Rector and Vestry of St. John’s Moultrie Diocese of Georgia Resign

Okay, so it sounds like this rector and his council have considered what their consciences require, and done it.

Does anyone know what they will do now?  I wouldn’t expect the diocesan web-site to say more than it did, and the parish web-site doesn’t refer to this issue.  But it sounds like they have a plan of some sort, whether it is ACNA or the Ordinariate or the Continuum or independence or goodness knows what.

Hi Michael,
As soon as more information is available for public consumption, I’ll do my best to get it posted.

Somebody needs to remind this parish that they can’t leave.  After all, TEC bishops told us that there would be no further fall out from General Convention didn’t they?  Those TEC bishops wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t true, would they? 

No more fall out!  No more decline!  No more people leaving!

And if they do, we’ll just have to close our eyes, plug our ears and pretend they aren’t.

Benhase tottering on the fence and now with a parish to provide parishioners and payola for.  Gosh, it just doesn’t get any better than this!  Does it, Bishop?

US Senator Saxby Chambliss’ home church just left the Episcopal Church. Fascinating.

Just to make sure all of the information is correct and up-to-date, St. Mark’s Anglican Church is a parish in formation in the Anglican Diocese of the South in the Anglican Church in North America.  We are in the process of being received as a mission/parish, and I have been received as a priest in good standing in ACNA under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of The Rt. Rev. Foley Beach.  We will be worshiping in the chapel at Trinity Baptist Church in Moultrie, and we are most grateful for their hospitality in allowing us to use space in their building.  We are a 1928 BCP parish, and look forward to welcoming all to worship in the traditional Anglican Way as we have always done.  This move comes after a great deal of prayer and discernment, and I am grateful and proud to lead a congregation willing to make a stand for the historic faith, and confront the challenges that lie ahead.  We bid your prayers for us as we respond to God’s call, and we support and pray for those within TEC called to contend for the catholic faith from within.

Fr. Will McQueen
St. Mark’s Anglican Church

Amen, Fr. McQueen.  Will do.

God’s speed and protection to you and your parish, Fr. McQueen.  You are in our prayers.

I can’t imagine that there will be much, if any, of a TEC remnant at St. John’s. Given that the Rector and vestry all resigned, and that someone has been named as vicar, one would assume that the Bishop has taken over the parish.

This is (was) a major Anglo-Catholic parish in that diocese.

My friends in that diocese say that it is not wealthy. Perhaps they can work out a deal to sell the property to St. Mark’s Anglican.

May God bless them with abundance and peace.

Welcome to the Diocese of the South, Fr. McQueen and company.  Always good to have another 1928 BCP parish, and Anglo-Catholic to boot, if Ralph (9) is correct.

I believe this now makes 223 churches that have either split or left Tec since 2005. Leaving a church building (done that) is difficult at first but in the end very rewarding.
May God continue to bless Fr. Will McQueen and his faithful flock.

I pray and wish this church well. 

I’m often fascinated by the former websites of such churches, and how some change abruptly and others linger on with outdated information or only small changes; a minority remain with the congregation.

I think we should have a competition to see who can guess how long it will take for the diocese to remove that divisive and unhelpful link to Stand Firm.

Martin5,
I have no data to challenge your number, but 223?  That actually seems a very small number when you consider that 4 entire dioceses left- while Quincy is tiny (25 parishes listed) and San Joaquin on the small side (I still find 44 congregations listed on their website), with Ft. Worth (58) and Pittsburgh (50+ not counting the ones outside the old diocese that they have taken under their wing) account for 177+/- by themselves. All of them have extended oversight to other congregations around the country who have left TEC.  And if you count splits, well, I am not sure I know what that term means, anymore.  I know several churches in this state that have lost a large percentage of their ASA, if that makes for a “split”, but the parish per se remains part of TEC- and nationally that would add up to many more than 223.

#14 You are correct. I should have looked at my footnote. That doesn’t include Pittsburgh, Fort Worth or Quincy. It would be 350 churches now. I stopped keeping track by individual churches when those 3 left.
Time to update.

re: doing the addition - not all of Pgh left, and the TEC Dio Pgh lists 34 congregations (I think close to 70 did leave).  Some of the orthodox congregations remained TEC and didn’t go off w/  +Bob Duncan, though I’m not sure how many.  And not all members of +Duncan’s Pgh are “local,” there’s a number of them that are physically located elsewhere.  Counting by geography may not be accurate if you depend on any official lists.

Well, congratulations Stand Firm.  Someone consider the links on the St. John’s web page to be so odious as to merit removal in fewer than twenty-four hours. 

Can’t have the sheeple being exposed to such retrograde perspectives - they might have questions!  Must preserve diversity!

I doff my electronic chapeau.

Fr. McQueen, as a ex-TECican who left in 2012, and a member of a new REC/ACNA parish that has been in the works for thirty years before it particularized, and as one who wishes to see your new work thrive, I implore you and your new vestry not to skimp on family ministries.

#17, The website has now been made over.
http://www.stjohnsmoultrie.org/

The parish has gone to mission status. Services will not be held in the building. Whatever remnant is left will worship with another TEC church in the area whose minimalist website nonetheless offers a link to “Integrity Georgia.”
http://stmargaretsmoultrie.georgiaepiscopal.org/?page_id=36

And, “A meeting at St. John’s for its members will be hosted in early August.” I wonder how many that might be.

Thanks for the update—looks like another empty building for TEC.

Ralph - yes, thanks for the update.  How very sad. 

Will+  - I hope the departure goes well for you and your parishioners.  Don’t crush the grief.

v. sad how far back the website’s history of the parish stops.  Parish status achieved in 1958, no news since then.