NOTES,  17 JUNE 2021

Welcome to my blog, reader, on this Thursday, June 17, 2021. Nothing much new to report today, but it is time for a regular check-in on the crises we have been following for a long time.

PANDEMIC. Numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to decline as they have for the past few months. At the same time, vaccinations are increasing. As of 15 June, 44.4% of Americans are fully vaccinated. Unfortunately, our southern states are lagging way behind the national rate. In SC, 36.3% of the residents are vaccinated. Alabama (30.8%) and Mississippi (28.5%) continue to occupy the bottom slots. This means that the vast majority of people in these states have refused to be vaccinated.

It is difficult to understand why most people in our local states are avoiding inoculations. It is not from lack of supply. There is an abundance of vaccine available and many places in which to get the shots. I expect part of it is political. Unfortunately, the pandemic became a national political issue at the start and remains such. So, the "redder" the state, the lower the vaccination rates. Still, it makes no sense that people would rather die of this horrible disease than to get the shots to be protected against it. I am at a loss.

Of course, vaccination does not prevent contracting COVID-19. There are people who had both shots and still fell ill with the disease. However, their cases were relatively light. This is why we need to remain vigilant, wear masks in public, and keep our distances. We are still in the worst pandemic in a century and are likely to remain in it for months to come.   

SCHISM IN SC.  Still waiting on word from the SC Supreme Court on the appeal of the Episcopal Church side of Judge Edgar Dickson's 2020 order consigning all to the new Anglican diocese. I have a feeling we had better settle in for a long wait. We should be used to that by now. One reason is that two of the four justices considering this appeal are new to this exceedingly large case. 

On a sad note, it occurred to me a few days ago that exactly six years ago, the legal war between these bitter adversaries could have been settled once and for all. In June of 2015, the Episcopal Church made an offer of settlement to the breakaway contingent. The Church offered to hand over claim to all of the 36 parishes in question in return for the entity of the old diocese. The secessionists flatly refused the offer and ridiculed the Church side to boot for making it, questioning their motives. The possibility of peace collapsed. Just think of what we could have been spared. 

Ironically, that is essentially where the two sides are today. The breakaways have the 36 parishes and the Episcopal Church has the entity of the old diocese. One big caveat to this is that the Anglicans have refused to accept the federal court ruling on the diocese and have appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, the Anglicans are holding the assets of the pre-schism diocese even though they are under Injunction of the federal district court to refrain from claiming to be in any way the historic diocese. So, it is not quite true that the Church has the diocese and the schismatics have the parishes. The Church has the legal right to the old diocese but it has not yet received its assets. 

If the SC Supreme Court comes down on the side of Dickson, the breakaways will finally have clear legal possession of the 36 parishes. If the federal appeals court comes down on the side of the Church, the Episcopal diocese will own the entity of the historic diocese and its assets. However, the Church side will still have to take some kind of action to gain possession of the assets unless the schismatics voluntarily turn them over which I certainly would not expect. Deny and delay has been the modus operandi of the Anglican side all along. No one should expect them to change now.

I'm just wondering what might have been saved if the two sides had agreed to the compromise offer in June of 2015. We know that the Anglican diocese has been budgeting $.5m/yr for legal costs, no doubt a far too conservative estimate. Yet, if we take even this modest figure and double it for both sides, we come up with $6m spent since the spurned offer of 2015. Of course, the human cost of six years of legal warfare is incalculable. What a shame. What a scandal. What a violation of the Scriptures by the very people who want everyone else to live by them, particularly when it comes to sexual orientation and gender.

Do not get me wrong on this. I am not predicting that the SCSC will side with the breakaways. It is inconceivable to me that the justices would overthrow a previous majority decision of their court in favor of a lowly circuit judge's opinion. If justice, law, and reason prevail, the SCSC will uphold its 2017 decision and order the hand over of the 29 parishes in question.

THE ADVENT.  The vestry of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Advent, in Birmingham AL, met last week and discussed terms of a Covenant with the bishop. Apparently, they did not finalize a deal because, to my knowledge, there has been no public announcement of such. If there is a snag, I have no idea what is is.

A big part of the problem at the Advent is poor communication. It has been almost two months since the two wardens sent a letter to the parish announcing the resignation of the dean, Andrew Pearson. Since then, there has been virtually no communication from the clerical and lay leadership of the Advent about the dramatic events going on in the parish or the trajectory into the future. There is a newsletter available on the parish website. It has said very little about what has happened and what is likely to happen at the Advent. Meanwhile, Pearson left and called on his "Friends" to follow him out to form a new church, and his ally, Zac Hicks, posted a video calling Rite I "anti-Christ." The response from the leadership to the people--- crickets. Meanwhile, people are flocking to this blog for information. In the last 30 days, there have been 17,900 hits on this blog, the vast majority on the entries concerning the Advent, the most popular ones getting 1,000 hits each. Really, this blog should not be the source of information about the happenings of the Advent, although I am happy to oblige. The church leadership should be the ones talking to the people. Why they are not is a mystery to me.

(BTW, Zac Hicks is still listed among the Advent's clergy. He has not publicly explained, let alone apologized for, his shocking defamation of Rite I. According to the newsletter, he is going on sabbatical from June 20 to July 31. I wonder whether the hootenanny band will go away too.)

We know the vestry and bishop are working on a "Covenant," but, evidently, no word of this has leaked to the public. At the very least, the Advent leadership could tell the people that something is going on that will address the dramatic events occurring in the church. A church leadership operating in secrecy on and on is unhealthy for any parish. The people of the Advent are entitled to know what is happening in their own church. After all, they are the ones who pay the bills. At the very least, parishioners can contact their vestry members. The list of the vestry membership is posted on the Advent website. Find it here . 

I am sure we all wish these crises would just disappear, go away and leave us alone. Alas, that is not our choice to make. Our choice is to do our best to live through these difficult days as the Christians we claim to be. When it is over, and all is said and done, we can look back with satisfaction that we did all we could to carry out our mission of being God's people in a world of hurt. Peace.

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UPDATE on the Advent. 2:00 p.m.  I have reason to believe important decisions have been made by the leadership of the parish and these will be conveyed to the parish soon (let's hope very soon). Presumably these will relate at least to the Covenant that has been under discussion between the parish and the bishop. I would guess the others would have to do with the search for the new dean and forms of corporate worship (as what to do about the hootenanny band). I will relay information as I receive it.