Quiet pathways. Serene waters, broken by the splash of an occasional fish or water bird. Lush wooded areas. Precious fellowship with other followers of Christ, often accompanied by delicious meals. Times of reflection, worship and praise. Such are some of the many moments and memories of what for many in the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida has been a sacred space: Canterbury Retreat Center.

All this stands in stark contrast to the Diocesan Board’s recent decision to cease operations on the 48-acre Oviedo site, shutter most of its buildings and explore a future that could include the sale or lease of part or all of the property. This article offers responses to questions, both voiced and unvoiced, as, in the spirit of transparency embraced by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin S. Holcomb, diocesan leaders continue seeking the best path forward for both the property and the people involved. Although Canterbury has a long history, this article focuses primarily on decisions made during Holcomb’s episcopacy, with references as appropriate to prior years.

What was the initial ‘Crisis at Canterbury’?

Only days after Holcomb’s June 10, 2023, consecration, he chaired his first Diocesan Board meeting, with a financial crisis at Canterbury on the agenda. At that time, Canterbury was operating with a monthly deficit of $30,000-$40,000 and had a million-dollar mortgage due on June 30 with no ability to pay it off.

As reported in both a letter to the diocese on July 3, 2023, and an article (“The Crisis at Canterbury“) in the December 2023 Central Florida Episcopalian, the Canterbury Board met on June 27, 2023, at which board members agreed on the untenable nature of the situation and voted that all members resign immediately. This left the bishop free to exercise his authority under Canterbury’s Articles of Incorporation to nominate new members to be elected by the Diocesan Board. Canterbury Executive Director Chalmers Morse also resigned, and at its July 20, 2023, meeting, the Diocesan Board began working to set a path forward. Members approved Holcomb’s nomination of two previous members to serve alongside him on the new Canterbury Board: the Rev. Tom Phillips, then rector at Church of the Incarnation, Oviedo, and current rector at Holy Trinity, Melbourne; and Mr. Arthur Evans.

The board also moved to reduce Canterbury’s monthly financial deficit, working with a major creditor to restructure debt. Holcomb appointed the Rev. Scott Holcombe as temporary managing director of Canterbury, with instructions to suspend operations if the conference center proved unable to sustain itself.

To this end, Holcomb and the Finance Commission consulted with the Rev. Canon Dr. Lang Lowrey III, canon for Christian enterprise for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, who has extensive experience in similar diocesan properties, along with other experts.

“Very quickly, Canon Lowrey gave us an hour of his time that was eye-opening,” said Mrs. Beverly Paulk, a former certified financial planner and longtime chair of the diocesan Finance Commission. “He explained that the hospitality model, as we have it – without large donors supporting the facility on an annual basis with large upfront gifts of millions of dollars – seldom if ever survived. He could not name one [conference center] that was able to do it without one or more large donors, and that was sobering.”

Why did it take so long for the concerns over Canterbury to become public?

Why did the crisis come to the forefront so soon after Holcomb’s consecration? Had it somehow been hidden from public view? Certainly, the Canterbury Board had asked for and received funds, and had received large donations from both individuals and entities, including the Order of the Daughters of the King, Diocesan Assembly of Central Florida.

Paulk said the Finance Commission had discussed the situation at Canterbury prior to Holcomb’s episcopacy, noting, “We had been having conversations toward the end of the tenure of the previous bishop, who was a part of the Canterbury Board, and he too was deeply concerned.”

However, according to Paulk, the conference center’s financial picture had been unclear for some time. “It was challenging to get clear, complete financial information about Canterbury,” she said. “Since Canterbury is a separate nonprofit, it stood alone. And so even though our bishops were always part of the [Canterbury] board, my impression was that financial information coming from Canterbury was almost always confusing and hard to understand, even for financial experts.”

After Holcomb began attending Finance Commission meetings as bishop-elect in the spring of 2023, however, “That turned the tide,” Paulk explained. “We finally got better information after several requests, and it was just deeply concerning.”

Once Holcomb presented those concerns, the Diocesan Board made quick decisions, as noted earlier. The first steps were underway, and the wait began. How would the diocese find resolution to the crisis at Canterbury?

