By Emily Hulen
A small Lexington church founded in the early 1980s by traditionalists breaking away from the national Episcopal Church is reporting a sharp increase in membership. This comes at a time when the Episcopal Church, the Protestant denomination of George Washington and Robert E. Lee, is again in turmoil.
The Rev. C. Thomas McHenry, Jr., rector
of St. Paul's Anglican Church in Lexington, said he suspects the current
conflict over approval of an openly gay bishop, and the recent selection
of a female presiding bishop who supports it, is contributing to the
upturn in the size of his congregation.
McHenry remembers a smaller growth spurt in attendance three to four years ago - around the time the gay bishop was approved - but said he has seen nothing like this since the church's birth in the early 1980s.
When the Episcopal Church began using a new prayer book in 1976, some local churchgoers left the denomination and formed what is now St. Paul's. It calls itself Anglican in honor of the Episcopal tradition rooted in the Church of England, but is not officially recognized as part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as is the U.S. Episcopal Church.
But the 13 churches in northern Virginia which have made news recently by splitting with the Episcopal Church have put themselves under the authority of a conservative Anglican bishop in Nigeria, establishing separate but legitimate claims to being in the worldwide communion with England.
It is not clear where the new members of St. Paul's are coming from, or why. But it is likely that they have complaints similar to those of the Episcopalians formed the church in the first place.
Margaret Davis, 87, was one of the founding members of that church. She grew up in the Church of England and joined R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church when she moved to Lexington in 1943.
But when the Episcopal Church began to change in the late 1970s, Davis said she knew that something would have to happen. The church replaced its 1928 Book of Common Prayer with a more modern version and accepted women priests. "It is no good going to church and getting mad," she said.
She met with a few couples for Anglican-style services at the Lexington home of the Rev. Bill Crites. As more couples began to join, they moved to Lee Chapel on Washington and Lee University's campus. Then, they moved to the Sigma Nu national headquarters building where Davis worked at the time.
"We started in a very, very simple way," said Davis, "but we were very serious about it."
Davis recalled bringing flowers from her own garden for the altar and playing a very small, portable piano keyboard at services. "I had to transpose some of the hymns because there weren't enough octaves on our keyboard."
The congregation then bought their current property at the corner of Davidson and Nelson streets and was able to pay it off within three years.
"We were just sort of lucky. Things always worked out for us somehow," Davis said.
Now, new changes within the Episcopal Church has led to controversy again.
Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was consecrated in 2003 as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. Because homosexual relationships were traditionally not recognized by Episcopal churches, many congregations have disapproved of his acceptance as bishop.
"When the Rev. Robinson was ordained, there were some members who left our church," said Brian Shaw, senior warden at R.E. Lee Memorial.
Kay Horner, administrator at R.E. Lee Memorial, said that any changes in membership are negligible.
In 1976, Episcopalians adopted a new position at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church regarding female priests and changes to the liturgy.
"They abandoned 2000 years of tradition and Catholic faith to be modern," said McHenry of the 1976 decision.
Decades after leaving R.E. Lee Memorial, Davis fully supports the Virginia churches that are now splitting from the Diocese of Virginia, which covers the eastern part of the state.
"They're sticking to what they believed in," Davis said. "By leaving that church, you're not changing. You're staying the same."
The Anglican Church's official point of view
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd