From the DSWF P.R. Dept.

A rebirth at St. Dunstan's Church in Largo
Remaining parishioners vow to rebuild after congregations splits

By Jim DeLa
Diocesan director of communications

There were about 30 people in the pews for the 10:15 a.m. service at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Largo on May 2, most bunched along the center aisle, near the altar.

They were there to witness a rebirth of a congregation that has been in turmoil since last fall, when its former rector tried to lead them out of The Episcopal Church and affiliate with a conservative Anglican coalition based in Pennsylvania.

“Even though this gathering today is made up of people who have been through pain, as well as people who are here to offer great loving support, God is with us,” Bishop Dabney Smith told those assembled.

The 13 Episcopalians who remain at St. Dunstan’s have decided to rebuild their congregation after spending months trying to work out a settlement with their former fellow parishioners. Bishop Smith has appointed the Rev. Norman Howard as their priest-in-charge.

Untenable situation
Since September, both congregations had been coexisting at the church at 126th Avenue North, holding separate services and sharing the parish hall. By late March, however, the breakaway Anglican congregation had begun to limit the Episcopalians’ access to their property, Senor Warden Nancy Campbell said.

The church’s website was altered; the word "Episcopal" and the Episcopal logo were removed from signs. Then the Episcopalians discovered the locks to the building had been changed. They were also told they could no longer worship in their church on Sunday morning because the Anglican choir needed the sanctuary for rehearsal. “They told us we had to worship at three in the afternoon,” Campbell said. At that point, she recalled, “We felt we could not have two churches here.”

The diocese sent an e-mail to Sellers on April 25, informing him that he must vacate the rector’s office to make way for Howard.
The diocese also authorized the vestry to take steps to “control the buildings, grounds and mission” of St. Dunstan’s by changing the locks back to their control and restoring “Episcopal” on its signs visible from the street.

Sellers reacted angrily to the e-mail, Campbell said, as he packed up his office the next day and left.

Bishop Smith says the congregation and the diocese will be taking its time to evaluate the congregation’s viability. “We’ll be doing a complete audit and inventory, in order to make informed decisions,” he said. He also said he is hopeful the diocese will be able to have “continuing, gracious conversation” with the Anglican congregation. The diocese released an official statement on the situation April 30.

The rebuilding effort, Campbell says, has been made more difficult by the fact that Sellers took computers with him, containing many of the church’s records. Also, Sellers still controls the church’s published phone number and administrative access to St. Dunstan’s website, she said.

The diocese is continuing to talk with lawyers representing the Anglican congregation to ensure all records are returned to St. Dunstan’s, according to Susan Churuti, the diocesan vice chancellor for the St. Petersburg area.

Sellers’ congregation is now part of the Anglican Church in North America, a coalition of former Episcopal congregations that say The Episcopal Church, in recent years, has strayed too far from orthodox Anglican beliefs. It is lead by the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, with headquarters in Ambridge, Pa.

Campbell says the stress of the last few months has taken its toll. “It’s been a roller coaster. I haven’t slept well,” she said, but “God keeps telling me to hang in there. “

Looking forward
At the May 2 service, Bishop Smith used the readings of the day to bolster the congregation. “The congregation has gone through despair and discouragement. But if you pay attention to what we are informed in the Revelation to John, God’s promise is, ‘I will be their God. I will be with them.’

“There are our brothers and sisters who are not with us today. It is the hope of this congregation that this is a new birth, a time of renewal, a time of welcome and especially of first-time healing, so that renewal can take place,” Bishop Smith said.

As the service began, three men identifying themselves as members of Sellers’ congregation were standing at the entrances to St. Dunstan’s parking lot, stopping incoming cars and handing out maps to their new location, in a nearby building formerly used by the United Methodist Church.

“This is our Lord’s church,” Bishop Smith said. “We are our Lord’s people. And our Lord has commanded us to love one another the Lord’s way. ... to practice, on purpose, forgiveness.

“The Lord’s way is to practice, on purpose, truth-telling. The Lord’s way is to practice, on purpose, being Jesus’ people,” he said.
Campbell said St. Dunstan’s appreciates the support from the diocesan community. “We’ve felt the prayers and the love,” she said.

At coffee hour after the service, she pointed out several people who had come that day after leaving St. Dunstan’s because of the turmoil. She said she hoped more will decide to do the same, including those now in Sellers’ congregation. “I love ‘em, dearly. I miss them,” she said.