Priest works to reunite divided congregation

August 1, 2013
Jim Naughton

From the Vero Beach Newsweekly:

When Father Chris Rodriguez brought his family here from New Jersey last September becoming Trinity Episcopal Church’s new rector, he discovered a congregation that was hurting and needed help.

A little over two years ago, a doctrinal split within the congregation prompted approximately three-fourths of its members to leave. Most followed the former Reverend Loren Coyle, the church’s rector at the time, creating the breakaway, Christ Church at K-Mart Plaza. Soon after, Coyle left the ministry.

“When I came, Trinity hadn’t had any leadership in a long time,” says Rodriguez. “My job is to steer the ship. People have been receptive, maybe struggling a little, but they’re learning to trust me. I invite them to vent and remind them this is a fresh start.”

Café Comments?

Our comment policy requires that you use your real first and last names and provide an email address (your email will not be published). Comments that use non-PG rated language, include personal attacks, that are not provable as fact or that we deem in any way to be counter to our mission of fostering respectful dialogue will not be posted.

4 Comments

Newest

Oldest

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Ann Fontaine

August 4, 2013 6:25 pm

Loren Coyle was a perpetrator of sexual abuse -- he did not have "affairs" -

Like (0)

Dislike (0)

Michael Hartney

August 4, 2013 5:42 pm

Christ Church Vero Beach is in the Diocese of Central Florida.

Like (0)

Dislike (0)

Reverendmom

August 1, 2013 5:25 pm

Looks like the split was over what constitutes "traditional marriage." However, Loren Coyle was removed from the priesthood after admitting to an adulterous affair. story here

Sexual misconduct has such devestating effects. My prayers are with Chris+ as he helps them to heal.

Anjel Scarborough

Like (0)

Dislike (0)

tgflux

August 1, 2013 5:01 pm

I felt like the local news story just scratched the surface of what happened/is happening here. If anyone has any more details, I'd love to hear them.

[This is Florida, right? I wasn't even sure of that, from the story. What diocese? What's the bishop been doing?]

JC Fisher

Like (0)

Dislike (0)

wpDiscuz

Support the Café

Past Posts

The Episcopal Café seeks to be an independent voice, reporting and reflecting on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican tradition. The Café is not a platform of advocacy, but it does aim to tell the story of the church from the perspective of Progressive Christianity. Our collective sympathy, as the Café, lies with the project of widening the circle of inclusion within the church and empowering all the baptized for the role to which they have been called as followers of Christ.

The opinions expressed at the Café are those of individual contributors, and, unless otherwise noted, should not be interpreted as official statements of a parish, diocese or other organization. The art and articles that appear here remain the property of their creators.