The Clock Is Ticking

Commentary by Robin G. Jordan

On Saturday December 8, 2007 the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin made a momentous decision. The delegates voted to drop every reference to The Episcopal Church from the Diocese’s Constitution and to succeed from The Episcopal Church. They placed the diocese under the primatial oversight of the Archbishop of the Southern Cone Gregory Venables. Three other dioceses of The Episcopal Church are considering taking similar action—Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Fort Worth. Their diocesan conventions have already taken the initial steps. Requirements in their constitutions that two consecutive diocesan conventions must pass proposed changes to the constitution keep them from joining the Diocese of San Joaquin. The bishops of all four dioceses have been threatened with deposition and they and a representative sampling of the congregations in the dioceses with litigation. Regrettably these dioceses have not able to coordinate their departure from The Episcopal Church and no additional dioceses have so far shown indications of following their lead. One suspects that the leaders of conservative dioceses are nervously waiting to see what happens to the Diocese of San Joaquin and the other three dioceses before they decide whether they will lead their diocese out of The Episcopal Church.

Waiting to see what happens to San Joaquin, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Fort Worth is a mistake. San Joaquin took advantage of a window of opportunity that will be closed by 2009 General Convention. At the 2009 General Convention the present leadership of The Episcopal Church is likely to put into place measures that will make it extremely difficult if not impossible for dioceses and congregations to leave The Episcopal Church. If a substantial number of dioceses would begin to take steps to leave, Presiding Bishop Katherine Schori’s strategy of threats, depositions, and litigation would have no chance of succeeding. The national church would not be able to afford the lawsuits and would be forced to make some kind of settlement with the dioceses and congregations desiring to leave the denomination and realign themselves with another province.

Schori’s strategy is likely to work as long as she can pick off one diocese at a time. However, if a third of The Episcopal Church’s dioceses voted to secede from the denomination, it is doubtful that the national church would be able to mobilize the resources to seize church property in these dioceses.

The Episcopal Church is already in serious trouble. Worship attendance and church membership has dropped dramatically. More and more people are leaving the denomination. A growing number of dioceses have financial problems. Several have sold cathedrals or conference centers. Even the national church has begun to acknowledge the dire straights into which The Episcopal Church has fallen.

Among the ramifications of a vote by the 2009 General Convention to make the denomination the ultimate owner of all church property is that it is likely to contribute to the further centralization of the denomination with dioceses and congregations requiring national church approval before they purchase property or incur other debts. It is also likely to lead policies that would seek to make dioceses and congregations liable for debts even if they leave the denomination and would authorize litigation against individuals as well as dioceses and congregations that leave. Such policies can be expected to affect the denomination’s ability to attract new members. The adoption of stringent measures to prevent dioceses and congregations from leaving, however, will not staunch the hemorrhaging of members from The Episcopal Church and will place a greater financial burden upon the denomination’s shrinking membership base. The Episcopal Church will become a denomination of empty church buildings and dwindling congregations faced with reduction not only their own debt but also that of other congregations and mounting pressures from the diocese and the national church to give a greater share to the support of these structures. This is also likely to make the denomination less attractive to potential members.

The exodus of a substantial number of dioceses and congregations from The Episcopal Church might not only force the national church and the remaining dioceses to reconsider the current policy of litigation and property seizures but also might spark a full-scale revolt against The Episcopal Church’s present leadership and the direction in which they are taking the denomination. All that is needed is needed is enough people to coalesce into a critical mass. While such an exodus might also cause the "true believers" to rally in support of their leaders, the increased demands that their leaders will place upon them is likely to take their toll.

The window of opportunity is growing narrower and narrower. Now is the time to act. The cavalry is not going to come to the rescue of conservative Episcopalians at the last minute. They are going to have to take matters into their own hands or live with the consequences of their inaction.