I have not been a member of All Saints’ for as long as some of you. I am not an expert on the church hierarchies, nor do I have“inside information”. Having served on committees throughout my membership here as well as in other Episcopal churches, I would like to write about some things from my perspective.
For all of the meetings/surveys that took place during our Rector search and interim phase and with all of the feedback that had to have been collected, I was not overly impressed with the person who was hired to be our spiritual leader when I first met him and heard him preach. I told myself “He needs to be given a chance so, let’s just see how it goes”. Throughout the two plus years that our Rector has been with us I have yet to see or feel any different from when he first began. In addition to my feelings, I’ve not heard many sincere, positive comments about him and in fact have been hearing lots of negative and even shocking things. Now, after reading through the information on this blog (specifically, WORDS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM OUR RECTOR’S FORMER CHURCHES) about the improprieties that he was involved in, I am troubled. Watching with frustration as families leave the church and hearing that staff, committee leaders and members have resigned, stepped down or have been asked to step down by him or because of him, gives me even greater pause. Frankly, it makes me sick to my stomach. I have tried to maintain a Christian attitude, it is very hard when I see brothers and sisters from my church family in pain around me as a direct result of our “leader’s” behavior. With the doubt and distrust that has been growing inside me more and more as time goes on and as I see the service attendance numbers dropping, it is very hard to believe that All Saints’ is headed in a good direction.
Thank you to the blogger for creating this forum – it has been an interesting and enlightening read.
In faith - God be with us All,
A Struggling but Surviving member of All Saints’
For all of the meetings/surveys that took place during our Rector search and interim phase and with all of the feedback that had to have been collected, I was not overly impressed with the person who was hired to be our spiritual leader when I first met him and heard him preach. I told myself “He needs to be given a chance so, let’s just see how it goes”. Throughout the two plus years that our Rector has been with us I have yet to see or feel any different from when he first began. In addition to my feelings, I’ve not heard many sincere, positive comments about him and in fact have been hearing lots of negative and even shocking things. Now, after reading through the information on this blog (specifically, WORDS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM OUR RECTOR’S FORMER CHURCHES) about the improprieties that he was involved in, I am troubled. Watching with frustration as families leave the church and hearing that staff, committee leaders and members have resigned, stepped down or have been asked to step down by him or because of him, gives me even greater pause. Frankly, it makes me sick to my stomach. I have tried to maintain a Christian attitude, it is very hard when I see brothers and sisters from my church family in pain around me as a direct result of our “leader’s” behavior. With the doubt and distrust that has been growing inside me more and more as time goes on and as I see the service attendance numbers dropping, it is very hard to believe that All Saints’ is headed in a good direction.
Thank you to the blogger for creating this forum – it has been an interesting and enlightening read.
In faith - God be with us All,
A Struggling but Surviving member of All Saints’
No comments:
Post a Comment