THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
IS ALIVE AND WELL 

IN THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

I can report to you firsthand that the Episcopal Church in the state of South Carolina is thriving. To be sure, the church in the eastern half, now called "the Episcopal Church in South Carolina" is battered, bruised, and diminished but very much alive and gloriously vibrant. I attended both diocesan convention meetings this month, the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, on November 3-4, and the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, on Nov. 10-11. Today, I can say that I have never felt so sure that all will be well. The Holy Spirit is at work across the state.

 Upper SC met at Advent Church in Spartanburg. Check out the pictures on Facebook here . That lovely old Gothic church was packed for the Eucharist, I guessed 4-500 people. The parish house, that I found to be most impressive, was crowded with the faithful too. The theme of the meeting was reconciliation, without any overt reference to the lower state. The dinner speaker was J. Neil Alexander, dean at Sewanee and former bishop of Atlanta. Walter Edgar, dean of all historians in SC, was there too. I was given an exhibit table near the front door to display my book. I lost track of the number of people who stopped and chatted about the schism. I was most impressed by how well-informed, and how concerned everyone was. I left the meeting feeling refreshed and hopeful. I could not do otherwise, as the Sisters of St. Helena had commanded me, "lift up your heart!" I did as I was told. One does not argue with nuns, the purest of hearts.

The lower state diocese met at All Saints' Church, in Hilton Head. See the photos on Facebook here . A reported 300 people came together in spite of the fact that HH is in the very southern end of the state, almost in Georgia. Here the bookstore of Grace Church Cathedral displayed my book as, once again, many people stopped by to talk about conditions of the schism. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with old friends and new. And, once again many vibrant elements of the church were present: the Sisters of St. Helena, the Companions of the Holy Cross, the Hospitaliers of St. Martin, the Daughters of the King, Education for Ministry, the Episcopal Forum, Voorhees College, Porter Gaud, Bishop Gadsden, Still Hopes, Episcopal Relief and Development, Kanuga, and so on. 

Other than the good fellowship, what stood out to me were the budget, the bishop's address, and the therapy. Let me explain. On the budget, $602,597.61 was the figure given for 2018. The diocese is self-sustaining and has been since the first year after the schism. In the first year, 2013, the budget was $378,000,($175,000 of that was a gift of the Episcopal Church). After that year, all of the income came from the diocese. Thus, the 2018 budget is 60% higher than that of 2013 and much more than that from the diocese itself. Financially speaking, TECSC  is in good shape.

The bishop's address came at the Eucharist service on Nov. 10. "The Wisdom of the Body" was the theme, the body being interpreted in many ways. Bishop Adams declared "The holy work of inclusion must continue to be our work." The body, in its broadest sense, means the Body of Christ, and for our immediate purpose, the diocese. We include everyone. No one is excluded from the Body of Christ. "We need to participate with God in the healing," he continued, "True religion brings peace." Leadership is born in community, and we must listen to the collective wisdom of the body, the bishop added. 

The body can also mean the individual's personal body. This was the attention of the featured speaker, the Rev. Bill Redfield, a priest/social worker/therapist from New York. I have said all along there are three steps to healing from schism: acknowledge the reality of the schism, embrace the pain of the schism, and move forward with as much reconciliation and peace as possible. The TECSC leadership has indeed moved through step one and recognized the schism (DSC leaders on the other hand have never publicly uttered the word "schism"). Redfield went a long way toward accomplishing step two, working through the pain. He conducted a collective exercise  calling on each person in the congregation to evoke the emotions of the schism and to locate their physical seat in the body. He then divided people into pairs and had each spent 10 minutes talking directly to the partner. Most remarkably, Redfield asked each person to locate the physical seat of the pain, as the head, the heart, the stomach and to direct healing to that particular location. Physical healing can lead to emotional healing. I could not hear the paired-off conversations but I can tell you they were everywhere, some animated, some sad, many with tears. At the end there was a palpable emotional relief arising from the group. Redfield's remarkable exercise went a long way to getting through step two. 

I doubt that the people who made this schism have ever realized the amount of pain they have inflicted on thousands of innocent victims. However, if the state supreme court's decision holds up, they, and their followers, will feel pain soon as 13,000 communicants in 29 parishes face the choice of returning to the Episcopal Church or going out into churches in exile. They will also feel a lot of pain as they hand over the diocese and all of its assets, as Camp St. Christopher. I guarantee you there is a lot more hurt to come, and it is not far off. I hope Redfield stands by.

