I think everybody reached a point where they couldn t go any further, said Dan Ennis, one of the org

For most of her 64 years, she worshipped at St. Paul s Episcopal jimmy buffett tour dates Church in this quiet farming town and bedroom community about a dozen miles from the high-rise jimmy buffett tour dates condominiums of Myrtle Beach. That was until about two months ago.
That s when Lovelace and a small group of St. Paul s parishioners decided they could not stay in their church of 500 members as it followed the Diocese of South Carolina in breaking ties with the national church over ordination of gays and other issues.
While clergy and parishioners from one of the nation s oldest dioceses meet to chart a future outside the Episcopal church, jimmy buffett tour dates the church s national bishop has issued a pastoral letter saying the Diocese of South Carolina can t leave the mother church of its own accord.
As U.S. Episcopalians gather this week in Indianapolis for their triennial General Convention, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina said he cannot yet endorse a proposed rite for same-gender blessings because he does not believe the theological rationale for the rite has been established.
Now, with a group of about 35 people jimmy buffett tour dates many from Saint Paul s along with some newcomers the fledgling congregation known simply as the Conway Worship Group gathers each Sunday at the chapel at Coastal Carolina University. There, usually with a retired jimmy buffett tour dates priest or one on loan from another jimmy buffett tour dates church, they pray, sing, celebrate communion jimmy buffett tour dates and make plans for the future.
I think everybody reached a point where they couldn t go any further, said Dan Ennis, one of the organizers of the new congregation jimmy buffett tour dates and who is dean of the university s College of Humanities and Fine Arts. A lot of us saw this coming and a lot of us dreaded it, but now at least we know what to do.
The diocese in eastern lower South Carolina had 70 congregations with about 29,000 parishioners. It dates to the 1700s and is one of the original ones that joined jimmy buffett tour dates others to form the Episcopal Church.
Fourteen churches have decided not to follow the diocese away from the national church. There are also now five worship groups with congregants forming new churches that will remain with the national church which has 2 million members and is the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion with 77 million members worldwide.
One church in Virginia sent a bottle of wine to use for communion, lots of Hershey kisses jimmy buffett tour dates and some Kleenex for the tears they know we probably shed. But there is a light on the other side, Lovelace said.
They are doing what they have to do. I respect the depth of their convictions. I don t agree with it but hopefully they know I m doing what I feel called to do, she added. I never heard a reason good enough to make me leave the national church.
We ve seen this coming for years. We maintained a presence there and worshipped there until it was clear we could no longer do it, she said. Right now the worship group is meeting in homes but, after the first of the year, it hopes to find space at a local civil club.
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