Much of it sprang from Lloyd's attempts to deal with the cathedral's financial problems, while Chane's attitude was to keep the party going without questioning what was being done. Lloyd seemed to be trying to preserve and help TEC [and the cathedral] remain Christian, while Chane seemed intent on its destruction without introspection and about what he was doing. In short, Chane saw interfaith alliances as more important than announcing the Faith once for all delivered to the saints.

"Furthermore, Lloyd is widely hated in the Diocese of Washington--to the point that clergy were talking about him at public meetings. He had frequent staff turn-over. One of the cathedral chaplains sent out a widely-read email in which she said that Lloyd did not care about the chaplains. I read that email. Following that, Lloyd confronted the situation and an email was sent out by one of his canons attempting to correct the perception.

"This priest left the cathedral shortly after that. Chane wrote a glowing recommendation letter for her.

"Lloyd had really struggled to keep the money situation at the Cathedral under control and brought in numerous bus tours to help the situation. Even this was unpopular, though with all the lay-offs, clearly some plan was needed to make money. The gossip is that Chane was using the Soper Trust Fund (the diocese's primary source of income) for operating expenses and that would have been illegal.

"Lloyd's push to make a parish community at the Cathedral was also unpopular. This was another huge change for the Cathedral which wanted to see itself as a House of Prayer for all people which meant that all religious leaders were welcome no matter what their message was. It was Lloyd's desire to keep a strong Episcopal presence at the Cathedral."

Following Lloyd's resignation, Chane declared himself the interim at the cathedral. "I see this as Chane's over-reach of ungodly authority. Why Chane should be the interim makes no sense and it reads almost like he will now undo what Lloyd has done."

The source said Lloyd was a popular preacher and seemed like a sincerely spiritual person. "He supported the consecration of homosexuals and lesbians, although he spoke openly about the problems of the Episcopal Church. When I interviewed him, he said that TEC had failed the entire next generation and he was not sure the church would survive. So Lloyd's message was that there was trouble that we needed to understand and discern what came next. Chane was saying all was well because of his prophetic ministry with social justice. It sort of reminded me of the prophet Jeremiah telling the king that there were problems while the other religious leaders were saying all was well."

In an e-mail to the diocese, Chane put the best front on the situation praising Lloyd saying he served the Cathedral with distinction and had been instrumental in both stabilizing its finances and recruiting a gifted and committed staff that will continue to serve the mission and ministry of the Cathedral for many years to come.

"Sam and I have had a wonderful relationship during the years of his deanship, and I will very much miss his presence, his friendship and leadership. He has been a source of strength during the financial challenges that the Cathedral has had to face during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."

Lloyd himself put a good face on his departure telling Peggy Eastman of The Living Church that the transition to parish life "was an answer to prayer.

"My fundamental calling is as a priest - a preacher and teacher and pastor," he said. "And the decision for me was to let go of this large, complex, exciting place" and to focus on a pastoral ministry. While he said that returning to his former parish "was a surprise" and "not part of the plan," the possibility began to emerge as he thought about and prayed about his perceived calling to return to parish ministry.

"I'm not in this business to step up," he said. "Every step has been to ask what with my gifts I'm being called to do."

Lloyd's tenure at the cathedral was rocky to say the least. In May of 2010 he sent out an urgent appeal to supporters asking for $500,000 by June 30, "to prevent further budget cuts and [to] fix the damage caused by the winter storms."

Earlier the National Cathedral completed its fourth round of layoffs. Another seven employees were laid off (65% of its work force was laid off in the first round in the fall of 2008), including senior staff member Canon John Runkle, priest, architect and conservation specialist who was in charge of the preservation of the cathedral.

More recently, he has had an uphill battle to keep the cathedral doors open. A bone was thrown to the cathedral recently when it received a $700,000 grant from the Department of the Interior's National Park Service for preservation of its historic buildings.

The question of his sudden departure can only be viewed as primarily political.

Going backwards from the deanship of the Episcopal Church's flagship cathedral to priest-in-charge of a parish in Boston would require a humility not usually found in ambitious priests and certainly not in Samuel T. Lloyd whose liberal gospel ultimately eschewed evangelism for ecumenicity.

The attitude at the Cathedral is that he is going home, the source told VOL. "One person at the Cathedral said that he will try to reclaim a life and some happiness. I don't think he sees his time at the Cathedral as a success and has been really been fighting hard to survive.

"I see this as a loss of his will. It could be also because of who the next bishop is. The thinking was that if Sam Candler from Atlanta, Georgia had won, Lloyd might have stayed.

"The new bishop, a woman, The Rev. Dr. Mariann Edgar Budde, was brought by Skype into the Cathedral and gave her first acceptance speech in Spanish (addressing all five of the Latino people present in the midst of four hundred.) She came across as totally liberal and it was discouraging.

"I think in Lloyd's heart he is more of a spiritual academic and the Cathedral environment was too tough for him."

He will not be missed.

END