Via TitusOneNine:
Five years after a gay bishop's consecration, a diocese and those who left it have moved on
By Jeff Brumley, The Jacksonville Times-Union
Two years ago, the Rev. Kurt Dunkle's ministry involved waging legal battles with current and former Episcopalians intent on leaving the Episcopal Church.
Dunkle was Bishop Samuel Johnson Howard's right-hand man in a struggle over the future of the Jacksonville-based Episcopal Diocese of Florida.
Today, Dunkle's life couldn't be more different.
He's rector of Grace Episcopal in Orange Park, a parish that saw close to 100 percent of its members leave on Easter 2006. Tuesday found him leading a morning service for about 150 elementary day-school children. His homily utilized toy hands and feet to symbolize the body of Christ and ended with one child's prayer for "all pets including Luke's fish, who died."
The change in mood and job description struck Dunkle as he left the sanctuary.
"This is a different gig than managing the lawsuits," he said with a smile.
The fact is, today it's a different gig for just about everyone here who was caught up in the controversy surrounding the Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the openly-gay priest consecrated as bishop of New Hampshire on Nov. 2, 2003.
Leaders and lay people on both sides say the makeup of this diocese has allowed it to get past the schism and move on sooner to the sorts of ministries they feel called by God to do. As a result, dioceses elsewhere in the country are consulting Howard for advice on what to do.
'Exciting' times
Robinson's election and consecration began the ongoing split in the U.S.- based denomination, which has seen two dioceses vote to leave along with thousands of clergy and lay people.
Membership declined from 2.2 million in 2003 to 2.1 million in 2007 - although some of that can be attributed to the overall drop among mainline denominations, said Kirk Hadaway, director of research for the Episcopal Church.
The event made Howard's North Florida diocese ground zero for theological and legal wrangling that resulted in all or parts of close to 20 congregations leaving, representing a decline in membership and giving of around 12 percent.
Howard attributes that to the more conservative, Southern setting of his diocese, giving it a "critical mass" of Episcopalians who were alarmed by what Robinson's elevation meant to their church and spirituality.
As a result, the local crisis occurred relatively early on, enabling both sides to move on to issues like church growth and church planting
"It's exciting," said the Rev. Gene Strickland, the priest who led All Souls parish out of the Episcopal Church and into temporary worship space at Mandarin Middle School in July 2007. "A lot of that stuff from the past we've let go. That's not where we live."
Unenviable position
Howard, who was also elected bishop in 2003, spent roughly the first three years in office dealing with unhappy priests and congregations.
The Rev. Neil Lebhar, a leader and spokesman for the congregations and clergy that eventually left the denomination, said Howard was in a most unenviable position from Day 1.
"I think it's arguable he became bishop in the most difficult season in the history of the Episcopal Church, or at least within the last century," Lebhar said.
Lebhar is rector at Redeemer Anglican in Jacksonville and leader of the Anglican Alliance of North Florida and Georgia. The Alliance represents close to 20 congregations made up mostly of about 3,000 former members of Howard's diocese.
They came from a large and well-organized core of Episcopalians who saw Robinson's election as the last straw in the denomination's gradual-but-steady abandonment of biblical orthodoxy and Christian tradition.
At first, Lebhar said, he and other conservatives saw Howard as an ally who would lead the diocese out of the Episcopal Church if necessary.
It was when Howard refused to join the Anglican Communion Network - a decision he declared on his first day - that they knew he was not an ally.
Though he initially favored joining, Howard said he abandoned that plan once it became clear the organization was evolving into an alternative church. "I had no choice. I took vows to uphold the unity of the church."
The rift grew wider when Howard refused to break communion with the denomination's House of Bishops, which by then included Robinson.
It was a difficult pill for Lebhar and like-minded Episcopalians to swallow, especially since Howard's predecessor, the late Bishop Stephen Jecko, was solidly in the then-burgeoning secessionist movement.
"Went from a bishop who was leading the charge . . . to a bishop who put a higher value on remaining loyal to the denomination."
But Howard said the surprise was his.
He thought some of those conservative leaders would be his allies because he made it clear during the interview process that he couldn't imagine leading the diocese out of the denomination.
Howard said he also was surprised because he is a theologically conservative bishop. He does not allow same-sex blessing services in his parishes, wouldn't have voted for Robinson if he had had the chance and forbids clergy to be sexually active outside of traditional marriage.
Pain in the pews
The resulting conflict was emotionally taxing for both sides.
The conservatives tried unsuccessfully to work the system by proposing resolutions at diocesan conventions to distance the diocese from the national church. Then Lebhar and other priests began to take their congregations out of the denomination.
Other Anglican bishops, mostly from Africa and South America, extended oversight to those congregations and clergy who had departed.
Lawsuits over property ensued.
"It was a painful and disillusioning time," Lebhar said.
The diocese successfully sued Lebhar's parish to establish the precedent that departing congregations cannot remain on church property.
Bruce Dougherty, senior warden at All Souls Anglican, said many in the congregation were devastated to leave behind the facilities they'd held dear for nearly 30 years. Many continue to grieve.
At Grace Episcopal, member Richard Cobb, 66, was one of 35 who remained behind on the 7-acre, 21-building campus in 2006. He said it caused him "great sadness" to see hundreds of friends abandon the parish and denomination.
In April, Howard rescinded the holy orders of Lebhar and 21 other priests and deacons, many of whom already had led their congregations out of the diocese months or years before.
During the past five years, more than 20 provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion have declared a broken relationship with the Episcopal Church. The dioceses in Pittsburgh and San Joaquin (Calif.) have left.
"It's not the way Anglicans have ever done business," Howard said.
Howard, whose previous post was as a priest at Trinity Church on Wall Street, where he helped counsel people on and after 9/11, said the schism's emotional impact on him "was more difficult than 9/11."
Transformations
But the months and years since have changed things, Howard said. Membership has returned to about 30,000 and giving is back up to pre-2003 levels. He is focused on planting churches, developing a rural medical outreach program and expanding prison ministries. He also plans to install a priest focused solely on youth ministry.
Dunkle said that while his role defending the diocese was rewarding, "the fuel for his fire" is the challenge of growing a church, which has gone from the remnant of 35 who stayed behind to as many as 400 now.
Cobb said his parish, Grace Episcopal, has its focus back on sacramental things after losing it to issues surround Robinson's ordination. "It's . . . a great joy that we are engaging in what we regard as the true purpose of our church."
It's the same for those who left the denomination and diocese behind.
All Souls has adopted a nearby apartment complex where it plans to minister to the spiritual and physical needs of its residents. The parish is also ramping up its prison outreach and planting more churches.
Dougherty said it's a relief to be out of the "limbo" created by battles with the national church. A relief to be sharing the gospel again. And a relief to be almost completely oblivious to the turmoil that continues in some parts of the Episcopal Church.
"I deliberately stopped reading the blogs and reading the e-mails, because we're not part of that any more," Dougherty said.
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