Money, pastoral care at heart of conflict at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Kalamazoo

From Kalamazoo-

Founded in 1837 in downtown Kalamazoo, St. Luke’s is one of the area’s oldest and most prominent congregations, and now its very survival is in question.

“It feels like having my home burn down with all my memories in it,” Fritz said.
Depending on who’s talking, there are two conflicting narratives on how the situation at St. Luke’s reached this point.

Although Lawlor and Episcopal Bishop Robert Gepert declined to be interviewed for this report, church documents detailing their perspectives describe an arrogant congregation set in its ways, living beyond its means and resistant to new leadership.

Some local church members, including Fritz, offer a different story: that of a close-knit church community that struggled with a pastor who lacked interpersonal skills and was indifferent to the needs of his congregation. They say the situation has been exacerbated by a bishop who wields church authority with an iron hand.

More here-

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/03/post_125.html

Former cathedral congregation happy in its new home

When the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan sold the former Cathedral of Christ the King to Valley Family Church in 2007, its congregation experienced what it felt like to be homeless.

"We were nomads for a while," said Jim Warner, of Kalamazoo, a longtime member of the Parish Church of Christ the King who serves on its vestry, the group that helps to manage the affairs of the church.

Service times
The Parish Church of Christ the King, at the intersection of Texas Drive and Eighth Street, in Texas Township, holds services at 7:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sundays. For more information, visit www.parishchurch.org or call (269) 344-1500.

"It was a truly sad day in our church when we lost the cathedral."

"Losing that building was difficult," agreed Linda Adamcz, 54, of Kalamazoo, who has been part of the congregation since the early 1990s. "There were so many memories there."

The church lost more than half of its attendees in the transition, but the remaining group of about 50 worshippers stayed closely knit.

They worshipped initially in the atrium of Bronson Athletic Club, in Texas Township and after that in classrooms at the Spring Arbor University site on Ninth Street just south of Stadium Drive.

Then, after nearly two years of searching, they found a permanent place to call home -- a quaint, white church building at the intersection of Texas Drive and Eighth Street that used to house Texas Corners Bible Church. More recently, for 12 years, the building housed Heaven's Gate gift shop, which owner Sue Catherman closed in early 2008, taking her business online.

Catherman said she is happy to see the building come full circle. "I'm so thrilled to see it become a church again," she said. "I think it's a perfect fit."

More here-

http://www.mlive.com/living/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/06/former_cathedral_congregation.html