The chancellor (lawyer), Thomas Tisdale also made a report to the convention on the litigation. All ears perked up. He could not talk about the mediation specifically, but he did project an unusual optimism, as he said, "a clear sign on the horizon" that the conclusion of litigation is beginning to appear. He also assured the attendees that any settlement would have to have the full support of the diocese. 

These two diocesan conventions showed that the Episcopal Church is moving ahead strongly in the Palmetto State. This must be bad news to the Church's adversaries. For twenty years there has been a movement to destroy or severely diminish the Episcopal Church in order to remove its "liberal" influence in American society. This Anglican Realignment movement has failed. The Church is down but far from out. It is rebounding with vigor. I can assure you, first hand, that is the case in South Carolina.

The reactionary move to destroy the "liberal" (pro-women's and pro-homosexuals' rights) Episcopal Church started in earnest 20 years ago in a movement called the Anglican Realignment. In 1996, the right-wing PAC Institute on Religion and Democracy set up a new entity directed against the Episcopal Church called the American Anglican Council. This is the body that in essence has coordinated the move against the Episcopal Church. In 1997 AAC hosted a conference that brought the first bonding between the anti-homosexual-rights equatorial African Anglican bishops and anti-homosexual-rights ultra-conservative Episcopalians. The next year, this alliance pushed through Lambeth a resolution condemning homosexuality. Soon thereafter, foreign bishops began intervening in America. With the Robinson affair of 2003, the pace accelerated. The Chapman Memo, from an ACC official, outlined how churches could split off from TEC. AAC promoted the Anglican Communion Network, an alliance of a dozen ultra-conservative dioceses demanding alternate primatial oversight (foreign primates in America). Right after Katharine Jefferts Schori's election as presiding bishop, 4 of these dioceses voted to leave TEC. In 2008, GAFCON formed. In 2009, GAFCON and the AAC-led American ultra-conservatives formed the Anglican Church in North America. It was overtly meant to be the replacement of the Episcopal Church as the legitimate Anglican province in the United States. Finally, the Episcopal Church was to be cast aside into oblivion.

Not so fast. The Archbishop of Canterbury declared, more than once, that the ACNA was not a province of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican primates, assembled in January of 2016, declared that ACNA was not a province of the AC, and what is more, discouraged the Anglican Consultative Council from ever admitting the ACNA to the AC. The ACC refused to consider the ACNA. Meanwhile the independent Diocese of South Carolina finally decided to join ACNA anyway, in 2017. There is virtually no chance that ACNA will ever be a province of the Anglican Communion. The replacement strategem has failed. The place of the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion is stronger than ever. Both the ACNA and the Diocese of South Carolina are outside of the Anglican Communion.

As Tisdale, I too believe the dawn is breaking on the far horizon. It is far too early to declare the end of the long nightmare of the schism, but I sense we are moving in the right direction. If we have made steps one and two, we will soon be ready for step three, reconciliation.

Unless there is a most unexpected reversal of the state supreme court (something I think is extremely unlikely), the 13,000 communicants in the 29 parishes will have to make hard choices along with a lot of clergy. I think these people fall into three vague divisions: 1-die-hards who will leave the buildings to follow DSC leadership wherever, 2-die-hards who will stay with the buildings no matter what, 3-non-committals who could go either way. Their choices will depend on a complicated set of circumstances. 

I suspect it is this last group, the people in the middle, who are the micro-target of DSC's furious public relations campaign, the one they have been waging ever since the Aug. 2 SCSC decision. As they leave the buildings, the clergy who stick with DSC will need to take as many congregants as possible to form viable churches in exile. This will be especially hard in downtown Charleston where new space is non-existent. Under the SCSC ruling, DSC will have not one church left in Charleston, downtown or suburbs. DSC's public relations barrage I think is meant to demonize the Episcopal Church and to de-legitimize the SCSC decision in the minds of the communicants of the 29 parishes in question in order to keep as many people as possible with DSC.

If the SCSC decision stands, there will be reconciliation of some sort as the diocesan entity and the 29 parishes return to the Episcopal Church. This will be the greatest challenge of all, how to heal a terrible wound, how to bring peace after a long and hard war. It can be done. It will be done. After attending the two conventions, I am certain of it. 



P.S. The beauty of summer is still around as we have not had frost yet in the garden. Take a look at the garden today.

Climbing rose, "Don Juan."

Ornamental grasses are at their best right now. In the foreground is Miscanthus sinesis condensatus 'Cabaret' (Japanese Silver Grass, 'Cabaret.')

A shrub rose, "Magic Blanket."

Ice Angels Camellia, "Winter's Fire."