"The diocese, he added, is asking not only that St. Patrick's pay the mortgage and utilities but also an undetermined amount of rent."

Hah! If you had done your job, Bishop, maybe they would. Looks to me like the Faithful told you adios. And they took their pocketbooks with them. A big "Attawaytogo" to Rev. Kasch and our 180 or so Brothers and Sisters.

Isaac

Let us all pray for Fr. Ray Kasch and the brave folks at St. Patrick's .....

Fear not, St Patricks. You are on the side of righteousness and truth, and you WILL be vindicated. The TEC shall have to face the music some day. Remember the words of your Patron Saint:

"And so I should dread exceedingly, with fear and trembling, this sentence on that day when no one will be able to escape or hide, but we all, without exception, shall have to give an account even of our smallest sins before the judgement-seat of Christ the Lord."- Confessio of Saint Patrick.

This is one of those tragic cases where you have two of the genuine Good Guys, a priest and a retired bishop, or more accurately the Standing Committee, in disagreement over the way something was done rather than what was done. The "agreement" was in fact a comment by a member of the Standing Committee that it would probably be OK until the new bishop takes office. Since this is all happening in the interregnum between +Herlong and (+)Bauerschidt, the Standing Committee is severely hobbled in its ability to make decisions. A legalistic response, while unfortunate, is almost inevitable.

Also, it is hard to see how the diocese could not make at least a tentative effort to continue the original parish. (In a revisionist diocese, the locks would already be changed!) Probably it will be found to be non-viable. A properly negotiated departure would have obviated the requirement for this.

As an ex-TEC Anglican, I find this a cautionary tale of what happens when agreements are not worked out in advance. We don't need to create our own problems, when TEC is more than happy to do that for us.

APBIDDLE:

Make no mistake. Neither Bishop Herlong nor the Standing Committee was ever going to hammer out any agreement with us. We tried several things, making it perfectly clear that we would never be under Mrs. Schori. All attempts at an agreement were rejected in one way or another. We finally had to leave, period. The leadership of the Diocese of Tennessee is committed to standing by Mrs. Schori. Bishop Herlong has candidly stated that Schori is "our Presiding Bishop." He expects all to accept her as such.