"PLAN B" AT ST. MICHAEL'S

St. Michael's church held its annual parish meeting yesterday, April 29. The rector, the Rev. Al Zadig, told his parishioners the parish has been at work on Plan B. Apparently, Plan A was to leave the Episcopal Church and take the iconic St. Michael's property with them. This, of course, would be in violation of the Church's Dennis Canon which says that all parish property is held in trust for the Episcopal Church and the local Episcopal Church diocese. Under this church law, no parish is allowed to leave TEC and take the property with them. The reality of this came crashing down on Zadig and all the other clergy of the independent Diocese of South Carolina on August 2, 2017 when the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that 29 of the 36 parishes in question remain under trust control of the Church and the Church's diocese. This means that St. Michael's remains an Episcopal Church and that it never actually left the Church. People may leave, the clergy may leave, but the property (buildings, land, endowments, furnishings and the like) remain with the Episcopal Church. Only recently, the federal judge, Richard Gergel, virtually urged TEC to regain physical control of the 29 parishes. The SCSC Aug. 2 decision has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the order is not under "stay." That means it could be enforced at any time. I see no impediment to the TEC diocese taking possession of the 29 now although I expect they will wait until SCOTUS gives their response.

Apparently, the reality of all this has settled in on the clergy and leaders of St. Michael's parish. Zadig told the parish:

At this time we do not know if we will be able to keep our property or not, nor do we know how long this could draw out.

DSC is awaiting a response from SCOTUS on whether the high court will grant "cert," that is, agree to take the case and rule on the state court decision. The chance that SCOTUS will grant cert is very small. At any rate, we will probably know by the end of June, less than two months from now.

It is highly ironic that St. Michael's could have had both its independence from the Episcopal Church and sole control over the property. In June of 2015, TEC offered to give all of the DSC parishes their independence and properties in return for legal ownership of the diocese. The DSC leadership flatly rejected this offer. If they had accepted it, there would be no issue in St. Michael's today. Thus, the failure of this rested on the DSC leadership, not on TEC.

Zadig went on in his annual report:

In response to the 2017 ruling of our State Supreme Court, I took two actions. First a Plan B team was formed to look into and secure other worship sites if we were removed from Meeting and Broad. Second, and in conjunction with the Theologian of our Diocese (the Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon), we wrote and executed a six talk, three week teaching service called: Why the Battle, Different God and Gospel? We filmed it at St. Michael's to a packed crowd. Since then we have given this teaching to every church in the diocese to use as a tool for congregations to understand what the real issues are.

So, now we know. Zadig did two things in response to the Aug. 2 decision. 1-he set up a committee to find alternate meeting places, and 2-he and Harmon created a course to press on the people their view of what the schism was all about. It is obvious that this course was, and is, a vigorous attempt to persuade people to abandon their old church if and when TEC regains the keys. Time and again the speakers derided the Episcopal Church as one of a false gospel. 

The shock of the August 2 decision, generally unexpected as it was, fell hard on all of the leaders of DSC who perhaps had convinced themselves, as they did their followers, that God was on their side and they were bound to win. The state circuit court said they were right. How could they possibly lose? Well, they did lose.

The reality fell hardest on the historic parishes where some of the parishioners were bound to remain with the buildings and therefore return, however grudgingly, to TEC. Soon after the decision, the Rev. Jeff Miller, rector of St. Philip's, told his congregation they should prepare to leave the old building but that some people had told him they would not leave. To his credit, he said he understood their feelings. I have heard not one other DSC clergy person display any such empathy. As shown above, St. Michael's leadership went into overdrive to prepare an exodus. Old St. Andrew's just announced it would screen the Zadig/Harmon show in its parish. It has the oldest church building in SC. Who knows how many people will leave there?

It seems that the historic parishes are making it as hard as they can for their members to remain with the buildings. Social pressure and propaganda will make it very difficult for anyone to refuse the exodus. Those who choose to stay are bound to feel they have let down their church family and turned against true religion. They are being led to believe now that they have a binary choice: true religion or the building. It is a false choice but it is the unmistakable message of the propaganda course now running through DSC.

It is easy to see why the DSC clergy are so upset and concerned about leaving the buildings. 101 of them have been released and removed from their orders in the Episcopal Church. They attached themselves to Bishop Lawrence when he left the Episcopal Church. They have no where else to go. Most of them gave up a lot to leave TEC and now they face a bleak and entirely uncertain future. Many, if not most, of these clergy have families to support. Of course they want to keep viable parishes going even if they have to find quarters elsewhere. It is interesting to note that the schism occurred only after Bishop Lawrence could retire in the Episcopal Church retirement system with full benefits. That system generally requires 30 years of service in the Episcopal Church to be entitled to such. Lawrence was ordained a deacon in August of 1980. The Church pension plan is an excellent one that generally pays half of the average of the best seven years. Of course, after 62 he would be eligible for Social Security retirement (he is also getting virtually free use of the $1-2m bishop's residence as part of a $1/3m annual compensation package). What about the rest of the clergy who were not well vested in the church pension plan, were not old enough for SS, and had no perks? DSC did find another retirement plan but who knows how good it is? Same for medical insurance. 

The schism has taken a heavy toll on old St. Michael's church. A quick look at the official statistics of the parish shows the troubles there.

In 2005, St. Michael's reported 1,349 communicants, Average Sunday Attendance of 524, and pledge and plate giving of $1,398,812.

2011 was the last full year before the schism. Figures for that year showed that St. Michael's had grown significantly since 2005. 2011:  1,847 communicants, Average Sunday Attendance of 531, and pledge/plate income of $1,888,863. Thus, statistics showed that in the half-dozen years before the schism St. Michael's grew remarkably.

Now, let us look at what has happened after the schism.

In 2014, St. Michael's listed 1,803 communicants, a slight drop from 2011, Average Sunday Attendance of 480 (-10% from 2011).

In 2016, St. Michael's reported 919 communicants (down 50% after the schism). It also listed 453 ASA (down 15% from 2011). In 2016, it listed a plate/pledge income of $1,457,206 (down over $400,000, or -23% from 2011).

In short, between 2005 and 2016, St. Michael's went from 1,349 communicants to 919, and ASA from 524 to 453.

2005 to 2016 can be divided into two distinct periods. Before the schism (2005 to 2011) St. Michael's grew significantly. After the schism (2011-2016) communicant numbers and income fell precipitously. The effect of the schism on St. Michael's is unmistakable.

In this year's annual report, the parish posted a 2017 budget of $2,286,580 but income of only $1,971,012, a shortfall of over $300,000, or -14%.

Putting all of this together it is no wonder that the clergy and leadership of St. Michael's are working hard to keep the congregation together and find alternate meeting space. This is challenging in old Charleston for several reasons. It remains to be seen how effective they will be and how the parish will look a year from now.

It looks as if St. Michael's is going to Plan B. Rumor has it they have been looking at Trinity United Methodist Church several blocks north on Meeting Street. I cannot verify this. We do know for a fact that they are looking at other meeting sites.

It may not be long before the authorities in St. Michael's will have to enact their Plan B. Then we will know just how successful they were in their remarkable dis-information campaign of 2018. 

If people in St. Michael's believe they have to choose between their religion and their building they are wrong. It is understandable why they might think this, but it is still wrong. 


(Sources. For St. Michael's 2018 annual parish report, see here . The statistics are in the annual journals of the diocesan convention. 2006 to 2017 are online here .)