OLD YEAR, NEW YEAR
2nd Edition
2nd Edition
OLD YEAR
One calendar year is about to come to a close and another is about to start. This is a good time to reflect on the status of the schism, where we have been in the last twelve months and where we might be going in the next twelve. We are now in the seventh year of the schism (sigh). It started on October 15, 2012 (we were all much younger then). We are about to begin the seventh year of litigation between the two sides. The law suits began on January 4, 2013 (painful to recall). Weariness, exhaustion. This is what I hear the most from people on both sides. When will this end? How much longer? And, where is God? Why does not He stop this disaster and bring peace? This is the unspoken sentiment I sense coming from people often too. These are all good questions. They are all valid. They should all be embraced with all of the emotions they may evoke. It is best to get things out in the open. Wounds heal quicker in fresh air.
We have turned the corner in the history of the schism. The most significant event of the year 2018 was the U.S. Supreme Court's denial of cert. This meant the South Carolina Supreme Court decision of August 2, 2017 is the final law of the land. It cannot be changed or appealed. It must be enforced by the lower court. That decision gave the bulk of the prize to the Episcopal Church by recognizing Church control over 29 of the 36 parishes in question, plus Camp St. Christopher.
In the past year, the two sides reacted to the SCSC decision strongly but, of course, entirely differently.
THE DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA:
The DSC strategy is to deny and delay, first to deny that the decision says what it says and secondly to delay its implementation even if it says what it says. This is called offensive defense. And so, DSC has been on the offensive all year long against the decision and its beneficiary, the Episcopal Church.
THE DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA:
The DSC strategy is to deny and delay, first to deny that the decision says what it says and secondly to delay its implementation even if it says what it says. This is called offensive defense. And so, DSC has been on the offensive all year long against the decision and its beneficiary, the Episcopal Church.
DSC leaders carried out contradictory moves throughout the year. On one hand, they told their followers they need not worry about losing the properties because the diocesan lawyers would throw up roadblocks in court to prevent TEC from seizing the churches for many years to come. On the other hand, they carried out a campaign to move communicants out of the buildings into quarters elsewhere.
DSC leaders combined plans for relocation with a fierce demonization of the Episcopal Church, to prod their faithful with a place to move and a reason to move. Efforts of emotional manipulation and brainwashing swept the diocese. On December 1, 2017, the DSC leaders released a secret plan to move congregations out of their buildings to meeting places elsewhere (see my blog piece on this here .)
DSC's attack on the Episcopal Church was particularly intense. To be sure, it was nothing new. As early as 2013, Bishop Lawrence had called TEC "the spiritual forces of evil." This is still up on the DSC website. Find it here (p.2, lower left). In March, April, and May of 2018, DSC leaders conducted two "teaching" campaigns in St. Michael's and St. Philip's churches to convince parishioners that TEC had abandoned the true faith, and therefore any return to TEC would amount to abandonment of the true faith (see my blog post on this here ). At an ACNA conference in Birmingham and in an address of Kendall Harmon, the speakers seem to imply that TEC was a "pagan" religion.
DSC's bitter denunciation of the Episcopal Church took a definite turn in intensity after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected DSC's appeal of the SCSC decision, on June 11. With this, it was clear that TEC would regain control over the 29 parishes. It was just a matter of time. In order for DSC to remain a viable entity, it would have to create new congregations out of the old parishes. The SCSC decision left it with just six local churches. Hence, the vitriol arose.
The highlight, or lowlight as the case may be, of DSC's public relations campaign against TEC was Bishop Lawrence's tour of the diocese from July 31 to August 9, with stops in Sumter, Walterboro, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and James Island. About a thousand communicants of DSC attended. The obvious aim of the swing was to strengthen the emotional bond between the people and their bishop. On this, it succeeded. He portrayed himself as the innocent victim, emphasized the us against them dichotomy, and declared there would be no reconciliation. However, he subtly promoted contradictory themes telling the people on the one hand the SCSC decision was unenforceable, and on the other people should not be attached to their buildings.
At this moment, we cannot discern the effects of the contradictory themes. However, more than one parish has announced that it is no longer raising money to pay lawyers. Meanwhile, rumors have been flying that numerous DSC parishes are actively looking for meeting places in exile. Apparently, some DSC parishes are proceeding under the secret Template of Dec. 1, 2017 for relocation.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA:
TEC and TECSC are looking for the implementation of the SCSC decision of August 2, 2017. They are awaiting Judge Dickson's orders for the return of the 29 parishes and Camp. They have proposed to the judge to name a Special Master and to appoint an accounting firm to expedite the SCSC decision.
