Church breakup civil but still hurts

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5694288,00.html

[Rocky Mountain News] 11 Sep 2007--In many sweet ways - little notes on the refrigerator, photos of kids on the walls - Holy Comforter parish in Broomfield resembles a happy family.
But next Sunday, this 49-year-old family faces something like a divorce.

That's when the Rev. Chuck Reeder and an unspecified number of parishioners join the national conservative flight out of the Episcopal Church because of its departure from traditional teachings on marriage and Scriptural authority.

"Very soon, this is not going to be the congregation it has been," Reeder told Sunday's Bible study crowd over pastries and coffee. He confessed to typos in this week's study outline and added, "Go easy on me. This has been a tough week."

Unlike the bloody war of lawsuits elsewhere, this parish breakup is civil and polite - gentle, even. Nobody's trying to take the property. Reeder won't even discuss who's staying or going, lest it seem like a bitter "us" versus "them" issue.

But everything still hurts.