Revenge-return by Bishop Gene Robinson, seen from two radically different viewpoints

It’s been a long time since I stepped into The Falls Church, a historic edifice in the middle of the northern Virginia city of Falls Church, where I lived for 12 years. It’s a spacious, lovely place, with a circular seating arrangement for a large congregation.

Next door is what they call the “historic church,” a much smaller brick building that dates back to 1769. At one time, George Washington was on the vestry. In Beltway culture, this is really important.

It was a major center for the conservative wing of the Diocese of Virginia, the nation’s largest Episcopal diocese back in the first decade of this century,. Then, in December 2006, 11 parishes or missions announced they were leaving for for orthodox theological pastures. The 2003 election of the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson as the denomination’s first gay bishop was the beginning of the end for these folks, after decades of tensions on other doctrinal issues.

The legal battle over these historic properties lasted for years and the conservatives basically lost everything, including the crown jewel of them all — The Falls Church building. That is the background for Robinson’s recent visit to the church, which is kingdoms apart from what it once was. Whereas it was crowded to the gills on Sundays, the sanctuary is barely one-quarter full and rector (senior pastor) is a gay man, a possibility that would have horrified its former parishioners.

Robinson’s visit was covered by a conservative mainline Protestant website and by a Washington Post reporter. Guess which report had the most information and insights into the status of the current congregation? Juicy Ecumenism posted a piece by Jeffrey Walton, headlined “Gene Robinson Takes Victory Lap at Falls Church Episcopal” — filled with insider knowledge. I’ll begin with Robinson’s reactions.

He also highlighted gratitude for an invitation to speak at a parish that had prominently opposed his election and consecration.
“Words fail me when I try to describe to you what an honor it is to be here,” Robinson exclaimed. “When I got this invitation from [TFCE Rector] Burl [Salmon] I could hardly believe my ears and all day yesterday. When I was here, I just kept pinching myself: ‘you’re actually at the Falls Church in Virginia, oh my God.’”

Near the end of 2006, I was working on one of my biggest stories of the year: The mass exodus of 11 Episcopal churches from the Diocese of Virginia, the nation’s largest Episcopal diocese.

It was a huge story and it wasn’t completely certain that on that sunny, cold Sunday if all the theologically conservative churches in northern Virginia would decide to leave en mass.

They did and this created headlines for weeks after that. The largest church that left was The Falls Church Episcopal (TFCE), a large complex worth about $24.7 million with its new-ish sanctuary, a historic chapel and cemetery on 5.5 acres right in the middle of the city named after it (and only a few blocks from where I lived). Built in 1734, its vestry included George Washington, who was elected in 1763.

Members voted 1,228 to 127 to leave, which doesn’t reflect the fact that some 2,000 people regularly attended there.

Fast forward five years and it turns out the courts didn’t look too kindly on the 11 churches taking some $40 million worth of property with them. All of that had to be returned to the Episcopal Church, including money in their bank accounts.

The conservatives, now part of the Anglican Church of North America, were officially out on the street.

As for the Falls Church, as former GetReligionista Mollie Hemingway reported in 2012, the Episcopalians who moved back into that facility (see second photo) included 178 members with an average Sunday attendance of 74, which was 4% of what the Anglicans were bringing through the door. How this group was going to pay the mortgage and other bills — roughly $800,000 a year — was never brought up by anyone reporting on them at the time.