Following the predictable passage of two resolutions by the House of Bishops and House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church authorizing gay marriage liturgies and making the church's marriage canons gender neutral, the real question now is this: Will there be a second wave of departures from The Episcopal Church?

When Gene Robinson was created bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, some 200,000 active Episcopalians upped and left TEC over the next decade. Soon after the Anglican Church in North America was born.

While there are different lines in the sand for why people leave TEC, this will undoubtedly be one for many Episcopalians.

Long time Episcopalians, the aging Republican guard who have faithfully stayed and paid the bills, might now be having second thoughts -- if they can release themselves from the newly built columbarium that has their name on it. For other Episcopalians, there is simply nowhere else to go -- there is no local ACNA parish and they are reluctant to go to the local Lutheran, Roman, or independent evangelical church because they simply have no ties, friends, or families there. They will stay put, faithful to their local parish, but privately revolted by the actions of their bishops and leaders.

Some Episcopal leaders still maintain the myth that the Episcopal Church will weather the cultural and spiritual storm sweeping around them and sail into a sunny future with hope in their hearts and growth on their minds, with a new charismatic leader in Michael Curry, who truly is light years from the last presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori.

At a press conference when I asked a question about decline, Bishop Thomas C. Ely of Vermont, said his diocese is actually growing, so did Katie Sherrod, lay delegate from Ft. Worth. When she was asked how her diocese was faring after losing more than 70% of its members, she flared her nostrils and said there were signs of growth despite the "temporary" loss of church properties and people.

The head in the sand approach doesn't go down well with this reporter. Denial is not a river in Egypt and decline is systemic in TEC.

Later, when I asked two bishops, Dean Wolfe of Kansas and Sean Rowe of Northwestern Pennsylvania, what they thought of the response of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Global South Primates to the actions of TEC over gay marriage, they said they hadn't read their statements. They believe there are LGBT persons in Africa that need protecting, but not Nigerian evangelical Anglicans who must daily face Boko Haran who kill Christians precisely because of the stand TEC has taken on homosexuality. The blindness continues.

For some individuals, it is the end of the road for TEC.

"The bishops finally went over the edge, and I'm not about to follow them," wrote canon lawyer Allan Haley, whose Anglican Curmudgeon blog is the best blog on legal issues facing the Church today. One can't imagine he's the only one.

The Archbishop of Canterbury did weigh in on the decision of TEC expressing, "deep concern about the stress for the Anglican Communion following the US Episcopal Church's House of Bishops' resolution to change the definition of marriage in the canons so that any reference to marriage as between a man and a woman is removed." He added it would have ramifications for the Anglican Communion as a whole, as well as for its ecumenical and interfaith relationships.

The weakness of his statement is that it is a shallow corporate response to a deeply troubled theological position. Welby's worry is not so much whether it is Biblically sound to redefine marriage, but whether TEC's decision will hasten the demise of the pallid but still twitching carcass belonging to what used to be the Anglican Communion.

A number of Global South archbishops had a more decidedly stronger take on TEC's action. In a July 2 statement, the Primates who represent over two thirds of the worldwide Anglican Communion, ripped into the Episcopal Church, accusing it of deliberately rejecting the Communion's teaching on human sexuality and acting without regard for the well-being of the Anglican Communion and the mission of the Church writ large. "We are deeply grieved again by the Episcopal Church USA (TEC) Resolution to change the definition of marriage in their church canons in their current ongoing General Convention," stated the Primates.

Incidentally, does anyone doubt that the Anglican Church of Canada will follow in TEC's footsteps? Anyone?

Of course General Convention did pass a resolution opposing conversion therapy, without a word about the wisdom of sex change operations which apparently are acceptable.

It was announced that Bishop Chilton Knudsen, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Maryland, performed a gay wedding here in Salt Lake City. She tied the knot for Lexington, KY; priest Matthew Young, rector of St. Paul Episcopal Church, Newport, KY, and his partner Dan.

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Episcopal Communion Partner bishops did issue a Minority Report dissenting from Same-Sex resolutions. "As bishops of the Church, we must dissent from these actions," they wrote.
The bishops affirmed traditional understandings of marriage as a union of husband and wife.
They appended the text to Resolution A036 making it official.

The nature, purpose, and meaning of marriage, as traditionally understood by Christians, are summed up in the words of the Book of Common Prayer: "The bond and covenant of marriage was established by God in creation, and our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. It signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church, and Holy Scripture commends it to be honored by all people.

