One of the ironic things about Episcopal churches is that the more they claim to change, the more they stay the same. And so it is with St. Paul’s Englewood, which has publicly discussed its financial, HR, and governance woes, and its communication issues.
But after negative coverage in this publication, St. Paul’s reverted to type and pulled from its website its revised vestry response to its “cottage meetings” in 2021.
To be clear, St. Paul’s Englewood remains a hot mess. And if the parish thinks that pulling things from its website will improve things, it’s delusional.
So, we are publishing an archival copy of the document, which used to be at https://stpaulsenglewood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Vestry-Parish-Letter-Revised-2022.docx.
We also reiterate our previous comment: stiffing the media is inevitably not the solution. If it’s about governance and can’t see the light of day, there are severe problems at the church absent some limited, rare exceptions.
We close with a reminder to all involved: Christians are called to bring light to the darkness. When the church fails in this, it fails in its most basic mission. And no amount of happy-clappy will offset a lack of transparency,
In other words, don’t be sneaky.
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