BANKRUPTCY COURT ISSUES ORDERS FAVORING ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 29 OCTOBER 2021

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, in Ft. Worth, issued four orders today, October 29, 2021, all favoring All Saints Episcopal Church, a 1,500-member congregation that remained in the Episcopal Church. After the Texas Supreme Court ruled entirely in favor of the breakaway entity in the schism of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and the U.S. Supreme Court denied cert, the victorious association (going under the name of the Episcopal Diocese of Ft. Worth, even though it has no connection to the Episcopal Church) moved to seize the property and assets of All Saints parish. On Oct. 26, the church went to the bankruptcy court for relief. The major problem for the local church was that the secessionist entity had gone after the parish's bank accounts and the bank had frozen them leaving parish officials unable to access the parish funds and pay bills.

Today, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court at Ft. Worth issued four orders, all favorable to All Saints. Find them listed here . 

---the most important order authorized All Saints to maintain the existing bank accounts.

---order granting the paying of wages.

---order prohibiting utilities from disrupting services.

---order setting another hearing for November 16, 2021, 1:30 p.m.

The Court cannot forestall the schismatic diocese from seizing all the property and assets of the parish (as of the start of the litigation), but it can ease the transition in favor of the loyalist parish that has to surrender its property and it can force the victorious secessionist diocese to back off its scorched earth tactics.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH SIDE ANNOUNCES ITS LAWYERS FOR 8 DECEMBER HEARING

This morning, 29 October 2021, the Episcopal Church side sent an email letter to the Clerk of the Court, of the South Carolina Supreme Court, naming their lawyers for the hearing of Dec. 8, 2021. They are:

Thomas Tisdale and Bert G. Utsey III for the Episcopal diocese and

Mary Kostel, for the Episcopal Church

There are two parties on the church side, the diocese (called the Episcopal Church in South Carolina in the court proceedings) and the national Episcopal Church. The other side has only one party, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina. 

Tisdale has represented the diocese from the start of the litigation. No one knows more about the details of the many legal actions over the past eight years than he. 

Utsey is a partner in the Clawson, Fargnoli and Utsey firm, of Charleston. Find their website here . According to the information on their website, they specialize in personal injury cases. To my knowledge, Utsey has never been involved in any of the litigation of the church case. If he has not participated in the legal actions in this case and is not a specialist in appellate litigation one may wonder what his qualification for this assignment would be.

Kostel has represented the national church in this case for years and knows the issues thoroughly. She was in the courtroom for the hearings of the circuit court after the 2017 SCSC decision. It is the Order of the circuit court that is before the SCSC justices now. Kostel knows the issues involved in this appeal very well.

I do not understand why the church side listed three lawyers when the directive from the Clerk limited the lawyers for each side to two. If only two attorneys for a side can be in the courtroom at one time, one of these three above will have to leave the room unless an exception has been made.  

RED FLAG AT THE ADVENT, IN BIRMINGHAM

There is a red flag floating above the tower of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Advent, in Birmingham, Alabama. It comes in the form of next Sunday's preacher, the Rev. Ashley Null. An Episcopal clergyman, Null is a prominent evangelical theologian who for years has defended and supported movements critical of the Episcopal Church. Given the highly unsettled history of the Advent in the last few months, the choice of Null to preach at all three services is both surprising and concerning.

In an ordinary parish in ordinary times, the choice of Null would not be out of the ordinary. He is a learned and prominent theologian and specialist in Reformation thought, particularly that of Thomas Cranmer. 

However, the Advent is not an ordinary parish and it is not in an ordinary moment in its history. It has been through a great deal of turmoil in the last few years, much of it theological. The last dean of the cathedral, Andrew Pearson, had made a major point of Cranmer's theology in his effort to push the parish to the limit, perhaps beyond the limit, of evangelical Anglicanism. This was far from the mainstream of the Episcopal Church. His ally among the clergy of the Advent, Zac Hicks, a Presbyterian, had even called Rite I of  The Book of Common Prayer "anti-Christ." Both Pearson and Hicks resigned (Pearson said he was forced out). The vestry of the Advent made a Covenant with the bishop of Alabama essentially combining an evangelical identity and Episcopal prayer book religion. In short, the leadership of the Advent voted to stay in the Episcopal Church. It was clear the parish was moving to healing and reconciliation. This is what is so discordant about inviting in someone with the partisan baggage of an Ashley Null.

A simple Google search will tell one what one needs to know about Null's ties to the anti-Episcopal Church movement. The first item that comes up shows him as "Theological Advisor to the Diocese of the Carolinas." This diocese is in the Anglican Church in North America. It is an overlapping jurisdiction based in Mt. Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston, headed by Bishop Steve Wood. Its two largest parishes, All Saints, of Pawleys Island, and St. Andrew's of Mt. Pleasant, have quite a history in the anti-Episcopal Church movement in the lowcountry. BTW, the dean of the diocesan cathedral was recently elected the next bishop of the ACNA Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, presently led by Mark Lawrence. This is the group that made the schism in the Episcopal Church in South Carolina.

One can also find videos of conversations with Null displayed on the GAFCON website. GAFCON is the coalition of Anglicans in the world set up to prevent homosexuals from gaining equality and inclusion in the church. It has denounced the Episcopal Church and has recognized the ACNA as the legitimate Anglican province in the United States. 

Google Null and the Jerusalem Declaration and one will find a video of his defense of the JD. The JD was drawn up in 2008 by homophobic and misogynist forces in the Anglican world who were out to stop the movement for equality and inclusion of non-celibate homosexuals and women in the life of the church. In one point, the JD denounced marriage equality by declaring marriage to be only between one man and one woman. In another point, the JD rejected the authority of churches, e.g. the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, that varied from aforementioned marriage declaration.

In their efforts to block rights for gays and women, the conservatives have fallen back on the position that Anglicanism is a confessing and doctrinaire religion. In fact, this is a new innovation and not the historic essence of Anglicanism. The Jerusalem Declaration and GAFCON are modern creations out of sequence in the history of Anglicanism.

Historically Anglicanism is a non-confessing and non-dogmatic religion open to a wide variety of theological understandings and forms of public worship. It was created as a national church by the English monarchs of the Sixteenth Century to be a generic Christian religion. It could not be too doctrinaire because it had to be broad enough to combine the essence of traditional Catholicism and the new Protestant theologies. In fact, the prayer book was in formation for thirty years and moved back and forth from Catholic to Protestant sides before settling down to the via media. Cranmer's work with theology and the prayer book was part of a much larger picture that went on for years after his death. Cranmer, heavily influenced by Calvinism, alone did not define Anglicanism.