But questions remain as to when the financial problems began and how the situation reached such a critical point. The Rev. Dr. Jon Davis wrote to Holcomb soon after the announcement of the plans to close the retreat center, expressing both his sorrow over the end of this era and his support for the difficult decisions that were made. For this former Canterbury director (November 2009-May 2018), its financial problems were nothing new.

“Conference centers are a difficult operation to sustain, and I know this personally,” he wrote. “In my years there, especially in the beginning, Canterbury was hanging by a thread in terms of income over expenses. I can gladly say in my time as executive director we never borrowed any funds and ran a sustainable mission and ministry. Yet it was a monthly struggle, and we constantly lived on the margin.”

Phillips agrees: Canterbury’s financial problems have long been apparent. “From my perspective as a board member, I can say that I did understand that there were problems,” he said. “For some time, Canterbury has been in a tenuous situation financially. And I would say the board was well aware of that and working to address it for years, truly years.

“It just got so expensive to operate the property from a facility standpoint with deferred maintenance, and also as staffing costs increased, food service costs increased, insurance costs increased through the COVID years – but even before the COVID years, rising costs were making it harder and harder to fund the facility,” he added.

“Essentially, Canterbury has been in an unsustainable financial position for a long, long time,” Phillips said. “And in my opinion, it is not the fault of any executive director per se as much as it’s the consequence of the facility. It has been, for many years, very difficult to solicit enough operational revenue to offset the rising costs of maintaining and operating the facility.”

Mr. Roman Franklin, appointed by Holcomb as diocesan financial administrator in January 2024, said he became aware of the financial issues with Canterbury “in the first week of my employment.” At that time, the financial reports from Canterbury, provided by the Rev. Scott Holcombe, presented a clear picture of the conference center’s financial woes.

“I’ve only been here since January, but my perception is that there’s been, in a lot of ways, a lack of involvement at the diocesan level with Canterbury and its operations,” he said. “Even though the diocese received Canterbury’s audited financial statements as recently as 2019, I think Canterbury has, for the most part, been left to operate for years almost as its own sovereign entity, without proper oversight from the diocese. And I believe that is how a story of hope and optimism precluded what would have been rational decision-making if presented properly to the decision makers.”

“I think Bishop Holcomb has done a great job of being transparent in this whole process, because as soon as he has been made aware of the things that are going on there, he’s been passing all of that along to us at the Diocesan Board,” said the Very Rev. Jason Murbarger, rector of St. Mary’s, Daytona Beach, dean of the Northeast Deanery and co-chair of the Real Estate Commission. “I feel like there’s been every opportunity for us to ask questions, and to get insight into all of the happenings at Canterbury throughout the course of his first 15 months in the ministry as our new bishop. And I’ve been very happy about that level of transparency.”

What led to Canterbury’s serious financial problems?

Rising costs for both facility maintenance and operation have already been cited as a primary factor in Canterbury’s financial struggles. But the fact that the facility was underused – both by the diocese and by outside groups – stands as a central reason for the dire financial situation that necessitated its closure. Although many people have wonderful memories of Canterbury, in truth, few churches were using it. Per Franklin, only eight diocesan churches held events at the facility over the past year. In addition, only 11 groups had given deposits for events scheduled for the rest of 2024 – certainly not enough to cover the center’s expenses, much less pay down accrued debt.

“I’ve been here in the diocese since 2013 – 11 years now,” said Murbarger. “And I’ve had some great experiences there … [but] the market for that type of center just isn’t what it used to be 20 or 30 or even 40 years ago. Conference centers are struggling all around the country because it’s not the way it used to be.

“You used to pack up the whole church for a long weekend and go to [a conference center] with 100 people from your church and you’d sit around the campfire, you’d sing songs …. We just don’t live in that world anymore,” he explained. “It’s changed around us in a way that has made it very difficult for many dioceses to have these conference centers remain economically viable for them so that they’re not spending large sums of money just to keep them afloat. And that’s what has happened now at Canterbury for our diocese.”

In his letter to the bishop, Davis reiterated the point made by both Lowrey and Murbarger about how times have shifted such that few dioceses have the need or the funds to support a conference center. “We all have to acknowledge the world has changed from when Canterbury was established,” he wrote. “We now live in a post-Christendom, post-pandemic, 21st-century world with rapid change that is not slowing down. … The idea that a diocese needs to own its own conference center requires a significant and ongoing investment and commitment that is not feasible in most situations.”