The union of husband and wife in heart, body, and mind is intended by God for their mutual joy; for the help and comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity; and, when it is God's will, for the procreation of children and their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord" (BCP, p. 423)

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The new black Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Michael Curry Bishop of North Carolina is a pleasant change from Katharine Jefferts Schori.

He stirred delegates at this first sermon on Friday and got repeated rounds of applause when he said, "God is not finished with us yet." He lauded his predecessor and described her as a woman of God who led the people of God with passion. This got laughter from the audience. He said he wanted to be a little bit [more] cool (much laughter), but described her as a "God inspired leader." Some of us would dispute that, as she seems unable to affirm major doctrines of the faith. That did not stop Curry from lauding her years leading the Church.

He wowed his audience with a stem winding sermon, which definitely puts him in the definition of charismatic preacher, urging them to make disciples of all nations (citing the Great Commission), being reconciled (but to whom was not stated), but he did say "that God loves you just the way you are but he does not intend to let your stay that way. Jesus came to change us."

"We are to transform the world; we are the Jesus movement now," he said. Evangelicals would be hard pressed to find fault with what he said, exhorting Episcopalians to get right with each other and with God and the need for change. He told stories of reconciliation, a theme he kept returning to -- one he seems to want to pursue in his tenure.

How all this will play out at the local level remains to be seen. I don't think Archbishop Foley Beach should expect a call any time soon. With most parishes under 65 and getting older (over 65) and no new generations on the horizon, it is hard to know how this will all play out.

"Some of us are Republicans and some of us are Democrats, but we have all been baptized and you are in the Jesus movement," he said to resounding applause.

"Some wear the label traditionalist and some wear the label progressive, if you have been baptized into the triune God you are into the Jesus movement. Some are black and some are white and some brown, I don't care who you...if you have been baptized you are in the Jesus movement, you are God's."

"How do we sing the Lords song in a strange land?" he asked. How indeed. The Episcopal Church has changed its teaching on human sexuality. They have attempted to change God's mind for Him. That will never pass muster with the vast majority of the Anglican Communion.

There was a deep-seated sigh of relief that the reign of Jefferts Schori was over, although no one will dare say it publicly. The reign of Michael Curry has begun, the real question is can he turn the Episcopal ship around?

The service ended with the outgoing Presiding Bishop reading a congratulatory note from President Barack Obama, who pleaded with Bishop Curry to bring a "more inclusive tomorrow."

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Noticeably in short supply here at GC2015 are Ecumenical Partners such as the Roman Catholic Church and the great Orthodox churches. The reason is simple. The Episcopal Church's continuing calls for unity with other Christian churches is done, despite actions that have had the effect of increasing divisions between Episcopalians, Global South Anglicans, and other branches of historic Christianity.

A number of international bishops from smaller Anglican provinces were in attendance with a handful of ecumenical guests from other churches. However, none of the Anglican Communion's larger provinces were represented. There was no bishop representing the Church of England in an official capacity. There were no bishops from the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. The headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) is one block from the convention center, but there was no delegation or representative from the Mormon faith. A significant number of bishops, representing a wide swath of both global Anglicanism and ecumenical partner churches, have been in attendance at past conventions. Not this time. Those days are over. Perhaps the new Presiding Bishop plans a fence-mending trip. When I asked him about the torn fabric of the communion and how he planned to fix it, he dodged the question saying he has friends in the Global South. That won't cut it with the likes of Kenyan Archbishop Eliud Wabukala or Nicholas Okoh of Nigeria.

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My colleagues and I covered the convention for 12 days watching, listening, and writing as widely as we could on the multitude of resolutions passed in both houses. Significantly, it was lower than past conventions. We believe we caught most of the action. I have posted some 35 stories, written by my team with occasional pieces from other sources like The Living Church, Juicy Ecumenism, and the House of Deputies reporters. Overall, the reporting is some of the best I have seen and I have attended eight of these conventions now. The liberal press stuck with quotes and separated out their own opinions from the hard news, a solid change of pace and style much appreciated by this writer. Bishops learned that when they tweeted, it was open season on what they said. Bishop Dan Martins of Springfield was clearly the most rigorous tweeter; VOL posted some of his more lengthy tirades. There was a spirit of congeniality among journalists, better than I have experienced in past conventions.

The one piece of non General Convention news came out of the Diocese of Los Angeles this week and it was black eye for the revisionist Bishop J. Jon Bruno of that diocese. It concerned the tortured history of St. James Newport Beach, which was wrested away from its orthodox rector Fr. Richard Crocker by Bruno. St. James voted to leave the diocese of LA in 2004 over the usual issues of authority of scripture and more. A lawsuit by the Diocese ensued, joined later in a separate suit by the "new sheriff in town," the Most Rev. Katharine Jeffers Schori. Both maintained that the infamous Dennis Canon operated, under California law, to prevent the congregation from departing ECUSA with its property as its own.