If the goal of the leadership of the Advent is now to nudge the parish back to a clearer Episcopalian and evangelical identity as the recent events suggest, one may wonder why people prominently associated with forces working against the Episcopal Church would be invited to address the parish. But then, one could wonder if reconciliation with the Episcopal diocese is indeed the thinking of the parish leadership. Is it that the ghosts and Pearson and Hicks are still guiding the vestry? This would be surprising given the break between the vestry and the two and its Covenant with the bishop. Nevertheless, one may wonder, What is the goal of the parish leadership, reconciliation with the Episcopal Church or differentiation from it? 

ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SC NAMES ITS TWO LAWYERS FOR HEARING OF 8 DECEMBER

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina submitted to the South Carolina Supreme Court, on 25 October, the names of the two attorneys who will represent the ADSC side in the hearing before the justices of the SCSC on 8 December 2021.

The two are:  C. Alan Runyan and C. Mitchell Brown. 

Since Runyan himself filed the paper with the SCSC, one may wonder if he will be the lead in the hearing. He has been the highly visible director of the ADSC litigation since he filed the suit against the Episcopal Church on January 4, 2013. He was the lead in the circuit court trial of 2014, the ADSC presenter in the hearing before the SCSC in 2015, and the lead in the circuit court proceedings of 2016-2019. He has had a mixed score card. He won in the circuit courts and lost in the state supreme court. The Anglican side also suffered a major loss in the federal district court, in Charleston, which recognized the Episcopal diocese as the sole owner of the historic diocese and placed an injunction on the Anglican side from pretending to be the continuation of the pre-schism diocese. That decision is now on appeal but is not under a stay.

Brown is a partner in the Nelson and Mullins firm, in Columbia SC. According to their website , he is a specialist in appellate law and has deep presence in South Carolina. 

According to the COVID-19 protocols of the SCSC, each side is limited to two lawyers in the courtroom for the hearing of Dec. 8. The Episcopal Church side must inform the court of the names of its two lawyers by next Monday, Nov. 1. I will relay the names here as I receive them.

Runyan and Brown will have 25 minutes to present their case. They will speak after the Episcopal side makes its 25 minute presentation. After Runyan and Brown give their presentation, the Episcopal side will have 10 minutes for rebuttal. That will be the end of the hearing. 

So, Runyan and Brown will have only 25 minutes in which to make their best case. They will argue to uphold the Dickson Order of 2019 which ruled that the parishes had not acceded to the Dennis Canon and the local properties remained in the hands of the local churches, not the Episcopal Church. The SC Supreme Court decision of 2017 had ruled that the Episcopal Church was the owner of 29 of the 36 parishes in question along with Camp St. Christopher. The Episcopal Church lawyers will argue that the SCSC decision was binding and Dickson had no right to relitigate the issues settled by the SCSC and therefore his Order of 2019 should be reversed by the high court. 

SC LAW ON APPOINTMENT

OF AN ACTING JUSTICE IN CHURCH CASE

It has come to my attention that South Carolina law requires the appointment of a fifth "Acting Justice" in the church case pending before the SC Supreme Court. 

There are five justices on the SC Supreme Court. One of the five, Justice Kaye Hearn, has recused herself from the case. This leaves four justices, two of whom are new to the case, that is, were not involved in the SCSC written decision of 2017. 

The number of justices is an important issue because the case before the SCSC now is an appeal of a circuit court Order (Judge Dickson's decision of 2019 that purported to ignore the 2017 SCSC decision and to award all to the breakaway side). A reversal of a lower court decision requires a majority vote of the SCSC justices. If there are four justices, an overturn of Dickson would require agreement of three or four justices. A tie of two to two would leave Dickson's Order in place. If a fifth justice is on the bench, there can be no tie. There would have to be a majority of at least three to two. 

Thus, the number of justices is potentially crucial. Four justices would lean to the breakaway side's chances while five justices would improve the Episcopal side's chances.

As I read it, the South Carolina Code of Laws requires the court to appoint a fifth acting, or temp judge, to fill out the bench. It is not an option, but a clear requirement. This is in Section 14-3-60 of the 2017 SC Code of Laws. Find it here .

Presumably, Chief Justice Donald Beatty would nominate an Acting Justice who would be approved by the governor, normally a formality. An interesting wrinkle in this is that Beatty has become an important part of the breakaway's attack on the 2017 SCSC decision. As I understood it, the breakaway lawyers argued that Beatty's opinion in the 2017 decision was contradictory and that his explanation of the Dennis Canon really meant he rejected the parishes' accession to the Canon (even though he concluded with the majority that the parishes had irrevocably acceded to the Canon). Thus, it will be fascinating to watch Alan Runyan (presuming he is the ADSC presenter) argue to Beatty's face that his (Beatty's) opinion did not mean what it said.

We will know for sure who the fifth justice is on December 8, 2021 at the hearing. If I learn the identity of the Acting Justice before then, I will relay it here. Meanwhile, it is clear state law requires a fifth, or acting justice, in this instance. 

NOTES,  22 OCTOBER 2021

Greetings, blog reader, on Friday, October 22, 2021. Let's catch up on some of the topics we have been following of late.

On the pandemic, all signs show a decline in new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. It is clear the third great surge is waning. Booster shots are now available in some places and others soon. Children will soon get the vaccine. While life has not returned to "normal," it is much closer than a year ago. 

As for the church litigation, we are in a lull now. We know that SC Supreme Court will hold a hearing on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 and that only the 4 appointed lawyers will be allowed in the courtroom. Everyone else may watch on the court provided live-stream. We still do not know two important pieces of information:  1-The names of the two lawyers on each side. These are to be submitted to the SCSC Clerk by November 1, 2021; and 2-Whether the Court has appointed a fifth Acting Justice to take the place of Justice Hearn who recused herself from this appeal. 

The first point is not very important, but the second is. If the Court appoints an Acting Justice, this will improve the Church side's chances. If the Court does not appoint an AJ, this will improve the breakaway's chances. The reason is that a reversal of Judge Edgar Dickson's 2020 Order will require a majority vote of the participating justices. If there are only four justices, the Church would need three or four to overturn Dickson whereas the breakaway side would need only two justices to keep Dickson in place. If there is a fifth justice appointed, the breakaways would need three votes. So, a great deal rests on whether the Court appoints an acting justice to hear this appeal. Bear in mind, the hearing is on the appeal of the Church side of Dickson's Order which gave all in question to the secessionist party. 

