CONVERSATIONS BEGIN

Conversations on reconciliation of the old diocese begin today, Monday, July 16. Today's gathering is in Conway, SC

6:00-7:30 p.m., at the Conway Senior Center, 1519 Mill Pond Road.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 17, the conversation will be in Charleston, same time, at the Citadel: Citadel Alumni Affairs Banquet Hall, 69 Hagood Avenue.

Wednesday, July 18, the session will be at the same hour in Bluffton:  Rotary Community Center, Oscar Frazier Park, 7 Recreation Court.

What are these "conversations"? They are informal gatherings of communicants and clergy from both parts of the old diocese to talk about what reconciliation might look like. There will be no speeches, lectures, presentation or the like. There will be tables scattered about for people to talk individually or in small groups. There will be no pressure to agree or commit to anything. It is only a chance for people to talk with one another. There will be lay people and clergy from the local Episcopal churches and communicants who went along with the schism. As we all know, 29 of the parishes will be returning to the Episcopal Church in the not distant future. This is a first chance for the people of these parishes to explore what reunification with the Episcopal Church might mean to them.

I want to emphasize several points to the communicants of the 29. 

---First, no one is going to remove you from your home churches. These parishes are your homes.

---Second, no one is going to ask you to change your religion. In spite of what you have been told, TEC believes in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and in the Bible as the word of God. You will continue using the same prayer book.

---Third, no one is going to ask you to change your view of homosexuality. There are many people in TEC who do not condone homosexual acts; and they have every right to their views. All the Episcopal Church asks is for you to respect the rights of other people to hold different views of homosexuality.

I had thought of attending the conversations, but then decided not to do so. I want everyone to feel perfectly free and at ease to discuss their views and questions without worrying about appearing in anyone's blog. So, I will not be at the conversations.

One major myth the breakaways are perpetuating these days is that the Episcopal Church is not getting the 29 parishes back, or, if they do, it will be so far in the future that no one has to worry about it. This is wrong.

In fact, the Episcopal Church is well under way in regaining the parishes. On May 8, TECSC petitioned the circuit court for enforcement of the state supreme court decision of August 2, 2017. The SCSC remitted its decision to the circuit court in November of 2017. As we all know, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case on June 7, 2018. TECSC asked for a Special Master to manage the transition of the properties.

On July 11, 2018, TECSC moved a second time in the circuit court regarding restoration of the properties. It filed "Petition for an Accounting" asking the court to appoint an accounting firm in Charleston to conduct a search and listing of all assets of the Diocese of South Carolina from 2008 forward.

Judge Edgar Dickson, of the circuit court, has scheduled a status conference on July 26, 2018, to set up a timetable for the disposal of the matter of enforcing the SCSC decision.

So, the idea that the Episcopal Church is not getting the parishes back, is demonstrably false. The reunification is well underway.

As the parishes return, the people in them have to decide whether to stay with the buildings and return to the Episcopal Church or leave the buildings and form new churches in another denomination. The purpose of the conversations this week is to inform these people of what it will mean to stay in their home parishes and return to the Episcopal Church. 

The best starting place for the communicants in the 29 parishes is the "Frequently Asked Questions" of the Church diocese. Read them first. Find them here .

My best regards to everyone as we move into this critical moment in the history of the schism. This has been a terrible time for so many people, but the light is at the end of the tunnel. The last phase has begun. The end is in sight. Courage.