The case found its way to the California Supreme Court, which triumphantly applied the Dennis Canon to conclude on demurrer -- i.e., before St. James had even answered the complaint -- that the trust imposed by the Dennis Canon overrode every other claim to the property. Since the parish is no longer a part of the Episcopal Church, it no longer has any ownership interest in the property (despite the deeds all being in its name), which the Supreme Court concluded now belongs to the Diocese.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take cognizance of the case, no doubt because it had not yet even gone to trial, wrote Canon lawyer, Allan Haley. Finally, in 2013, Orange County Superior Court Judge Kim Dunning ruled on the Diocese's and ECUSA's motions for summary judgment that the parish could not retain the property under the Dennis Canon even though the Diocese had waived the Canon's application (to at least one of the parish's parcels).

The remnant congregation took over the management of the property and began, under a dedicated vicar, to grow its numbers. However, after they had been using the property for about a year, Bishop Bruno announced he had sold the property to an oceanfront developer, for a rumored price of $15 million (more than twice its appraised value), who planned to raze the beautiful church buildings and put up a mixed use apartment and commercial complex on the oceanfront property.

The remnant congregation was shocked and angered by this sudden decision. Their vicar filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court in an attempt to block the proposed sale. It emerged from the legal documents that although the Diocese of Los Angeles had taken over title to the property after the Anglican congregation vacated the buildings, Bishop Bruno had surreptitiously arranged for the transfer of its title into his corporation sole. By definition, such a corporation has only one officer -- the sitting bishop -- and thus he can make decisions about property it holds without having to obtain approval from any other people or bodies in the Diocese.

Despite the lawsuit and protests by the congregation and others in the diocese, Bishop Bruno and his diocese went ahead with plans for the sale. The vicar said good-bye to her parish after holding her last service there just a week ago. It looked as though the sale would proceed, even though the buyer would (in my view) have been foolish to ignore the Superior Court's ruling that only the national Church could release its Dennis Canon trust interest in the property.

Now it turns out that in 1945 the original developer of the area, Griffith Company, donated the land on which the beautiful St. James building was erected, to the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, upon "the condition, covenant and restriction" that the property conveyed shall be used for church purposes exclusively and no building other than a church and appurtenances shall be erected, placed, or maintained thereon. The foregoing restriction shall be binding upon the [Bishop], his successors, and assigns. Upon the breach of the foregoing condition, the title to said property ... shall become at once divested from the [Bishop], his successors and assigns, and shall revert and revest in the grantor [Griffith Company], its successors or assigns."

Thus if Bishop Bruno carries out his plans to sell the property to the current developer, the only thing that developer could do with the property is maintain the existing church building on it (or build a brand-new one). Thus, there is no way a developer would pay $15 million for land that is so encumbered. That, says Haley, is poetic justice.

Bishop Bruno filed a "slander of title" lawsuit against the Griffith Company, in which he maintains that the donor released its reversionary interest in the property in 1984, when it agreed to allow three of the four original St. James parcels to be used for the construction of a church parking lot (an "ancillary" use). He claims that this act freed the property of its restriction, so that to revive the claim in 2015 amounts to denigrating the Diocese's free and clear title to the property ("slander of title").

The Diocese of Los Angeles, already out of pocket some $4 to $5 million in its battle to recover the St. James property, and hoping to turn it into a neat $10 million net profit, may face still more legal costs and attorneys' fees, only to find out that the property has to remain a church after all.

Stay tuned as we follow the future developments of this most circuitous church property case in the entire history of ECUSA.

Across the country TEC is losing the property wars. From Quincy to Ft. Worth to South Carolina, courts are seeing in favor of bishops now affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America or to jurisdictions in Africa.

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To cover this conference we have drained our financial resources. One donor helped in most of the cost of being here, but we go home needing to pay our regular bills again. We worked 12 hour days in Salt Lake City to bring you the news of this 78th General Convention. We pulled out all the stops working from morning till night. We wrote for you, for the history books and to keep the Global South informed about what is going on in the U.S. Church. We believe we did the right thing.

If you can chip in now to keep us going, we really would appreciate that. I will be attending and covering the International Catholic Conference of Anglicans in Texas later this month and I will need your support. You can send a tax-deductible check to:

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In Christ,

David