On another issue, the death of General Colin Powell, news broke yesterday that there will be a memorial service for him in the National Cathedral, at noon on November 5. It will be by invitation only, and with limited seating. The news report did not mention live coverage, but my guess is the Cathedral will at least live-stream the service even if the major TV networks do not carry it. Find a news article about the memorial service here .

Meanwhile, autumn is gradually sweeping across the south bringing with it the colorful splendor of the changing season. Two nights ago, the moon put on a spectacular show in what was called "the hunter's moon." It was unusually big and bright. I went outside to take a picture of the moon: 

Moon rise, 20 Oct. over my house in Jacksonville AL. I wanted to capture a clear image of the rising Hunter's Moon, but this is what I found instead. My first impulse was to delete this, but then I thought, no, this is the perfect metaphor for our present life: dark night, cloudy sky, but an irrepressible bright light shining through it all. For a year and a half we have been in a dark night and our lives are filled with cloudiness but through it all is the never-failing light of God's presence. Peace.

 SC SUPREME COURT ORDERS RESTRICTIONS FOR 8 DECEMBER HEARING

__________________

Public not allowed in courtroom

__________________

Hearing to be live-streamed

On yesterday, 18 October 2021, the Clerk of the Court, of the South Carolina Supreme Court issued the protocols for the church case hearing scheduled for December 8, 2021.

THE PUBLIC WILL NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE COURTROOM. I telephoned the Clerk's office this morning and was told the public will not be allowed inside the courtroom during the hearing. (This is part of the SCSC protocols for COVID-19.)

According to the Clerk's directive of yesterday:

---The hearing will be at 9:30 a.m., 8 December 2021, in the SCSC courtroom. 

---The Episcopal side will be allowed 25 minutes for presentation. The Anglican side will then be allowed 25 minutes for presentation. Finally, the Episcopal side will be given 10 minutes for rebuttal. (In all hearings, the justices interrupt the lawyers for questions and discussion, so the time for presentation is not entirely for presentation.)

---Each side is limited to 2 lawyers in the courtroom, for a total of 4 lawyers in the room.

---Each side must submit the names of its two lawyers to the Clerk by November 1, 2021.

---The hearing will be livestreamed. Find it at this address:  www.sccourts.org/SCvideo . An audio recording will also be made.

---Lawyers may enter the SC building no earlier than 10 minutes before the hearing. Lawyers entering will be screened for COVID-19.

---Masks must be worn at all times on the property of the SCSC.

---Lawyers must use hand sanitizers at podium and restrooms.

The Clerk's letter of yesterday was addressed to three lawyers: Bert Utsey, of Charleston; Alan Runyan, of Beaufort; and Harry Easterling, Jr., of Bennettsville. Apparently, Utsey will be the lead for the Episcopal side and Runyan for the Anglican side. We should know on 1 November who the four presenting lawyers will be.

ELECTION OF A BISHOP COADJUTOR,

ANGLICAN DIOCESE

OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

OCTOBER 16, 2021

_______________

CHARLES 'CHIP' EDGAR, III ELECTED BISHOP COADJUTOR, WILL BE II BISHOP OF ADSC

Oct. 16, 2021, 9:00 a.m. 

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina is set to elect a bishop coadjutor today. He will succeed Bishop Mark Lawrence as the II bishop of the ADSC. 

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina was created in 2012 when the majority of the clergy and laity of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina left the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of South Carolina. The new contingent declared itself to be a diocese and recognized Mark Lawrence as the bishop. It entered a lawsuit against the Episcopal Church for possession of the old diocese. It also joined the Anglican Church in North America, a new denomination set up in 2009 to keep non-celibate gays and women from full equality and inclusion in the life of the church. The ACNA, and the ADSC, are not in the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury has said more than once he is not in communion with the ACNA.

The ACNA has a process of selecting new bishops different than that of the Episcopal Church. In TEC, women are allowed to be bishops; and bishops-elect must get majority approval of the bishops and the standing committees of the dioceses. The ACNA is a closed patriarchy. Only [heterosexual] men can be bishops. Moreover, a bishop-elect from a diocese must procure a two-thirds approval of the ACNA House of Bishops to be consecrated as a bishop. One-third plus one of the ACNA bishops can veto any bishop-elect. The laity of the ACNA have no input in affirming new bishops. At present, the bishops of ACNA number around 52.

For the rules of the voting in today's meeting, see here .

According to the rules, a parish may have 4 delegates but casts only 1 vote. A majority of the 4 will decide which candidate will get their one vote. If the delegation splits 2-2, there is no vote. As for a mission, it may have 2 delegates. They decide on their 1/2 vote. If they split 1-1, there will be no vote. For a candidate to win, he must get a concurrent majority in the Order of the Clergy (all clergy get one vote) and the Order of the Laity (parish=1 vote, mission=1/2 vote). 

The three candidates:

1---Edgar, Charles "Chip". Dean of the Cathedral Church of the Apostles, Columbia SC.

2---Sturdy, Robert "Rob." Anglican chaplain at the Citadel, Charleston.

3---Warner, Christopher "Chris." Rector, Holy Cross, Sullivans Island.

Edgar is in the ACNA Diocese of the Carolinas. Steve Wood, rector of St. Andrew's in Mt. Pleasant SC, is the bishop of that diocese. Sturdy and Warner are internal candidates.

The Livestream is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Find the link to the livestream here .

I shall return at 10:00 to make running commentary during the election process.

10:05 a.m.  Livestream on. Chatroom disabled.

Bishop Lawrence opens convention by thumbing his nose at the federal court. At the start he refers to the 2009 diocesan convention "as bishop in this diocese." He knows as well as anyone the federal court has a standing injunction against the ADSC from claiming to be in any way the pre-schism diocese. The ADSC did not exist before 2012.

Assembly is overwhelmingly white men (mostly older). Women in distinct minority. Few blacks (I count three). Clergy at altar all white men.

Hymn, "The Church's One Foundation." Really? How about the part "from schisms rent asunder...."? Are these people completely devoid of irony?

11:05 a.m. Livestream interrupted.

11:25 a.m. Livestream resumes.

Voting to begin soon. 87% of the local congregations present; 74 % of the clergy present. More than 2/3 necessary for quorum.

Chancellor announced the clergy would vote first and this will be announced to convention; then, laity will vote and this will be reported. Thus, the two orders will not vote at the same time.

Bishop from ACNA addresses convention. Repeatedly calls ACNA a "province" and says it is part of the Anglican Communion. It is unworthy of a Christian denomination to deliberately misinform and mislead its followers. ACNA is not a province of anything and not in the AC. It is an independent Christian denomination.

11:55 a.m. Voting about to begin. Clergy will vote first.

