US congregation vacates church building

In a service overflowing with tears, hugs, and evocations of historic persecution of Christians, members of All Saints Anglican Church of Attleboro held their last service yesterday in their North Main Street building and bowed to orders from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts that they vacate the premises.

"I never meant us to be at this time and place," said the Rev. Lance Giuffrida , his voice cracking as he addressed about 160 worship ers who filled the sanctuary nearly to capacity. "I didn't do anything differently than when you called me" to the church's pulpit in 2001.

Since then, however, differences between traditionalists and liberalizers in Episcopal Church of the USA have deepened and hardened, underscored by their disagreement on homosexuality and gay marriage, according to adherents of both trends.

"I could not sit in the councils of the church in Massachusetts," Giuffrida said, breaking into tears. "I could not represent Jesus Christ in those councils."

As the minister spoke, congregants -- first one by one, then by the dozen -- rose from the pews and gathered closely around him on the altar, each laying hands on the shoulders of others, until virtually the entire group of worshippers stood as a single body.

Many congregants also cried as they expressed their acceptance of the fact that the building in which they worshiped belonged not to them but to the Diocese of Massachusetts, and that they were leaving it for a new home in a place to be determined. Read more