Always a fifth, eh?

In an online interview on The New Yorker website this week, Peter J. Boyer discusses the current plight of the Episcopal Church. Having grown up in a staunch Episcopalian family (Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton, VA--complete with Tiffany stained glass windows), I found the following passage pretty amusing:

"Episcopalians, to people who aren’t Episcopalians, are country-club people. I grew up in an evangelical family, Pentecostals and so on—the Baptists were High Church to us. To most denominations, Episcopalians were people who went to a sandstone church with high arches and stained-glass windows, and were very proper. They always got out just on time so they could hurry over to the country club. The jokes were always things like “Whenever four Episcopalians get together, there’s always a fifth.” To people who were not Episcopalians, it was a very Cheever-y kind of culture. But, in truth, there has been a pronounced divide within the Episcopal Church, particularly lately. The leadership of the main body of the Western Church and the American Church has become, increasingly since the Second World War, the theologically liberal Church. Much the same has happened to many of the mainline denominations—big, old Protestant churches. As they have become more liberal, adventurous, and postmodern in their interpretations of the Bible, their pews have started to empty out. Their congregations get older, grayer, and sparser. And fervently faithful people have tended to leave and join megachurches or more evangelical denominations.

There is a concentrated, focussed, and deliberate plan within the Episcopal Church to reclaim it from the liberals."

Link