100 clergy present. Laity vote is total of 42.5.

FIRST BALLOT. CLERGY

Edgar-46

Sturdy-40

Warner-14

LAITY:

Edgar-15

Sturdy-17

Warner-8.5

Edgar is the leading choice among clergy and Sturdy is the leading choice among laity. Warner is far behind in both orders.

Break. Voting to resume at 12:36 p.m. It will be interesting to see if Warner withdraws.

A majority vote in Clergy Order is 51. Edgar needs 5 votes. A majority vote in Laity Order is 22. Sturdy needs 5 votes to reach this. There must be a concurrent majority in both houses. With different front runners, one order will have to bend to the other. 

The second ballot will show shifts, probably from Warner to the top two. 

SECOND BALLOT. CLERGY

Edgar-49

Sturdy-42

Warner-9

LAITY

Edgar-19.5

Sturdy-17

Warner-4

(Split=2)

No election  on 2nd Ballot. Most movement to Edgar. He now needs 2 more votes in Clergy Order and 2.5 in Laity Order to win election. 

WARNER WITHDRAWS.

Third Ballot to be between Edgar and Sturdy. Edgar in lead in both houses on 2nd Ballot.

Interesting to note Sturdy picked up no new votes on 2nd Ballot among the laity. The Laity Order moved to reflect the Clergy Order choices, choosing Edgar first. Edgar likely on cusp of election.

THIRD BALLOT. CLERGY

Edgar-55

Sturdy-44

LAITY

Edgar-23.5

Sturdy-18

EDGAR ELECTED BISHOP COADJUTOR!

Comments:

The clergy and lay delegates of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina have chosen an outsider to be their next bishop. They rejected the two internal candidates.

However, the diocese was split. At first, the majority of both clergy and laity did not choose the outsider. The majority voted for the insiders.

Edgar was the leading choice of the clergy but not the laity. The laity then moved to follow the lead of the clergy.

Choosing the dean of the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of the Carolinas may well foreshadow the union of the two dioceses, both in the ACNA. Steve Wood is bishop of the Diocese of the Carolinas. When Lawrence leaves, the ADSC may well merge into the Diocese of the Carolinas. 

Making Edgar the next bishop indicates both a dissatisfaction with the old diocesan leadership and a willingness to give up the identity as the old diocese of South Carolina. This makes sense if the ADSC loses in the state supreme court and winds up with just 6 local parishes. It will almost certainly lose its appeal in the federal court and lose forever its claim to be the historic diocese of South Carolina. If ADSC loses in both the SCSC and the federal court, it would be wise to merge with another body. Today's election suggests that. This would be an indictment of the choices the diocesan leaders made in 2012 when they broke up the old diocese and went to legal war. It did not turn out well for them.  

It is too soon to jump to conclusions about these possibilities. But, today's election is a powerful sign that the resolution of the schism is closer than ever. 

Now, it is on to the SC Supreme Court for its decision on the local properties.  

NINE YEARS

Today, the 15th day of October 2021, is the ninth anniversary of the schism in the Diocese of South Carolina. The break happened on October 15, 2012. This is an appropriate time to consider three questions: 1-What caused the schism? 2-What happened on Oct. 15, 2012? and 3-What has happened to the two parties since the break? I will have to keep these brief. Space here does not allow lengthy essays on all of these. 

If you would like more explanations of these, they are available. I suggest you consult earlier postings on this blog. On May 1, 2017, I put up three long articles on What Caused the Schism in South Carolina?, parts 1, 2 and 3 (Underlying causes, direct causes, and initiating events). Or, one may consult my book, A History of the Episcopal Church Schism in South Carolina. At 300,000 words, that should provide you with everything you ever wanted to know about the schism, in detail. To mark the ninth year today, let's keep with brief summaries.

WHAT CAUSED THE SCHISM?

The schism happened when the leaders of the Diocese of South Carolina decided they could no longer remain in the Episcopal Church. The question is, Why did they decide that? 

Since the 1950's, the Episcopal Church had been developing itself along the lines of the Social Gospel, especially by making sweeping changes to give equality and inclusion to social groups long marginalized or neglected in American society and in the Church. These were primarily African Americans, women, homosexuals, and the transgendered. However, starting with Bishop Allison in 1982, the Diocese of South Carolina moved in the opposite direction toward a greater evangelical, and socially conservative, bent. 

The evangelical strain of Anglicanism focused on saving souls (vertical religion) rather than on the Social Gospel (horizontal religion). Although some evangelicals work for social reform, e.g. Jimmy Carter, there is still a strong belief within the evangelical community that social change should be left to God. In fact, many evangelical Christians are actually actively involved in socially and politically reactionary causes. About eighty percent of them voted for Trump in 2016 and in 2020. 

Thus, for thirty years before the schism of 2012, the leaders had been directing the diocese ever more away from the mainstream of the national church. When it came time to find a new bishop, in 2006, there was a strong negative attitude toward the Episcopal Church among many of the clergy of the diocese. They looked for, and found, a like-minded candidate.

The specific issue of focus at the time was how the Episcopal Church should look on homosexuality and whether it should approve of ordaining non-celibate gays. From 1990 to 2012, the Episcopal Church moved to accept homosexuality as morally neutral, to ordain non-celibate gays, and to adopt liturgical blessing of same-sex couples. The leadership of the Diocese of South Carolina decided along the way it could not go along with these reforms and did not wish to stay in a denomination that promoted or even tolerated such. This was true even though no other diocese in the entire southeastern U.S. would go along with South Carolina. The SC schism of 2012 was unique among the twenty dioceses in Province IV of the Episcopal Church.

When the General Convention of 2012 approved of the blessing of same-sex couples, the leadership of the Diocese had had it. Right after the convention, some two dozen of them met in secret and apparently plotted to remove the diocese from the Episcopal Church. They believed, and declared, that they could take the diocese intact out of the Church and the local parishes could keep ownership of their local properties. Everyone knew that Bishop Lawrence was likely to be reprimanded for issuing quit claim deeds to all of the parishes, in flagrant disregard of the Church's Dennis Canon (1979). They resolved among themselves to allow this to happen perhaps as a way of rallying the laity in defense of the leadership. The Standing Committee secretly resolved to break the diocese away from the Episcopal Church when the presiding bishop took action against Lawrence. This is what she did on October 15, 2012 when she walked into the hidden trap.

WHAT HAPPENED ON 15 OCTOBER 2012?

At noon, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, in NYC, telephoned Bishop Mark Lawrence, in Charleston, to inform him that the Disciplinary Board for Bishops had certified that Lawrence had abandoned the Church [the quit claim deeds] and, per the canons, she was temporarily banning him from functioning as an ordained person. She asked him to keep this quiet until she could meet with him in person on 22 October. She hoped then to find a peaceful resolution.