In the federal court, they succeeded in getting the trustees of DSC and the DSC local churches included as defendants in the case. Just last week, they asked Judge Gergel for a summary judgment in favor of TEC/TECSC and against DSC.
Another important event in 2018 was the failure of the court-ordered mediation process that began in October of 2017. In January and February it became clear the mediation had gained nothing, and on February 14, Gergel lifted the stay he had imposed on the case pending the mediation.
DSC's bitter denunciation of the Episcopal Church took a definite turn in intensity after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected DSC's appeal of the SCSC decision, on June 11. With this, it was clear that TEC would regain control over the 29 parishes. It was just a matter of time. In order for DSC to remain a viable entity, it would have to create new congregations out of the old parishes. The SCSC decision left it with just six local churches. Hence, the vitriol arose.
The highlight, or lowlight as the case may be, of DSC's public relations campaign against TEC was Bishop Lawrence's tour of the diocese from July 31 to August 9, with stops in Sumter, Walterboro, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and James Island. About a thousand communicants of DSC attended. The obvious aim of the swing was to strengthen the emotional bond between the people and their bishop. On this, it succeeded. He portrayed himself as the innocent victim, emphasized the us against them dichotomy, and declared there would be no reconciliation. However, he subtly promoted contradictory themes telling the people on the one hand the SCSC decision was unenforceable, and on the other people should not be attached to their buildings.
At this moment, we cannot discern the effects of the contradictory themes. However, more than one parish has announced that it is no longer raising money to pay lawyers. Meanwhile, rumors have been flying that numerous DSC parishes are actively looking for meeting places in exile. Apparently, some DSC parishes are proceeding under the secret Template of Dec. 1, 2017 for relocation.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA:
TEC and TECSC are looking for the implementation of the SCSC decision of August 2, 2017. They are awaiting Judge Dickson's orders for the return of the 29 parishes and Camp. They have proposed to the judge to name a Special Master and to appoint an accounting firm to expedite the SCSC decision.
In the federal court, they succeeded in getting the trustees of DSC and the DSC local churches included as defendants in the case. Just last week, they asked Judge Gergel for a summary judgment in favor of TEC/TECSC and against DSC.
Another important event in 2018 was the failure of the court-ordered mediation process that began in October of 2017. In January and February it became clear the mediation had gained nothing, and on February 14, Gergel lifted the stay he had imposed on the case pending the mediation.
NEW YEAR
Having looked at what happened in the year past, what can we reasonably expect to develop in the year ahead?
Circuit court Judge Dickson is unpredictable. He has had the case for nearly a year and has done nothing about it but gather arguments. He has indicated the SCSC decision is unclear and uncertain even though the last page of the decision spells out precisely and concisely the three decisions of the high court. Moreover, he has taken up only one of the six motions/petitions before him. Therefore, anyone's guess of what Dickson will do and when he will do it is as good as mine. I do wonder at this point if he is waiting for guidance upon the ruling of the federal court. Otherwise I have no understanding of why he is delaying this case.
Federal court Judge Gergel is much more predictable. We can expect expeditious attention to this case this year. The TEC/TECSC side submitted its request for summary judgment on Dec. 7. The DSC lawyers responded by filing a flood of papers with Gergel, all nonsensical in my opinion. As I understand it, Gergel may either hold a hearing or go straight to the trial he has already targeted for March 2019. Either way, I expect we will get decisive action soon and a resolution of this case in 2019. Odds are that the Church side will prevail in federal court mainly because of two main factors: -the hierarchical nature of the Episcopal Church, and 2-the First Amendment separation of church and state. I expect Judge Gergel to grant TEC/TECSC all of their requests although this may not come until after the trial.
There is a major "however" in both of these courts. The decision of both judges can be appealed, the circuit court to the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the federal court to the United States Court of Appeals, in Richmond. Even so, I see no reason why the Church cannot repossess the properties, assuming the judgments are favorable, and proceed with the restoration of the old diocese even during the appeals. If so, there is a good chance that the 29 parishes will return to Episcopal Church control in the calendar year of 2019.
