Executive Council advances $2.7 million in debt forgiveness for Diocese of South Carolina

[Episcopal News Service – Linthicum Heights, Maryland] Executive Council is poised to forgive about $2.7 million in debt that the Diocese of South Carolina accrued after a 2012 diocesan split, in which theologically conservative church leaders led a large group of Episcopalians to leave the church.

After that split, The Episcopal Church had responded in part by lending money to the remaining Episcopal diocese and its congregations as they fought a decade-long legal battle to retain possession of their historic properties. Those court cases were largely resolved in the Episcopal diocese’s favor in 2022. Since then, some congregations have moved back into their historic churches, and the diocese has pursued church planting efforts in other communities.

On Feb. 17, South Carolina Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley appeared on Zoom to address two committees of Executive Council, which is meeting here at the Maritime Conference Center. Woodliff-Stanley emphasized that South Carolina is one of The Episcopal Church’s original nine dioceses, dating to 1785, and now with the court fight resolved, Episcopalians in South Carolina are focused on rebuilding congregations and growing ministries in their communities.

“We could not have done what we had to do without the church being with us. And we are now asking you to be with us in this season of rebuilding,” Woodliff-Stanley said.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe spoke briefly to the committees, arguing strongly in favor of forgiving the diocese’s outstanding church loan. “I am in complete support,” Rowe said, adding that acting on the proposal was about more than forgiveness of past debts. “I believe this would be, on our part, an investment in the mission of that diocese.”

Executive Council’s committees on Finance and Governance & Operations voted unanimously to advance the proposal, to which Woodliff-Stanley responded, “thank you, thank you, thank you.”

The measure will proceed to likely approval by the full Executive Council on Feb. 19, the final day of this meeting.

The Charleston-based Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina once counted as many as 78 worshipping communities across the southeastern half of the state, including along the Atlantic Coast. Parochial report data show that the diocese’s baptized membership topped 29,000 in 2011, the year before the diocesan schism.

Churchwide theological and doctrinal disputes, especially related to full LGBTQ+ inclusion in the church and lingering objections to women’s ordination, had been simmering for years. After the 2003 consecration of the church’s first openly gay bishop, the talk of schism led to lawsuits in dioceses across the United States where some leaders sought to break from The Episcopal Church while keeping control of Episcopal churches.

South Carolina was one of five dioceses upended by schism. The others were Fort Worth in northcentral Texas, Pittsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania, Quincy in northern Illinois, and San Joaquin in central California.

In October 2009, a majority of delegates at a special South Carolina diocesan convention voted to authorize the bishop and standing committee to begin the process of disassociating from The Episcopal Church over General Convention resolutions that endorsed greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the life of the church. South Carolina leaders accelerated their plans to leave the church in 2012 after General Convention approved rites for blessing same-sex unions.

After the split, Episcopal membership in the remaining Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina dropped below 6,400 across 22 continuing parishes and missions, but Episcopalians in South Carolina found ways to continue worshipping and serving their communities amid a series of legal victories and setbacks in the church property lawsuit.

Now, with that legal battle behind it, the diocese can devote more of its time and resources to ministry priorities, including addressing racial justice issues and the prevalence of extreme poverty in the state, Woodliff-Stanley said. She also highlighted the early success of Church of the Messiah, a storefront church plant in Myrtle Beach that is looking to the diocese for help in establishing a more permanent worship space.

The Episcopal Church has forgiven the debt of a diocese in a similar situation at least once before. The Diocese of San Joaquin was approved for about $5 million in debt forgiveness in 2017, the same year that the diocese installed its first diocesan bishop since its own schism in 2006.

Michael Glass, chancellor for House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, also served as chancellor of the Diocese of San Joaquin during its fight to retain diocesan properties after a schism. He spoke Feb. 17 in favor of granting South Carolina’s request, a gesture that also will reassure the wider church. If other dioceses face similar upheaval, they will know “we’ll back you up,” Glass said. “It’s really important that message get out there.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.