Immediately after the call, Lawrence ignored everything the PB had said and the diocesan leadership resolved, in secret, that their standing secret plan had kicked into action. This was the schism. They took the next forty-eight hours to prepare the full transition from the Episcopal Church to independence. On 17 October the diocesan leaders declared to the world that the diocese had separated from the national Church and Lawrence informed the presiding bishop of this (we now know they did not separate the diocese from the Episcopal Church but actually created a new religious association). The PB tried repeatedly to meet with Lawrence who spurned all of her offers. He declared the diocese was no longer associated with the Episcopal Church thus there was no point in meeting with her. On 17 November, a diocesan convention gave its approval of the earlier action. On December 5, 2012, the presiding bishop issued to Lawrence a formal Release and Removal as bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. On January 4, 2013, the breakaway group filed a lawsuit against the Episcopal Church essentially for ownership of the diocese.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE TWO PARTIES SINCE THE BREAK?

In a word, litigation, lots and lots of litigation. It has been a wild roller coaster ride of up, down and around. Unfortunately, the nine-year ride is not over even though all the riders passed exhaustion long ago.

The litigation in a nutshell: First, the secessionists won in the circuit court. The Episcopal Church appealed this to the SC Supreme Court which issued majority decisions that the Church owned 29 of the 36 parishes in question along with Camp St. Christopher. SCOTUS refused to take the case. The SCSC decision went back down to the circuit court for implementation. Instead, the circuit judge reversed the SCSC decisions and ordered the properties to the breakaways. The Church appealed this back to the SCSC. This is where the state litigation stands now.

In federal court, the Church sued, essentially, for ownership of the historic diocese. The federal district court in Charleston recognized the Church diocese as the legal heir of the historic diocese and issued an injunction forbidding the schismatic side from pretending to be the pre-2012 diocese. The breakaway side appealed this to the federal appeals court where it rests now awaiting a decision from the SCSC. 

By order of the federal court, the Episcopal Church is an hierarchical organization and the Episcopal diocese is the historic diocese. At the time of the schism, contrary to their claim, the breakaways did not disassociate the diocese from the Episcopal Church. Rather,  they created a new organization. Thus, the now-called Anglican Diocese of South Carolina was formed in 2012. It was the Episcopal Church diocese that was created in 1785 and continues on today.

Institutionally, the schism has been hard on the developments of the two parts. The Anglican diocese lost a third of its communicants after the schism. The Episcopal side grew modestly. Still, if we combine the two active memberships we find no more than 20,000. Before the schism, the diocese listed 27,000 communicants. That means 7,000 people disappeared from the rolls. Moreover, the schism has been expensive. The breakaway side has had two sets of lawyers to pay, diocesan and parochial. I estimate each side has paid about $1m a year for legal costs. If this is true, we are looking at $18m total spent for the litigation. Even half of that would be a shocking amount.

Nevertheless, the two sides are trying to move on. The Episcopal diocese has installed a new bishop and the Anglican contingent is about to elect a new bishop. To put it mildly, the two bishops will be taking on tremendously challenging futures.

After nine years in and out of court, the litigation is slowly grinding to resolution. The SC Supreme Court will hold a hearing on 8 December 2021 and will issue a final decision sometime afterwards. This will settle once and for all which side owns the local properties and the Camp.

I know nine years seems to be a long time for litigation, but keep in mind the case of the Ft. Worth schism took fourteen years to resolve. 

Right now, our attention must turn to the election of a bishop coadjutor in the Anglican diocese. This will occur tomorrow, 16 October, and will be livestreamed. I expect to provide commentary here during the event.

So, here we are nine years out. In my personal reflection today, I  must confess that at first I did not expect legal resolution would take so long. I thought maybe a few years. Too, I underestimated the depth of the animosity to the Episcopal Church among the breakaway leadership. They have gone to great lengths to deny and delay and denigrate the Episcopal Church, arguably more so than any of the other four cases of schisms. They refused a generous offer of a settlement in 2015 in which they would have gained clear ownership of the 36 local parishes. That would have ended the litigation once and for all (six years ago!). They refused to negotiate a settlement in the several encounters of mediation the courts ordered. When the state supreme court ruled in favor of the Episcopal Church and SCOTUS declined to intervene, the breakaway lawyers refused to accept defeat. Instead, they got the friendly local judge to agree with them in rejecting the SC supreme court majority decisions.

I must admit too from my perspective today that I was wrong in my early rosy prediction there would be a resolution of the schism and the two sides would rejoin. I suppose it was wishful thinking at the time. I no longer believe that will happen, at least not in the foreseeable future given all that has occurred in the nine years. Too much water has gone under the bridge. The animosities are still too strong. The secessionists have invested too much to let it go, as a bad divorce proceeding that just keeps getting uglier. Now, I expect the two sides will go their separate ways. But then, who knows? Years down the road when new generations reassess their pasts and cooler heads prevail, they may reject the schism and renew the old bonds of affection. 

The schism in South Carolina was prompted by social issues. Homosexuality and gender equality and inclusion may seem impossible for agreement now, but they are not. They are no where nearly as toxic as racism has been in South Carolina. Racism, homophobia, and misogyny are all battle grounds in the modern American culture war. The public perceptions of them change continually. Years down the road they will appear differently than they do now and I suspect that generations in the future will shake their heads in dismay at the scandalous civil war in the old diocese of South Carolina.

So, we mark nine years. How many more years will there be before resolution? God only knows. We know that the Bible says Christians should not sue each other. The schism in South Carolina was a scandal and a shame. It did not have to happen. It should not have happened, but it did. This is what follows when some people think they know better then the collective wisdom of the church, that God speaks to them alone and not the church.  

NOTES,  11 OCTOBER 2021

Welcome, blog reader, on Monday, October 11, 2021. It is time to check in on some of the subjects we have been following on this blog. This is going to be an interesting and important week, as we shall see momentarily.

The pandemic is lessening across the board. We are clearly on a sharp downhill slope of the third great surge. Numbers of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are declining almost everywhere in the U.S. Vaccinations are up. In the U.S., 57% of the population is fully vaccinated. In SC it is 48.2; and Alabama 43.4%. For the charts on trends in South Carolina, see here . For info on Alabama, see here . This does not mean the pandemic is over, far from it; nor does it mean we should go back to "normal" in our public life. The virus is still running rampant. In my home county, one in five people has contracted the coronavirus. The vast majority of them have recovered, but some with lingering effects. The death numbers given in worldometers are staggering: world=4,865,881; U.S.=733,068; South Carolina=12,929; Alabama=14,857. COVID-19 has been the worst pandemic in a century.