Although there is still a long way to go before all the litigation ends, it is clear the final outlines of settlement have been made. The Episcopal Church has regained 29 of the 36 parishes in question, plus the Camp. Judge Dickson has no choice but to implement the decision of the state supreme court. Likewise, I think Judge Gergel has no choice but to recognize the Church as hierarchical and therefore entitled to determine its own government.
So, where does this leave the two sides? Both will be in much weaker conditions with difficult roads ahead. Even as TEC/TECSC "wins" the 29 parishes, it loses many of the communicants, how many we cannot know yet. TECSC will be hard pressed to rebuild these diminished congregations and make them self-supporting.
The independent diocese will be in a much worse state with six local parishes and a handful of other parishes and missions. When it loses the entity of the pre-schism diocese, it will have to start from the ground again to rebuild, a highly formidable task given the severe diminution of assets which will occur. A feasible alternative to rebuilding is to melt the present DSC into the ACNA Diocese of the Carolinas under Bishop Steve Wood, at St. Andrew's of Mt. Pleasant. Bishop Lawrence, soon to be 69 years old, could retire and go off into the sunset to live comfortably. The DSC leaders could still claim a victory of a sort by having removed a certain part of the Episcopal diocese. The removed part would still be in ACNA and still committed against equality for and inclusion of homosexuals, transgendered, and women in the life of the church.
I think the two sides should disabuse themselves of some wrong-headed beliefs. TEC/TECSC should not assume the "congregations" in the 29 parishes will return to the Episcopal Church. The parishes will return but many of the people, probably at least half, will leave the buildings rather than return to the Episcopal Church. That is just the reality of the situation that no wishful thinking can change. In time, I expect some of these people will return to their "home" churches, but this may take a long time.
The DSC leaders should drop the unreality that somehow they are going to keep the 29 parishes and the Camp. Most of all they should stop telling their people such. It is cruel to mislead them so. The SCSC decision is the law of the land; and it is not unclear. Just the opposite. It is only a matter of time before TEC regains possession of the 29 parishes, the Camp, and the legal entity of the old diocese. The assertions that DSC is going to keep any of this are just far from true.
The DSC leaders are only compounding their mistakes which have been many already. They were given three chances to make out of court settlements and they turned down all of them. And, why they did, we really do not know. They will have to tell us that. Looking back, their biggest mistake was to reject the June 2015 offer from the Episcopal Church to swap the parishes (to DSC) for the diocese (to TEC). If the DSC had accepted this, all of the 36 parishes in the lawsuit would now be permanently independent of TEC and sole owners of their local properties. Instead, 29 of them now are returning to trust control and physical control of TEC.
Let's be frank and honest here. The schism has been a failure. The DSC authorities led their people to believe they could leave the Episcopal Church and take the properties of the diocese and the parishes with them. The SCSC has proved them wrong. The DSC faithful are now left in the lurch.
Let's be frank and honest here. The schism has been a failure. The DSC authorities led their people to believe they could leave the Episcopal Church and take the properties of the diocese and the parishes with them. The SCSC has proved them wrong. The DSC faithful are now left in the lurch.
Unfortunately, I think we can expect an acceleration of DSC's bitter attacks against TEC in the year ahead as the courts inevitably move in on the Church side. What we saw in the past year was bad enough, but I am afraid it is going to get worse. The DSC leaders have shown that they will go on to the bitter end doing all they can to prevent TEC from regaining the old diocese, at least the people if not the buildings. No doubt they will increase the pressure on the 13,000 communicants in the 29 parishes to leave their churches rather than return to the "false teachers" and "pagans."
So, all signs indicate this war is still going on full-fledged and has a long way to go with many more casualties to come. Gettysburg has occurred, but the end of the fighting is still far off. It is just so hard for some people to accept failure. The schism has been, and still is, a disaster for the old diocese of South Carolina. Some people made some bad choices. Unfortunately, the consequences of those wrong-headed choices fell on thousands of innocent people. The schism has been going on for more than six years now, longer than the Civil War, longer than the Second World War. The wounds are open and deep, the pains too real. The destructive effects are pervasive. Nevertheless, what one should focus on now is not the past but the future, not where one has been but where one can go. There are signs of grace all around. There is redemption ahead. There is always new life after a wildfire. There is new life ahead. And, all is because enough people are committed to the two great commandments, love God and love neighbor. With this as the guide, the people of the grand old diocese of South Carolina will find their way home even though the road is still long and hard.
