Another one bites the dust....

This one is in Rhode Island.  The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John -- which began as King's Church in 1722 and is the Diocese of Rhode Island's fourth oldest church -- is shutting down, with a final service set for April 22. Parishioners of the cathedral church, the seat of Bishop Geralyn Wolf, learned the news on Sunday from the Right Rev. David Joslin, the cathedral's interim dean, and Deacon Barbara May-Stock, during the parish's annual meeting on North Main Street. Parishioner Marjorie Beach says many were in tears when advised that because of declining numbers of pledging families and the cost of salaries and benefits, the parish could not longer continue -- at least for now. The church closed temporarily once before -- during the American Revolution.

Not since American Methodism saw its numbers decline by a third has a church body made such a public and precipitous drop in prestige and in numbers.  While I lament losing history and such rich treasures as such an ancient building as St. John's, it is about more than property.  At the same time this story comes out, we hear how prominent Episopalians have sided with the administration and against other churches in the HHS attack on religious liberty, how many dioceses facing decline have refused to sell their buildings to the break away Anglicans who insist that they are the true successors of the Episcopal faith, and how the Roman Catholic community has set up a mechanism to receive disaffected Anglicans here and throughout the world.

So sad... but the inevitable outcome of those who empty the faith of its truth and abandon the Scriptures...