear and relentless decline of both the Anglican diocese and the majority of its local churches.

---In terms of numbers for both the diocese and the local churches, one may conclude that the schism has been a failure.

---The trend in membership in the vast majority of churches on SDSC is relentlessly downward.

---If these trends continue unabated, both the diocese and most local churches will soon face an existential crisis.

 

A DECADE OF SCHISM; 

A DECADE OF DECLINE IN THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina was formed in 2012 at the moment when the majority of the clergy and laity of the historic Diocese of South Carolina left the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of South Carolina and the Anglican Communion and set up a new Christian denomination. The remaining minority stayed with the Church and the Communion and continued on as the historic Diocese of South Carolina. We now have a decade of membership STATISTICS published by the ADSC. What do they tell us about the membership trends in the ADSC since the schism? 

The three most useful sets of figures for parish life are "Baptized Membership," "Communicants," and "Average Sunday Attendance." The first counts every baptized person with any association with the parish. It is not indicative of the actual life of the church since most baptized members do not attend or participate in church regularly (note the difference below between Baptized Members and Average Sunday Attendance). "Communicants" is the more reliable metric since it counts all the people who take Communion at least once a year (making them "active"). "Average Sunday Attendance" counts the average number of people attending church on any given Sunday of the year. Even though it would include people who were just visiting, it is still a useful measure of the vitality of a parish.

Here are the ADSC's figures for each of the ten years since the schism of 2012:

BAPTIZED MEMBERS

2013 - 23,181

2014 - 22,953

2015 - 22,149

2016 - 21,953

2017 - 20,602

2018 - 20,763

2019 - 20,195

2020 - 19,597

2021 - 19,712

2022 - 18,130

Thus, in the decade of 2013-2022, ADSC lost 5,051 baptized members, or a drop of 22%.

COMMUNICANTS

2013 - 17,798

2014 - 16,361

2015 - 15,556

2016 - 14,694

2017 - 13,291

2018 - 12,126

2019 - 11,457

2020 - 11,337

2021 - 12,651

2022 - 11,673

Thus, in the decade, ADSC lost 6,125 communicants, or 34%. In other words, ADSC has lost a third of its active members since the schism.

AVERAGE SUNDAY ATTENDANCE

2013 - 9,292

2014 - 9,325

2015 - 9,085

2016 - 9,014

2017 - 8,905

2018 - 8,875

2019 - 8,980

2020 - 8,215 (Jan.-Mar. only)

2021 - 5,379

2022 - 8,353

So, in the ten years of 2013-2022, ADSC's ASA declined 989, or 10%.

OBSERVATIONS on these statistics.

---Churches began shutting down in March of 2020 in the COVID pandemic. Most reopened after several months but worshipers were slow to return to the Sunday services. It was only in 2023 that most church attendance and programs began to return generally to where they were before the pandemic. Some have not reached there yet. Thus, any quantification of parish life in 2020, 2021, and 2022 should be considered lightly.

---Nevertheless, these figures show clear and definite trends of decline in the decade and relentless yearly falling, with a few exceptions.

---ADSC had the most serious decline in numbers of active members, down a third in the decade, falling from 17,798 to 11,673. We can only speculate on the reasons why so many active parishioners fled from the ADSC parishes.

---There is a big difference between the numbers of Baptized Members and Communicants. In 2022, a third of the baptized members did not take Communion once in the year. The ratio in 2013, at the start of the decade, was less than a third in difference between Baptized and Communicant (23,181 to 17,798). This suggests a trend in which baptized members of ADSC are becoming less engaged in their parishes.

---If there is a bright light in these dismal numbers, it is in Sunday attendance. It fell only 10% in the decade, from 9,292 ASA to 8,353 ASA. This may indicate that numbers of visitors made up some of the membership and communicant losses although it was not enough to counterbalance the declines. On any given Sunday, there are now significantly fewer people in the pews of the typical ADSC parish as compared to a decade ago.

---What does the future hold for ADSC? One can only wonder considering the rather precipitous drop in this diocese in the first decade of its existence. An institution that loses a third of its membership in just ten years is an institution in trouble. What about attracting new people? A church founded on discrimination against homosexuals and women will scarcely be attractive to the majority of the people, even in conservative South Carolina. It is highly doubtful that young South Carolinians will be flocking to this new church. Indeed, the immediate problem in ADSC is in retaining members rather than attracting new ones.

---What the future holds for ADSC, only God knows. What we know here and now is the quantified participation in ADSC in the decade since the schism. The trends should set off alarm bells among the leadership of the ADSC. Perhaps their little experiment in rebellion was not such a good idea after all. At least it raises questions about whether this was God's will. 

---It is highly ironic that before the schism, the diocesan leaders made a major appeal to the faithful that leaving TEC would lead to church growth. Bishop Lawrence said repeatedly before the schism that the Episcopal Church was a comatose patient on life support, implying that "orthodox" religion would lead to vigorous new life in churches. This could only come after separation from the dying patient. Well, in lower South Carolina, anyway, the Episcopal Church is far from dead and instead it is the anti-Episcopal camp that is now sick and bleeding profusely. If the ADSC does not turn around its crashing membership trends, it faces a very bleak future indeed.