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Episcopal Blogger Spins Fleeing Episcopalians to Rome Via Ordinariate
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
January 25, 2012
The drift of Episcopalians to the Roman Catholic Church via the Ordinariate is worrying some liberal Episcopal bloggers and ordinary Episcopalians who see the move getting more cyber ink and publicity than the flight deserves.
"Thus far, 100 priests and fewer than 1,400 people in 22 church communities have expressed an interest in the ordinariate. Gather them all in Washington National Cathedral, and the place isn't half full. Only six of these 22 communities have more than 70 members, which suggests that their long-term viability may be an issue. And there is no evidence to suggest that these small congregations are the thin edge of an as yet invisible wedge," writes Jim Naughton of Episcopal Café blog.
He is partly right. Most Anglo-Catholics and those in the Continuing Movement are not fleeing en masse to Rome as a safe haven for their catholicism, preferring to remain in TEC (though that group is rapidly diminishing.) or Forward in Faith, the Anglo-Catholic wing of TEC that is still very much alive and well. Forward in Faith North America defines itself as "a fellowship of Bishops, Clergy, Laity, Parishes and Religious Orders, who embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who uphold the Evangelical Faith and Catholic Order which is the inheritance of the Anglican Way, and who work, pray and give for the reform and renewal of the Church with 'no compromise of truth and no limitation of love' FiF/NA members include faithful Anglicans both within and outside ECUSA."
The prominence the ordinariate has achieved in the media has unsettled some Episcopalians. "As a denomination, we are still recovering from several years worth of news stories in which the departure of some three percent of our membership for a more theologically conservative body has been variously described as a 'schism' or an 'exodus,'" writes Naughton.
"This story has appeared in major newspapers across the country, often accompanied by commentary about the Vatican's bold move against the theologically liberal Episcopal Church. I am still trying to figure out what all of the fuss is about."
Naughton goes on to cite dubious figures that the departures both to Rome and the ACNA are but a small percentage of the whole.
He features the bogus figure of some 2, 248,000 members in The Episcopal Church when referencing those who have fled. The truth is most of those have long ago left TEC for other churches or going nowhere or who are dead and have never been taken off the rolls. The real and only figure is Average Sunday Attendance (ASA). That figure is now less than 700,000. These are the true Episcopalians paying parish, diocesan and TEC bills.
Naughton claims that some 228,000 former Roman Catholics are now in the Episcopal Church. What he doesn't say is that those who left TEC for Rome did so out of spiritual conviction, whereas those fleeing Rome did so more because they divorced and remarried but could not receive Holy Communion and could not get annulments. Many view The Episcopal Church as Catholic Lite.
"According to the 2004 U. S. Congregational Life Survey, 11.7 percent of Episcopalians were formerly Roman Catholic," writes Naughton. But that is out of 700,000 not 2.2 million.
One conservative blogger, Christopher Johnson noted that Episcopalians were fleeing to Rome decades before the Ordinariate was a gleam in the papal eye. "See if the American Catholic church has any figures about the number of ex-Episcopalians in its ranks," he writes.
Naughton admits that the Episcopal Church has shrunk some in the last seven years, and now has about two million members. Membership yes, actively Episcopalian no. Most of those are not remotely active and most no longer attend an Episcopal Church. The figure is less than 700,000. Naughton's own diocese is in free fall both in membership and money with the new bishop busy suing PNC bank to get its hands on the Soper Fund to keep the diocese afloat.
The 1500 he cites leaving TEC for Rome, and other mainstream denominations might be miniscule, but it doesn't include the thousands of ordinary Episcopalians who have quietly left TEC for Rome over the years, like my attorney and his wife who do not show up on any statistics. The Ordinariate is only months old after all.
He also omitted the fact that four, yes four bishops have left TEC and gone to Rome (with one returning) indicating that the theological Tsunami is deeper than he is prepared to admit.
Then of course there are the 100,000 plus who have left TEC to form the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) through such intermediary groups as the Diocese of Pittsburgh, CANA ET AL.
"There is no reason to fear the Ordinariate. Its creation is among the most overhyped religion stories of recent years. Some people swim the Tiber. Some swim the Thames. Media coverage suggests that reporters pay little attention until the Vatican tells them it's a big story," writes Naughton.
Again this is a half-truth. TEC has little to fear from these small groups departing. The bigger picture is the flight of TEC's parishes and parishioners to the AMIA and ACNA that continue to grow almost weekly. ACNA is working toward 1,000 new parishes and more than 100,000 new souls, most, for the moment, are ex-Episcopalians with or without their properties.
When the flight of all those in dioceses like Quincy, Pittsburgh, Ft. Worth and San Joaquin is added up the departures will be significant. They will leave behind skeleton Episcopal dioceses stripped of everything except empty buildings they cannot sell which they now have to maintain and pay taxes on. The Diocese of Pittsburgh has lost two-thirds of its entire membership. What sort of future does that diocese have in the Rust Belt? The rump diocese of Quincy cannot possibly last and will be forced to juncture in the coming year.
The newly anointed Bishop Eric Menees of the Diocese of San Joaquin is on the spiritual warpath for new souls and a revived diocese with increased evangelical fervor. The maintenance attitude of dwindling TEC dioceses shows little interest in evangelism preferring the bromides of inclusion and diversity to sustain them.
Naughton says that the 100 priests who have applied to join the Ordinariate is not evidence that the Catholic Church is winning priests from the Episcopal tradition. According to the Church Pension Group, 432 living Episcopal priests have been received from the Roman Catholic Church.
Be that as it may, a former Roman Catholic priest, now a TEC Bishop in the Diocese of Long Island, Lawrence C. Provenzano is showing absolutely no ability to grow his diocese. He has bought into TEC's liberal agenda and says he will let priests in Brooklyn, Queens and on Long Island officiate at same-sex weddings. That is the kiss of death spiritually and ecclesiastically for his diocese. It will only distance himself and his diocese from the Roman Catholic mainstream on Long Island. Even the Bishop of Albany, Bill Love, an ex-Roman Catholic, who is thoroughly orthodox, is finding it difficult to bring new converts into TEC in the bleak Adirondack region. It is tough pickin's all the way round, and he IS busy promoting ALPHA and Bible reading in his diocese.
The truth is the net effect of Bishop Gene Robinson's consecration in 2003 has caused shock waves around the US and across the Anglican Communion tearing the fabric of the Communion and no amount of spin can or will change that. The consecration more recently of an openly non-celibate lesbian in Mary Glasspool only tossed gasoline on an already raging fire.
The bottom line is that the Ordinariate is one small but increasing demonstration of a widening crack in the fabric of TEC that is only expanding with time. Nothing it seems can stop it.
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