Are church members still Episcopal or something else? Even the new name of the new diocese could be confusing.  “We’re trying not to focus on names here. But more than anything else, I think people are looking around the pews at the people around them and realizing that this is the church, no matter what we call ourselves.”

The night before the Diocese of South Carolina announced its secession from the Episcopal Church two weeks ago, the Rev. Tom Woodle met with members of his Myrtle Beach church, The Well by the Sea.

He wanted to warn them and tell them what he knew. Most of his parishioners were relieved and felt the change was long overdue, Woodle said.

The Diocese of South Carolina severed ties with the Episcopal Church on Oct. 17 after a long battle over theology and homosexuality, particularly the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of openly gay bishops.

St. Michael’s, a church within the Diocese of South Carolina, is 1 of the 2 most prominent Episcopal churches in Charleston, S.C. Credit: RNS photo by Kevin Eckstrom

South Carolina church officials said the final split was triggered by disciplinary action taken against Bishop Mark Lawrence, its conservative leader, who was found guilty of “abandoning the church” by an Episcopal disciplinary board.

Under Lawrence, the South Carolina diocese — which covers the eastern half of the state — has legally and theologically distanced itself from the Episcopal Church, removing references to the the national church in civil and church documents. It has also renamed itself The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina.

Individual churches in the Diocese of South Carolina will decide whether to follow Lawrence to the new diocese or stay with the Episcopal Church at a meeting in Charleston on Nov. 17.

A spokeswoman for the national church, Neva Rae Fox, has said even if leaders or individual members of a diocese leave, the diocese itself stays within the Episcopal Church.

Woodle said any church that wishes to remain in the Episcopal Church — which is effectively the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion — can make that move, though he only expects five or six to do so. The problems between the diocese and Lawrence run deeper than disagreements over homosexuality and church property, he said.

“The press has made this out to be only about openly gay bishops and priests, but we see that as a symptom of a flawed Christology in the Episcopal Church,” Woodle said. “The overwhelming majority in the denomination are revisionists. What they’ve decided is that Jesus is a way, a truth and a life, not the way, the truth and the life.”

The breakaway diocese is now looking to be associated with an international body of Anglicans who follow a more traditional line.

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