Inclusive Cathedral in Peril

Another story about how the masses are not flocking to the inclusive church. I truly believe that if these folks would embrace the genuine Gospel they could grow out of their problems. Unfortunately, this isn't likely to happen. ed.

From The Living Church:

Detroit Cathedral Seeks Prayer, Aid for Plight

Posted on: May 23, 2009
The landmark Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit has cash reserves for only six to eight weeks of operation and needs a cash infusion of some $200,000 in order to balance the 2009 budget, according to the Very Rev. Scott Hunter, dean of St. Paul’s, who met with diocesan council on May 9.

“I pulled no punches with them,” Dean Hunter told The Living Church. “The cathedral belongs to the entire diocese and we are facing either a hard landing zone or a high mountain, take your pick.”

Dean Hunter said that the cathedral began trying to bring expenses more in line with income about two years ago and that “painful sacrifices” by the entire congregation helped reduce its annual operating budget by $225,000. But the state’s rapidly declining economic situation and the sharp downturn in the financial markets brought the cathedral’s situation to a crisis stage within a relatively short time beginning last fall. The sudden nature of the downturn was the chief reason the cathedral leadership was not able to give diocesan council more advance notice of its plight.

“The gap has to close,” Dean Hunter said. “We will have to identify ways to generate additional revenue because it will be difficult to make more cuts that will have an immediate impact on finances for this year. These decisions will not be made without pain.”

During the past two years, the cathedral eliminated two full-time staff positions and reduced two other full-time positions to part time. When asked during the council meeting if there were more staff cuts that could assist the cathedral in reducing the financial shortfall, Dean Hunter was pessimistic.

“Even if we release people this year, their departure expenses will equal what we would be paying for them for the rest of the year,” he said. “The bottom line is, if this doesn’t happen, my brothers and sisters of council, what are your plans for selling and closing the complex and ceasing the ministry of the cathedral that is 100 years old and is by congregational age, older than the diocese itself?”

The Diocese of Michigan from 1948-1973 under the Rt. Rev. Richard S. Emrich was one of the fastest growing in The Episcopal Church.

“The modern, full cathedral was born in an era of post-World War II affluence and promise in the city of Detroit,” said Herb Gunn, long-time editor of The Record, the newspaper of the Diocese of Michigan. “Its founders, Bishop Joe Emrich and Dean John Weaver, bequeathed the entire diocese—and I’d say the entire Episcopal Church—with a vision of unity and growth.

“But they also bequeathed the diocese with a 1950s-style administrative complex that has become a financial burden in this day,” Mr. Gunn said. “It’s a dilemma with which the entire diocese, and perhaps the whole Episcopal Church, will have to contend and resolve.”

Part of the men’s vision of unity and growth for the cathedral involved constructing a diocesan administrative complex adjacent to the cathedral that now is too large for the number of staff, difficult to modernize and at odds with the diocesan vision. Mr. Gunn noted that there is significant space that the cathedral and diocese don’t use and can’t afford to maintain.

“If we lose that diversity it would be more than a symbolic loss,” he added. “It’s a severe blow to the dream of a truly inclusive church. We need to make sure that the cathedral is supported as a place for everyone, not just another church struggling in a city in decline.”

Dean Hunter said he did not come seeking a financial handout from diocesan council, which itself is faced with the challenge of reducing its 2009 budget by about one-third. Instead, the dean said he spoke to council in the hope of encouraging people to work together for a cathedral turnaround solution and to seek God’s help in making that happen through prayer.

“There are gospel things happening here every day,” he said. “We are not atrophying. We are a victim of a collision of economic circumstance and the other challenges of our time. We hope Episcopalians from throughout the church will join our diocese in praying that God will direct our next steps.”

Steve Waring