Episcopal Press and News
New Rector Joins Colorado Parish Wounded by AMiA Split
Episcopal News Service. April 18, 2002 [2002-096]
Dan Webster, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Utah
(ENS) The covered dish potluck supper in the small parish hall in Cortez, Colorado seemed like any other church meal. The deviled eggs were there. The decorated cake heralded the proper greeting for the new rector.
But St. Barnabas is a parish that, until very recently, was caught up in a theological and ecclesial firestorm. Its parishioners--those who remained--were gathering to celebrate the installation of their new rector, following the departure of its former rector and a number of others two years ago to join the breakaway Anglican Mission in America.
St. Barnabas was one of seven Colorado parishes who saw clergy and members leave to align themselves with the AMiA, which sees the Episcopal Church as "corrupted" by modern culture and asserts that it is the "true" expression of Anglican theology and tradition in the USA. Most have recovered and many have grown since their initial split. The diocese has 116 congregations in 81 communities across the state.
Deep wounds and departures
The Cortez AMiA congregation, known as the Anglican Church of Saint Philip the Evangelist, now worships at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Cortez, with an informal prayer service held on Tuesdays at a local nursing home. The Rev. Dennis Garrou, former rector of St. Barnabas, is pastor of the AMiA congregation and now resides canonically in the Province of South East Asia. "I had served as rector of an Episcopal parish in Cortez, Colorado, where the preaching of the Word of God was increasingly resented by a significant portion of our people," Garrou has said of the departure. "One leader even said to me, 'We ought to have the freedom to disagree with the Bible.' That was the watershed for me."
Garrou resigned effective May 31, 2000, and the next day, with thirty-three former St. Barnabas parishioners, formed the new congregation, which spent its first sixteen months in a meeting room of a local community college. The group was received into the AMiA in August, 2000.
In all, 14 diocesan clergy and about 600 members left Colorado parishes in 2000 to start their own AMiA-affiliated groups. "That's 600 in a diocese of 40,000," said the Rev. Canon Kelsey Hogue, who was the regional missioner who worked with the two-thirds of those remaining at St. Barnabas to begin rebuilding. "It has been a really painful time in their history. But we just kept reminding ourselves to step out in faith and trust in the Holy Spirit," he said.
The defections had striking similarities. Some clergy encouraged members to designate their Sunday offerings to the rector's discretionary fund and not the parish. Some vestries voted that designated sabbatical funds be given to clergy immediately before their departure for the AMiA. One parish discovered its memorial garden dug up--presumably so a defecting member could take the interred remains of a loved one with them. In all cases, remaining parishioners are living with deep wounds.
An instrument of inspiration
St. Barnabas' new rector, the Rev. Erika Meyer, is a former priest of the Diocese of Utah. She worked in youth and campus ministry, 1996-1999, and her last position was as interim rector at Grace Church, Waterford, New York, in the diocese of Albany.
"I feel really called to be here," the new rector said as she walked around the tan colored adobe-style church on the corner of North and Elm Streets. But she says she doesn't feel called to be a healer.
"I need to be an instrument of inspiration. I want to have God use me to make a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in someone else's life. Faith works in its fullest sense when we pass it on," she said. "People need hope and inspiration in their lives like they need food and water. I believe church should supply that in the most authentic way possible every Sunday."
Growing signs of hope
Signs of hope have sprouted in this extreme southwestern Colorado parish. A strong lay leadership has grown. Stan Morris, a member for 27 years, became senior warden when Garrou left for the AMiA.
"It seemed we were falling apart and going broke," Morris said, "but we completely changed the vestry. I was frightened to death. So we held Morning Prayer the next Sunday and here we are."
That was nearly two years ago. And in a community of about 10,000 population, friends with whom you used to worship just don't disappear. "Some of those who chose to leave are my friends and I still love them," said Jan Heyl, a church member for 15 years. "We all have to make our choices in life."
Help came from some of the 115 other parishes in the diocese. Another western slope congregation, St. Barnabas in Glenwood Springs, stood at the last diocesan convention to offer St. Barnabas in Cortez $6,000 to help pay for a full time rector. The Glenwood Springs church had just incorporated earlier than expected and shared its abundance with its namesake parish.
Big tasks, bigger God
But on this particular April evening those who chose to break bread together, both at dinner and at Eucharist, heard the Rt. Rev. Jerry Winterrowd, Bishop of Colorado, echo Hogue's sermon, "the best is yet to come for this congregation." "The tasks are big," said Hogue to the nearly 100 people gathered in the small church, "but because God is in our midst, it is doable."
"There is a sense of excitement and energy, fun and joy," said Cindy Bradley, junior warden and a member for 20 years. "We need to look at what we can all be doing together," she said following the installation service, "and we need to focus on us being the ministers."
Meyer seems to agree. "The thing that we don't do well as a church is a strong sense of discipleship, of a disciplined way of letting God transform us over time," she said. "Some folks find a way to do this through religious orders, but many ordinary Christians feel left to their own devices. The Prayer Book disciplines work well for some...but I need some simpler models aimed at teens and young adults as well."
Sunday attendance up
Sunday attendance has actually increased since the AMiA split. Much credit is given to the interim, the Rev. Pat Boots, an ELCA Lutheran pastor who worked very closely with Hogue and the lay leadership. When Pastor Boots arrived, average attendance at the early service was about six and 45 at the family service. Now the 8:00 a.m. service attracts about 25 and the 10:30 a.m. service is nearing 90 in attendance.
And Sunday school has grown by one. Johan Hedlund, the 3-year-old son of the Rev. Meyer and husband Carl Hedlund, spreads his brand of joy and energy around the basement classrooms.
"There is a feeling of hope and renewal here," said Charles Hubbard, a long time Episcopalian and parishioner for six years. "That's exactly what this place needs."
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