THE TWO DIOCESES AND THE CULTURE WAR
The 2012 schism in the Episcopal diocese of South Carolina was a local manifestation of the overall culture war in contemporary America. To recap, the culture war is the clash between two great historical forces, revolution and counter-revolution. The revolution developed in post-Second World War America. It brought democratic reforms of equality and inclusion for many social elements that had been marginalized or powerless, most importantly blacks, women, and homosexuals. The social and cultural elements that felt most threatened by this, mostly white men who had virtually monopolized power in American history, created a counter-revolution aimed at preserving as much as possible of the pre-revolution white patriarchy. To simplify, the revolution promoted democratic reforms while the counter-revolution resisted democratic reforms. Adding to the white patriarchy's urgency in opposing democracy was the looming reality that American was becoming a multi-cultural society, that is, one in which white people would be another minority.
The schism in South Carolina was sparked by local resistance to the democratic reforms favoring homosexuals, and to some degree women, that had been championed by the national Episcopal Church. By 2012, TEC had affirmed an open and partnered gay man as a bishop, had elected a woman as the presiding bishop, and had adopted church blessings for same-sex couples. This was more than the leadership of the diocese would tolerate. They planned and carried out a schism and brought along the majority of the laity of the diocese. They established a new diocese that went on to institutionalize the counter-revolutionary agenda. In 2015 they adopted a Statement of Faith that condemned homosexuality. Then they joined a denomination devoted to opposing equality for women as well as gays. It forbade women from being bishops, that is, in having authority over men. The new diocese sealed its place in the counter-revolution of the culture war.
The victory of the white patriarchy in the new diocese can be seen clearly in the clerical make up of the Anglican diocese today. According to the ADSC website, by my count, there are 92 priests attending the 53 or so parishes and missions. Looking at the active clergy in the local churches:
white male priests - 82 (89%)
black male priests - 4 (4%)
white female priests - 5 (5%)
black female priests - 1 (1%)
Thus, nearly nine out of ten priests in the ADSC are white men.
What about deacons?
white male deacons - 18 (67%)
black male deacons - 0
white female deacons - 10 (33%)
black female deacons - 0
Once again, white men dominate. They account for two-thirds of diocesan deacons. There are no black deacons at all in the ADSC.
Women have never been allowed to chair a major committee (as the Standing Committee) of the ADSC, nor have they ever had a majority of the seats of a major committee. Moreover, no woman and no African-American has ever been head of a large or medium parish. As of now, the only black woman priest is a chaplain at Porter-Gaud. Among the white female priests, one is associate at Holy Cross, two are heads of small parishes, and one is vicar of a mission.
Of the 4 African-American male priests of ADSC, three serve small, dependent, missions. One, the Rev. Fred Onyanyo, a native Kenyan, is listed as a priest at St. Paul's, of Summerville. His work is described as a liaison of local parishes in ADSC with the Global South.
In short, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina is a bastion of the old white patriarchy. This is a not so insignificant victory for the counter-revolution in the culture war.
As one would expect, the picture is quite different in the continuing Episcopal diocese of South Carolina. There, blacks, women, and gays have found a far greater degree of equality and inclusion. This is to be expected in a denomination that long ago embraced the great democratic revolution of post-WWII America. Unfortunately, the EDSC lists only names of CLERGY of the diocese on its website. Anyway, from this, it appears that there are 68 priests of the diocese. Of these, 11 (16%) are women. Among the vocational deacons, 7 (50%) of the 14 are women.
At the time of the schism, most of the women clergy and most of the African-American clergy remained with the Episcopal diocese. They knew discrimination when they saw it. In fact, the only two historically black parishes stayed with the diocese as did numerous historically black missions.
Women have excelled in the leadership of the ongoing diocese. Of course, everyone knows the diocese elected a woman as the new bishop. This was after the diocese had appointed a woman as archdeacon. Today, one of the large parishes, ALL SAINTS, of Hilton Head, lists an all female priestly staff, the rector and two associates. This is a first for South Carolina. There is another sizeable parish, ST. JOHN'S, of Johns Island, led by a woman.
Thus, the Episcopal diocese has a far larger percentage of women priests and deacons than does the Anglican side. (Nevertheless, EDSC has a long way to go considering that 40% of the clergy in the national TEC is female. 16% is not even half-way there.)
As the Anglican diocese has secured its place in the counter-revolution, the Episcopal diocese has gone a long way in embodying the democratic reforms of the revolution.
There are still some people who want to insist that the schism was about theology and not culture. Nonsense. The historical record is very clear. If one still needs convincing, I direct you to my 500 page history of the schism. (This is not to say there are no theological differences between the two dioceses. There certainly are. The new diocese has veered into a highly vertical quasi-fundamentalism removed from the mainstream of classical Anglicanism.)
Given the overall conservatism of South Carolina, I find it somewhat surprising that the counter-revolutionary diocese has declined so rapidly since the schism. It has seen a steady decline in membership, a third of active members since the break. Obviously the public is not racing to join this new church.
Where the culture war goes from here God only knows. The center of gravity has turned to politics. What is going on in Washington today and what will happen over the next year and a half will tell us where the culture war is going. The clash between the revolution and the counter-revolution is about to get a lot more serious. It may be all but over in the old diocese of South Carolina, but it is far from over in the rest of the country.
