Both/And

If you ask Canon David Anderson about the recent decline in numbers in the Episcopal Church, he will tell you that 144 congregations have sprung up outside of the denomination. The ECUSA Press Office would deny that they have lost some 12 dozen parishes. And both would be right.

Here's why. The Rev. Dr. Foley Beach, the former rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Monroe, GA, along with 80% of his parishioners, left the Episcopal Church behind and began holding services in a rented space in Loganville. Approximately 20% of the parish remained and the Episcopal Church continues to number St. Alban's among its 7,000+ parishes.

But the church is a shadow of its former self, and Holy Cross Anglican Church, under the leadership of +Foley Beach, is thriving, having recently occupied a new campus on some 17 acres.

The Episcopal Church has both lost 80% of St. Alban's, Monroe, and retained 1/5 of the members. Seems that every so often the conservatives and the liberals can find something to agree on.