This week will bring up two important events concerning the schism in South Carolina.

One is the anniversary of the schism. This Friday, October 15, 2021, marks the ninth year of the schism in the Episcopal Church diocese of South Carolina. It was on October 15, 2012, that the people who were the leaders of the diocese at that time made their separation from the Diocese of South Carolina and the Episcopal Church (on Nov. 17 a convention ratified this decision and most clergy and laity followed the leadership out of the diocese and the church). If I can, in memory of the event, I will post a brief review of how this schism came about. The question I am asked most often is, What caused the schism? Unfortunately, it is not simple to answer because it was thirty years in the making and involved numerous factors and events. I have made several long-winded posts on this blog trying to answer that question. Nevertheless, on Friday I will try to give the thumbnail version of what caused the schism. I think it will be an appropriate moment to reflect on this disaster.

The other major event of the week is the secessionists' election of a bishop to follow Mark Lawrence. Although Lawrence was released and removed as the bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina on Dec. 5, 2012, he and his followers continued, and still continue, to regard him as the bishop of their "diocese." The leaders of the exodus from the Diocese of South Carolina created a new diocese, under Lawrence, now called the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina (even though it is not in the Anglican Communion). They are under an injunction from the federal court forbidding them from claiming to be in any way the historic diocese. The ADSC is now part of the Anglican Church in North America, also not part of the Anglican Communion. It is this new organization, the ADSC, that is to elect a bishop to follow Lawrence. The election is to be next Saturday at 10 a.m., at Christ Church, in Mt. Pleasant (Christ Church belongs to the Episcopal Church according to the majority decision of the SC Supreme Court). It is to be livestreamed. I expect to post a running report on the voting. There are only three candidates; and it looks to me as if this is a foregone conclusion set up by the powers that be. Nevertheless, this is an important moment for the contingent that left the Episcopal Church and Diocese of SC.

Meanwhile, on a lighter note, my garden is now into its autumnal phase. Here are some views from yesterday.

American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). This is commonly seen in the southeastern U.S. in sunny spots. It makes an open and leafy shrub with purple seed clusters. Unfortunately, this bush is getting too much shade.  

It is camellia season. I have a ring of three white and three pink camellias surrounding a large tree. They bloom prolifically in October. The tags said the bushes would grow 4-6 feet. They have already reached 15 feet and are still growing. Moral of the story=do not trust what is on a plant tag. This is Camellia Sasanqua 'Setsugella.' 

The pink one is Autumn Pink Icicle Camellia. 

The banana trees at this seating area, in the afternoon shade, have almost taken over this area. Thanks to copious rainfall this year, these reach over 15 feet tall. I will have to thin out some of the small sprouts to keep these under control. We have about another month before killing frost so these will get even larger.

Years ago, I put one plant of False Aster (Boltonia asteroides 'Snowbank') near the banana trees. It did not like the spot and died away but not before seeding freely along the drainage ditch that runs around the back edge of my garden. It obviously loves being left alone in the ditch where it has naturalized. I found this plant at Woodlanders Nursery in Aiken SC. They have a large collection of unusual garden plants suitable to the southeast. I recommend them but I think they only deal by mail order nowadays. Another favorite nursery near there is Nurseries Caroliniana, in North Augusta. It is a vast walk-through place that is heaven to gardeners. If you are a serious gardener, be sure you have plenty of room in your vehicle because you will want to load up with what you find there.

Contrary to public opinion, I do not like all plants. There are some I would be perfectly happy living without, e.g. poison ivy, privet, kudzu. Another high on the list is goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis). This is in the ditch behind my garden. Actually, there are gardeners who cultivate this plant. After all, it is striking and beautiful in the fall. However, it is very bad for anyone with allergies (comme moi). Simply pull up the stalk by the roots while taking care not to shake the plant. As everyone knows, goldenrod self-seeds very easily into any sunny untended spot.

All in all, there are many reasons to feel encouraged these days. There are signs that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. It will linger for some time but the impact on society is lessening all along. We should not declare victory, but we should be hopeful. The light at the end of our long and dark tunnel is indeed a sunbeam and not an oncoming train. 

Moreover, after nine years, the schism is inching towards legal closure. In less than two months, the SC Supreme Court will hold a hearing on the church case. At some time afterwards (last time it was 23 months) the court will hand down a decision. This will be final in determining which side will get the 29 parishes and the Camp. Of course, if the Church wins, putting the decision into effect will require time. Moreover, the federal appeals court will have to issue a decision on the breakaways' appeal of Judge Gergel's 2019 order that recognized the Episcopal diocese as the only legal heir of the old diocese. Remember, there are two different avenues of litigation, one in state court and one in federal court. I think chances are good the federal appeals court will uphold Gergel. If so, the Episcopal diocese will then have to take action to gain possession of the assets of the old diocese still held by the breakaways. That will take time. So, even if the hearing on 8 December is not the end of the story, it is a major step in that direction. Peace.  

 

MEMBERSHIP TRENDS

SINCE THE SCHISMS

On yesterday, the Episcopal Church published its latest membership statistics, including the year 2020. They revealed that both the national church and the Diocese of South Carolina lost members between 2019 and 2020. Trying to quantify membership, attendance, services and the like in the 2020 is highly problematical considering that churches were either closed or reduced greatly for ten of the twelve months of the year. However, since the subject of church membership has reemerged into the public discourse, this is an appropriate moment to review the effects of the five schisms on membership and attendance.

First, let us look at the figures from the two parts that came out of the schism in South Carolina in 2012 (all numbers are official statistics published by the dioceses).

EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA:

Members:

2013---5,781

2014---6,387

2015---6,706

2016---7,053

2017---7,309

2018---7,587

2019---7,763

2020---7,467

The only decline is from 2019 to 2020. Overall, EDSC gained 1,686 members, or 29% after the schism of 2012.

ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA:

Communicants:

2013---17,798

2014---16,361

2015---15,556

2016---14,694

2017---13,291

2018---12,126

2019---11,457

From 2013 to 2019, ADSC lost 6,341 communicants, or 35.6%. I do not have the number for the year 2020.

Average Sunday Attendance:

2013---9,292

2014---9,325

2015---9,085

2016---9,014

2017---8,905

2018---8,875

2019---9,105

2020---8,154 

ASA declined from 2013 to 2020 by 1,138, or 12.2%.

From 2019 to 2020, ASA fell 951, or 11.4%.

