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2/10/2010 |
New Home for material on Anglican-Roman Catholic relations |
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Recently, Pope Benedict XVI provided for special structures - called "Personal Ordinariates" - to make it possible Anglicans seeking corporate reunion with the Holy See to retain their distinct Anglican heritage and identity. The amount of material on this has now become so large that it merits a page of its own on this site. A new page has been set up for this and soon all the items on this page will be moved there and supplemented by more recent data. Please refer to the link entitled "That They May Be One" to study this historic initiative.
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11/22/2009 |
A New Home for St Peter |
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While ripples from the nationwide economic decline have hit Saint Peter’s Anglican Church and washed the congregation out of its home on the banks of Richland Creek in Frog Level, there will be no break in Sunday services. The new Christian Year will begin on Advent Sunday, November 29, with a celebration of the Holy Eucharist at 10:15 a.m. in the church's new quarters at 1608 Sulphur Springs Road in Waynesville.
Notification that the congregation would have to move from its location at 313 Depot Street was received just 15 minutes before the start of Sunday services on November 15.
“It’s not a matter of our not being able to pay the mortgage,” according to the church’s pastor, Father Samuel Edwards. “We never held the mortage, but rented the space from the owners.” The events that precipitated the forced evacuation were set in train by the owners’ business troubles and their seeking bankruptcy protection. “Obviously,” says Fr Edwards, “it was necessary for the owners to liquidate their assets as part of the process of getting out of bankruptcy. We understand and sympathize with that, but it doesn’t make it any less inconvenient for us, or any less sad.”
While its members had been pursuing two or three leads since being notified about a month ago that the property was to be sold, Saint Peter’s situation was complicated by the fact that the congregation was having to begin to packing without any clarity as to where it would be worshipping.
That uncertainty was erased near the end of the week of November 15 when new quarters were found. "It seems to be another example of the Lord's fondness for cliffhanger endings," says Fr Edwards with a smile. "What came out of it at exactly the right time was a place at a good location, at a price we could afford, and with landlords who are good evangelical Christians." The building that contains as the congregation's new meeting place also houses the real estate offices of Chris Forga and the law offices of her sister, Donna.
“The Church is made up of its people, not of its building,” says Fr Edwards. “The Bible teaches us that we are strangers and pilgrims here, anyway: This situation is a reminder to us that the main thing is not the fold, but the Shepherd: We are still the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. The Shepherd now has led this flock to a new fold, and we look forward to what he has prepared for us in this place."
(Photographs relating to this story can be found on the Photo Albums page.)
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Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord.
- 2 Peter 1:2
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