Church Attempts to Heal After Split

By: Ann Rodgers | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

People Mentioned in the Article
  • Archbishop Robert Duncan
  • Betsy Hetzler
  • Bishop Johnson
  • Bishop Robert Johnson
  • Deacon Homer Hicks
  • Doug Toth
  • Fran Gargotta
  • Jim Wilson
  • Lionel Deimel
  • Rev. Cynthia Bronson Sweigert
  • Rev. Edwards
  • Rev. Harold Lewis
  • Rev. James Simons
  • Rev. Jeff Murph
  • Rev. Jonathan Millard
  • Rev. Karen Stevenson
  • Rev. Lawrence Deihle
  • Rev. Lynn Edwards
  • Susan Pollard
Quotes in the Article
  • Deimel:
    • "a bittersweet victory."
    • "All of us are trying to figure out how to work together,"
    • "I suspect that, to some degree, all sides are going to try to avoid divisive issues until we have a longer history of working with one another."
  • Duncan:
    • "The Lord is blessing us. There aren't any glum faces around here,"
  • Edwards:
    • "When we're in chapter meetings, I call him Archbishop, because that is his title now. I would never dream of calling him Mr. Duncan, as some people have. ... He is still a bishop, he simply isn't my bishop any more,"
  • Gargotta:
    • "Bishop Johnson is the right person for us. ... He understands what has transpired, and that there needs to be some healing."
    • "It's like someone opened the windows and let in fresh air."
  • Hetzler:
    • "I have friends there, but I feel a release not being there any more. My heart is in the parish where I belong now,"
  • Hicks:
    • "We've all agreed that what has happened has happened,"
    • "We wish the other churches well. Christianity in this country is suffering and there is plenty of room for growth for everybody."
    • "We felt that, to have a fresh start, we should be someplace that would give us an opportunity to reach into a community that didn't already have an Anglican church,"
  • Johnson:
    • "I don't talk about the problems we face in this diocese unless they ask me. I find that most people are focused forward,"
    • "When I arrived it was just me -- a bishop, a cell phone and a car. It was like being a missionary bishop,"
    • "I was very intentional about how I wanted to act with him, to approach the meeting with a spirit of Christian reconciliation,"
    • "But we have to believe that we're called to do the work that our Lord wants us to do, each in his own way, and not look back."
    • "We don't always know for certain just how. I don't, and Bishop Duncan doesn't,"
  • Lewis:
    • "are occupying positions in the life of the diocese which were impossible for us before because we were on the wrong side of the ideological divide,"
  • Millard:
    • "We've done what we believe is right and we aren't in control of the consequences,"
  • Murph:
    • "There is sadness, because we love these people and have worked together with them for years,"
    • "We had jambalaya for 100 and ran out of food,"
    • "It came down to a different calling from God,"
  • Pollard:
    • "St. Paul's no longer represented what we believed in. Toward the end there were people who weren't talking to me, just because my views were known to be a little more traditional,"
  • Simons:
    • "We would have no difficulty sending people there,"
  • Stevenson:
    • "There is tremendous personal sadness. I love those people."
    • "It's hard to pursue the reconciliation that we want to have as fellow Christians because we feel we have to check with the lawyers to make sure we're not setting some precedent,"
  • Sweigert:
    • "Schism is a negative thing. I really agree with that. But yet, it feels like an abstraction. The reality is that we were in an unhappy marriage for so long that we needed to divide before there could ever be any hope of reconciliation."
    • "We had all experienced a convention that was much more positive and happy than in the past,"
    • "We are really happy in this new configuration,"
  • Toth:
    • "I don't get involved any more. I go to church, I worship quietly, I keep my opinions to myself and I leave,"
  • Wilson:
    • "It reminds me of the stories from World War I, where a truce was called for Christmas and soldiers from both sides met in the middle of no man's land to sing carols before they went back to shooting each other,"
Mentions of the Schism in the Article
  • split
  • She moved to the Church of the Nativity in Crafton
  • "I have friends there, but I feel a release not being there any more. My heart is in the parish where I belong now,"
  • Oct. 4 vote by the Diocese of Pittsburgh to secede from the 2.1 million-member Episcopal Church, one of 38 provinces in the 80 million-member Anglican Communion, a global body of churches that grew out of the Church of England. The vote hinged on whether the denomination had abandoned biblical faith in matters ranging from salvation to sexuality.
  • broken relationships and anger over property litigation.
  • fractured dioceses
  • 57-parish Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican) isn't affiliated with the Episcopal
  • While Archbishop Duncan builds a 100,000-member international body from scratch, Bishop Robert Johnson ministers part time to the 28-parish diocese that remains in the Episcopal Church. It now has an office in Monroeville.
  • "I don't talk about the problems we face in this diocese unless they ask me. I find that most people are focused forward,"
  • Some of those caught in the split faced painful choices.
  • Church had lost its biblical moorings
  • moved too far to the theological left
  • worships in the Anglican diocese while her husband works in the Episcopal diocese.
  • there were people who weren't talking to me, just because my views were known to be a little more traditional,"
  • secession
  • lawsuit filed against the diocese by other opponents of secession.
  • felt threatened by his allies.
  • reluctantly followed his bishop and parish out of the Episcopal Church.
  • tremendous personal sadness
  • conversations with friends on the other side
  • hard to pursue the reconciliation that we want to have as fellow Christians
  • lose their building to the Episcopal diocese,
  • pre-emptive strike against secession
  • split he fought
  • ideological divide
  • But Episcopal leaders are just as theologically conservative as the Anglicans
  • lost about 50 of his church's 630 members, who started an Anglican parish in a Baptist church a few blocks away.
  • those who left wanted a clear break with the Episcopal Church.
  • splinter congregation, St. John the Evangelist, the Rev. Lawrence Deihle still speaks glowingly of St. Thomas,
  • "It came down to a different calling from God," he said of the split.
  • parishes aren't competitors, but share a mission field,
  • two parishes that its 30 members left.
  • what has happened has happened,
  • Episcopal dioceses will not send candidates there
  • Nowhere is a spirit of reconciliation more evident than at historic Trinity Cathedral, Downtown.
  • approach the meeting with a spirit of Christian reconciliation
  • he simply isn't my bishop any more,
  • regrets the split
  • once opposed each other
  • gay ordination
  • divisive issues
  • Schism is a negative thing
Parishes Mentioned in the Article
  • Church of the Atonement
  • Church of the Nativity
  • Atonement
  • St. Paul's
  • Christ Church
  • Church of the Ascension
  • Calvary
  • St. Thomas
  • St. John the Evangelist
  • Harvest Anglican Church
  • Shepherd's Heart
  • Trinity Cathedral
  • St. Brendan's
  • Church of the Redeemer

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Summary

This spilt affected the parishioners in the Pittsburgh area. This article asks whether or not the split changed peoples church life. Some felt the need to move parishes but still felt an attachment to their old church communities. Others felt a loss of community choosing to keep quiet, worship quietly, and keep to their own opinions. In most of the cases however the parishes remain friendly with each other despite the theological split. As for those who had a strong opinion about the split. This secession allowed for those parishioners to be able to speak their opinion. The split has offered many conflicting opinions on the subject.
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