The ADSC has seen significant declines in both membership and attendance at services since the schism of 2012.

NOTE: The ADSC still claims some 20,000 baptized members. This is not credible. The "Communicant" number (above) is a meaningful measurement.

How does what has happened in the schismatic entity of South Carolina compare with the other four breakaway groups, San Joaquin, Pittsburgh, Quincy, and Ft. Worth?

DIOCESES OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA

SAN JOAQUIN

Membership

2013---5,543

2015---5,118

2016---4,848

2017---3,981

2019---3,172

2020---2,912

From 2013 to 2020, SJ lost 2,631 members, or 47.5%. 

Average Sunday Attendance:

2019---1,662

2020---1,479

Decline of 183, or 11%.

PITTSBURGH

Membership

2014---7,937

2017---7,720

2019---6,933

2020---6,473

2014-2020 loss of 1,464 members, or 18.4%.

Average Sunday Attendance:

2019---4,199

2020---3,845

Drop of 354, or 8%.

QUINCY

Membership

2015---2,105

2016---2,080

2017---2,493

2019---1,956

2020---1,743

From 2015 to 2020, Quincy lost 362 members, or 17%.

Average Sunday Attendance:

2019---1,235

2020---1,027

A loss of 208, or 17%.

FORT WORTH

Membership

2014---11,758

2015---10,939

2017---10,667

2019---9,556

2020---9,919

Between 2014 and 2020, loss of 1,839 members, or 15.6%.

Average Sunday Attendance:

2019---4,784

2020---4,871

Gain of 81, or 2%.

NOTE: Approximately 20% of the churches of this diocese are outside the old boundaries of the Diocese of FT. Worth.

SUMMARY. Every one of the five cases where the majorities voted to leave the Episcopal Church lost members. The largest percentage loss was in San Joaquin where nearly half the old membership disappeared. The next largest percentage loss was in South Carolina where the Anglican Diocese of SC lost more than a third of its active members just since 2014. The breakaway entities in Pittsburgh (-18.4%), Quincy (-17%), and Fort Worth (-15.6%) also saw significant losses of members.

The anti-Episcopal Church crowd is making a big deal of the declining numbers of the Episcopal Church. They are crowing about the report on all their websites. One should recall that the original impetus of the anti-Episcopal movement in the 1990's was to destroy the Episcopal Church or weaken it so greatly that it would no longer be a significant liberal force in American society. Thus, the enemies of TEC rejoice at every piece of evidence that points to their hope. They need not exaggerate the death of the Episcopal Church in view of the fact that the five schismatic dioceses have declined in membership faster than the Episcopal Church.

The fact is that religion in general is declining in America. All of the statistical studies show that. This is especially true among young people. We do not know exactly what is causing the relentless decline of Episcopal Church membership. It is probably from a coalition of adverse factors such as low birth rates and low retention. 

The five schismatic dioceses were formed to prevent homosexuals and women from having equality and inclusion in the church. Since the overwhelming majority of Americans under thirty embrace equality and inclusion, the possibility that the schismatics will attract a young crowd is practically non-existent. The future of the Episcopal Church is problematical for sure, but the future of the socially and culturally reactionary schismatics is much more so. They have only to look at their own data to be alarmed at their own fates.

NEW MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS

OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

The Episcopal Church has just released its latest statistics, including the year 2020. The reliability of these figures is obviously dubious since every church suspended regular in-person services in March of 2020. A footnote in the tables indicates the information for "the year" actually covers 1 January to 1 March of 2020. So, the info for "the year" 2020 is  not really for the year 2020.

Find the new data here .

The parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States (some of TEC is in other countries) took a sharp loss in active membership between 2019 and 2020, from 1,637,945 to 1,576,702, a fall of 61,243. That is a percentage decline of 3.74%. The year before, 2018-19, the drop had been 38,404, or 2.29%.

As for the Diocese of South Carolina, it lost membership for the first time since the schism of 2012. Active baptized members declined from 7,763 in 2019 to 7,467 in 2020. Average Sunday Attendance fell from 2,809 in 2019 to 2,654 in 2020 (Jan. and Feb.).

There is no denying the Episcopal Church is losing members. It reached a high in 1967 when it counted twice as many members as it has today. 

However, it just does not make good sense to try to find specific data for church membership, attendance, giving, and services for the calendar year 2020 when the pandemic closed down and severely limited church life for more than three quarters of the year.

Indeed, we are going to have to find new metrics to measure public interaction with the church. What we think of as traditional "church" has not returned, even now in late 2021; and no one can be sure it will ever return. So what's the value of using old metrics of traditional church in an age where church itself is being redefined? We will have to find new ways of measuring the public strength of the church, not just of the Episcopal Church, but every denomination. The old statistical tables the church has put out for years are hardly relevant any more. What will take their place is the question at hand. In fact, defining the whole experience of "church" is the question at hand in late 2021 and for the foreseeable future.

AN APPALLING REPORT FROM FRANCE

An official report has just been released in France that verges on the unbelievable. The word appalling comes to mind but even that is not strong enough for the grossly shocking content of the report. 

The report is a 2,500 page detailed accounting of sex abuse in the French Catholic church from 1950 to 2020. The numbers are staggering. At least 330,000 children were abused, some in unspeakable ways. Eighty percent of the victims were boys. Some 3,000 priests and lay persons under church auspices carried out these crimes. The report also shows how the Church covered up these crimes in a systematic manner. The whole horror is mind-boggling and sickening to the core. 

NPR has a detailed article on this here . A CNN article on this may be found here .

On second thought, perhaps we should not be so shocked by the new French report which simply duplicates what has happened in many countries, including the U.S. Right at home, the Diocese of Charleston has had its share of abuse and cover up for which it has paid out millions in litigation. A few years ago, an equally sickening report was published in Ireland. When the Catholic Church there subsequently put up a website giving people the opportunity to remove their names from church rolls, the site crashed under the volume and was removed. Since the Irish report, the Catholic Church itself in Ireland has crashed as a cultural beacon.

There were two sins/crimes in this and similar reports, the abuse and the cover-up. Individual clergy and lay workers may have made the abuses, but the institution of the church tried to hide the crimes and/or did nothing about them. Both the individual and the Church were guilty of wrongdoing.

Organized religion has taken a big hit in recent history, much of which was self-created. Before 1789 the Catholic Church in Europe made two grave errors. In one, it fought against science until it had little intellectual credibility of its own. In the second, it formed a coalition with monarchy and aristocracy to control society. The French Revolution of 1789, and ensuing revolutions across the western world, inevitably attacked established religion. The French Catholic Church never really recovered. The Church in France, and indeed across Europe, has declined sharply in influence in the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Centuries.

