In 2002, the Diocese of Central New York had 100 parishes and an average Sunday attendance of 6,734. In 2017, the DCNY had 81 parishes with an average Sunday attendance of 3,609. I believe that I can explain why this has happened.
When I was rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Vestal, one of our local rectors was called to become the dean of the Cathedral in Syracuse. After roughly a year, he requested to enter the search process for his former parish and was called a second time to be rector there.
He came back to our local clergy group and reported that there were only 19 full-time priest positions in the diocese at that time. Today, I wonder how many there are. A number of churches have been yoked with other churches to provide one priest with a livable stipend. As you can see from the numbers above, 19 churches have closed their doors.
Meanwhile, three churches that left the DCNY after an openly gay and divorced man was consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire continue to offer orthodox Anglican worship and ministry. A fourth Anglican church was planted in Syracuse and it is doing splendidly.
We give thanks for St. Andrew's Church, my parish in Endicott, Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton, St. Andrew's Church in Syracuse, and Church of the Holy Trinity in Syracuse. These four churches did not bow the knee to the neo-paganism that has swept across the Episcopal Church. These four churches continue to offer authentic orthodox Anglican worship and ministry to our needy world. Thanks be to God for their faithfulness!
Meanwhile, the DCNY continues its slide into oblivion, embracing, teaching and practicing a false gospel. Along with other liberal mainline denominations, the numbers continue downward for the Episcopal Church.
The only way upward is to repent of past and present sins and return to obedience to Jesus Christ as His ways have been revealed in His Holy Word. This is something that I would never expect the Episcopal Church to do. But it is their only hope.
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