Fr Mark Lewis of St Luke’s, Bladensburg, gives some more details on their move to Washington

Posted on June 27, 2014 by David Murphy

(Fr. Mark writes:)

letter Fr. Mark Lewis June 2014 Part 1

( You can read the whole letter here:

ML+ letter June 2014 )

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1 Response to Fr Mark Lewis of St Luke’s, Bladensburg, gives some more details on their move to Washington

  1. Rev22:17 says:
    June 27, 2014 at 8:34 am

    David,

    From your quotation from the letter: St. Luke’s was built in the early 1950’s. The church is in desperate need of major repairs. The boiler needs to be replaced, the roof needs repair, the white stone caps that sit atop the bricks need to be resealed, and the bricks need re-pointing. In addition to all these repairs there is the problem of the basement: Flooding, mildew, and mold. Would we really want to purchase a building in need of all these repairs?

    There are two prongs to this quotation.

    >> 1. Many of the problems described therein, unfortunately, reflect a failure of parish leadership to maintain its facilities. The need to replace the boiler probably is a recent development, but the other problems — especially flooding, mildew, and mold — most assuredly are issues that should have been addressed long ago. If/when the community is able to acquire its own property, one hopes that it will do a better job of maintenance rather than repeating the mistakes of the past.

    >> 2. On the other hand, this is probably typical of the condition of many Episcopal churches. To a fledging ordinariate community, the cost of buying the property and completing the needed repairs is more of a financial burden than it can bear. Although many parishioners have a certain attachment to their places of worship, the abandonment of such properties in favor of other arrangements really is to their advantage: they can devote their resources to programming and mission instead.

    Overall, the letter seems to provide some very good insights as to what is happening in this community.

    Norm.

    Reply

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