In the Twentieth/Twenty-First Centuries the Catholic Church made two disastrous mistakes. It failed to take a significant stand against totalitarianism (Hitler was never excommunicated). Indeed, Catholic clergy sometimes actively aided fascist regimes, as in Spain. The other was to deny, cover-up, and resist justice as pervasive child sexual abuse became known within the Church. This made the Church itself complicit in sin/crime. The Church has yet fully to come to terms with either of the two grave failings of recent decades. The new report from France will simply pour fuel on the fire that is burning down the contemporary church, perhaps symbolized by the fire at Notre Dame de Paris in 2019.

In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the literal and figurative predominate institution in Europe. Symbolizing its power, almost all the great cities and towns were dominated by soaring cathedrals, the greatest of which, in my opinion, was Chartres. 

The decline, and impending fall, of the Church in modern history is partly its own fault and partly not its fault. If the Church is unable to clean up its own house today, it will lose all of what is left of its moral and ethical supremacy and institutional relevance. Its future would be oblivion. 

The latest alarm bell is the report today from France, first daughter of the Church.

 

NOTES,  4 OCTOBER 2021

Greetings, blog reader, on Monday, October 4, 2021. I suppose everyone, or at least every good Episcopalian, is still basking in the golden glow of the glorious event of last Saturday when Ruth Woodliff-Stanley was consecrated as the XV bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. What a wonderful, and historic, moment that was. A new era has begun for the beleaguered and long-suffering Episcopalians of eastern South Carolina. Let us not fool ourselves. There are very difficult days ahead for the Episcopal Church in lower South Carolina. Who better to have at the helm of the ship in these perilous seas than the new bishop?

The pandemic is on the down slope of the third surge. In almost every metric, the plague of COVID-19 is lessening. For South Carolina, find the latest info here . Although the situation is improving, one should still bear in mind that 12,570 South Carolinians have died in this pandemic. Alabama is also seeing a decline in every category. For the latest on AL, see here . The COVID dead in AL number 14,470. In the world, nearly 5 million people have died of COVID-19. In the United States, the number is 719,945, according to worldometers. This means more Americans have died in this pandemic than died in the last one, the great flu pandemic of 1918-19. We should pause and reflect on these terrible numbers.

On the subject of the schism in South Carolina, the next landmark event will be the election of the bishop coadjutor of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina. This will be on Saturday, October 16. I am guessing it will be livestreamed. If so, I will post on this blog a running account of the voting. Here, three white, heterosexual men (no one else need apply) are vying for the honor, but it seems to me the outcome is a foregone conclusion. I expect Edgar to win as a lead-in for the breakaway contingent to merge with Steve Wood's Diocese of the Carolinas, also in the Anglican Church in North America. I have no hard evidence to go on, just reading tea leaves. The breakaway group lost the legal rights to the pre-schism diocese in 2019; and I think it is extremely unlikely they would ever gain such even if the state supreme court hands over the parishes and the Camp to them. In fact, the Lawrence crowd is under a federal court Injunction from pretending to be in any way the historic Diocese of South Carolina, even while Gergel's decision is on appeal.

Meanwhile, autumn has arrived. My garden is gradually transitioning from summer into fall. Many plants continue to bloom until frost forces them into dormancy. Even on a grey and cloudy day, as today, they brighten up  my garden and cheer me up.

Nothing beats gardenia (August Beauty) for aroma. This bush is by my back deck and summer house. Gardenia should be planted in places where its scent can be enjoyed but not too many bushes should be planted together or the aroma can be overpowering.

This Butterfly Bush is still open for business but has no customers at the moment. I was blessed with a bountiful collection of butterflies and humming birds this summer. They depart in October for warmer climates and return the next April. I always miss them in the winter and long for their return.

The ornamental grasses are at their best at this time of the year. Japanese Silver Grass never disappoints. This view is from the central lawn looking into the smaller side of the garden.

On the larger side of the garden, zebra grass is in full bloom (on right).  This view is from a walk path looking across a stretch of Andorra juniper (ground cover). There is a seating area, out of sight, at the banana trees.

Rejoice! The japonica camellias have returned to flower. This is Daikaigura Variegated. It starts blooming in September. I have two dozen camellia bushes and they are staggered for blooming from September to April. I have not found a japonica that blooms in summer, but I am still looking. Nothing adorns a southern garden in winter as the camellias.

And so, there are many reasons to be optimistic now. The pandemic may be, just may be, fading out. It is still too early to declare victory, and we are moving into winter when it may spread easily. Nevertheless, let's take the hopeful signs and go with them. 

Things are looking way up in the Diocese of South Carolina. A new and impressive bishop is at the helm.

Even in the breakaway group, the situation is moving to a new day. I regret that the Episcopal authorities refused to invite anyone from the disassociated diocese to the bishop's consecration last Saturday. That would have been a small but generous olive branch. The two sides are opponents in court but they are not enemies and must not treat each other as such. We are all Christians and should act like it.

A couple of other landmark events are coming up soon. On October 15, the schism in South Carolina will mark its ninth anniversary. It was on Monday, October 15, 2012, that Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori telephoned Bishop Mark Lawrence and declared his restriction as a bishop pending a settlement of the accusations against him. She walked into a hidden trap. The diocesan leaders had already decided in secret that if she did that (and everyone knew she was likely to do it), the diocese would declare its separation from the Episcopal Church. She did and they did. The diocesan leaders announced it to the public two days later. So, in eleven days, we will remember nine years that most of us would rather forget.

On another note, this blog is about to reach its one millionth hit. I started this modest site on September 11, 2013 as a way of providing information and opinion on the schism in South Carolina. When I began this modest little blog I had no idea it would be so widely read. I meant it to be a little supplement for the master blogger, Steve Skardon. His site at scepiscopalians had long been the lone source of info on the Episcopal Church side. I hope I have provided to the public some help in understanding and appreciation what had happened, what was happening, and what was likely to happen in the tragedy of the schism. I will go on as long as I can and as long as people find my words useful.

I make no pretense of being objective on this blog. I think the schismatics were wrong, and are still wrong. The fundamental issue at stake is human rights. The moral side is the one that defends, promotes, and expands the equal rights of all of God's children and includes all of those children equally in the life of the church. One side is doing that and the other is struggling against that. So, there is a right side and wrong side in this split. Even if the Episcopal diocese winds up losing every building, the Camp, and the legal entity of the diocese, it will still win because it stands for human rights. We often pay a high price for doing the right thing but we do it anyway because it is the right thing to do. Peace.