The Rev. Canon Victoria Heard, canon missioner for church planting for the Diocese of Dallas, has been named priest-in-charge of Church of the Resurrection in Dallas after a majority of the congregation voted to follow the former rector and form a new congregation affiliated with the Anglican Mission in America.

“Any separation of brothers and sisters in Christ is painful in its own right,” the Rt. Rev. James M. Stanton, Bishop of Dallas, stated. “I am saddened that the leadership of Resurrection has chosen to walk apart from the diocese. However, the ministry of Church of the Resurrection will continue."

Church of the Resurrection was a leader in the charismatic renewal movement in The Episcopal Church in the 1970s and '80s. At one point average Sunday attendance (ASA) was more than 1,500. It is now about 160.

In a final meeting with Bishop Stanton and the diocesan standing committee, the Rev. Donald R. McLane, rector of Resurrection, said that he had no quarrel with the bishop, but he believed it was necessary to leave The Episcopal Church. Resurrection is the seventh congregation in the Diocese of Dallas since June where the rector and a portion of the congregation have left to affiliate with another denomination.

Christ Church, Plano, one of the largest in The Episcopal Church in terms of average Sunday attendance, announced its intention to leave shortly after General Convention adjourned last June. St. Matthias', Dallas, began the process of separation during diocesan convention last fall.

In December, the rector and a portion of St. Nicholas’, Flower Mound, withdrew, and in March the rector and part of the congregation at Holy Trinity in Garland left. Also in March, the rector and a portion of the congregation of Faith Church, Allen, left.

More recently, St. Francis’, Dallas, requested alternate oversight from the Diocese of Fort Worth under a procedure previously worked out between Bishop Stanton and Fort Worth Bishop Jack Leo Iker.

“These have all been a parting of friends,” said the Rev. Canon Neal Michell, canon missioner for strategic development and priest-in-charge at St. Nicholas’. “Just because they’ve left the diocese doesn’t mean we’ve lost them as friends.”

“None of these congregations wanted to leave the Diocese of Dallas. Some of them wanted to remain under the oversight of Bishop Stanton after they were free of their obligations to The Episcopal Church. Unfortunately at this time they cannot leave The Episcopal Church without leaving the diocese.”

Canon Michell concurred with Bishop Stanton that the seven departures were sad, but would not say they were devastating. Six years ago convention approved a new strategic plan to plant new churches and grow existing congregations. With the exception of Christ Church, Plano, and its ASA of more than 2,000, the losses at the other six departing congregations have already been recouped this year, Canon Michell said.

“Virtually no one in the diocese is happy with the direction in which The Episcopal Church appears to be heading,” he said. “There are only three or four congregations where the majority are comfortable with the current direction of the Church,” so the departures have not diluted the strength of the diocese’s convictions, Canon Michell said.

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