Simple business math supports the truth that, had it remained open, Canterbury Conference Center would have continued to be a significant annual expense ($350,000 or more) on the diocesan budget. In the highly competitive Orlando-area market, the prices the conference center could charge did not come close to the costs of running and maintaining the facility.

“We had a limited number of beds,” Phillips said. “We had a limited conference space – that is flex space that also had to be used for dining. We didn’t have a dedicated meeting room separate from the dining hall. For many years, the rooms were in need of upfit and renovation. Even in their current condition, they couldn’t compete with the standards of nearby hotel and conference space.”

For Phillips, even his own personal support for Canterbury did not keep the ministry that initially brought him to the area from relocating away from Canterbury. “I moved here in 2015, not as an Episcopal priest but as the director of the Emmaus School of Biblical Studies. We moved our ministry full time onto the campus of the Canterbury Conference Center. It was a wonderful home for our ministry for the first few years of its existence in Central Florida.

“Canterbury has an incredibly significant place in my heart personally,” he explained. “And as the former director of Emmaus Ministries, I can testify firsthand to the difficult dynamic that Canterbury is facing. Emmaus made the decision to leave the campus because there was another facility nearby that was more cost-effective for sustaining its operational model. … Over the years, Canterbury has lost group after group in a similar situation; they left because they got a better deal somewhere else and found a space that was more suitable for their needs. Canterbury just couldn’t charge enough to get somebody’s commitment when competing against what is available in our area.”

Phillips stressed that despite these ongoing financial concerns, the Canterbury Board tried its best to keep the conference center afloat. But this ultimately led to an impossible debt burden.

“Post-COVID, we swung back hard,” he said. “I credit Chalmers for this positivity; he was of the opinion that you either open the doors fully or you admit defeat. … Initially, there was not a staffing reduction after COVID; Canterbury opened fully but really struggled to solicit business, coupled with a tremendous increase in costs. Our gross income requirement went from the mid-$50,000s a month to the mid-$90,000s; that’s what it was taking to sustain the operations of the conference center.

“When you couple rising costs with the debt burden the conference center acquired through the renovations – we planned and began the renovation process just as COVID hit – … Canterbury came under more than a million-dollar debt burden right as COVID was making it impossible to solicit any sort of income,” Phillips said. “The debt burden, coupled with rising costs, coupled with COVID making it really difficult to solicit business, just floored the ministry and put it in a position for at least the past five years where major input from donors in the diocese was required just to break even.”

“The goal was to work ourselves to a place of sustainability over a several-year period,” he added. “We all knew that can take time, but we just couldn’t get there.”

“Nobody wants to discontinue ministry at Canterbury,” Phillips said. “But we also don’t have the luxury of continuing in this trajectory.”

And that’s why the entire board, in addition to Morse, resigned in June 2023, he said. “We simply told the bishop, ‘We’ve been in this place a long time; it’s not getting better. We’ve tried everything we know to try.” He also believes the bishop and Diocesan Board made the right decision by suspending operations at Canterbury and sending in Holcombe to reevaluate its programs and costs.

But couldn’t the diocese find a way to keep Canterbury open?

The short answer to that question, for all the reasons previously stated, is no. Despite Holcombe’s work as temporary managing director in which he tried to reduce expenses, keeping Canterbury open for business would have only added to its financial woes.

“It’s really Herculean what Canon Scott did for security, staff morale, controlling expenses as much as humanly possible and increasing income, which is daunting,” Paulk said. “But they had some really good months. … the staff worked very hard, and he reduced the staff to absolutely bare-bones minimum, and they’re amazing, wonderful people. So that part was just as good as it could possibly be. And I think his insight into the property and where income and expenses are, and what the possibilities are, have been important for the Finance Commission and the Diocesan Board.”

Phillips agrees that Holcombe’s service helped the Canterbury and Diocesan Boards make wise decisions. “The mandate that the new Canterbury Board – Bishop Holcomb, Arthur Evans and I – asked Canon Scott to operate under was to, as best as possible, reduce the monthly operational costs of the campus such that the board and the diocese would have some time to discern whether there was a sustainable business model moving forward that wouldn’t result in major deficits.

“Scott’s task, and I think he’s done a great job, was to get the costs down as much as he could through any and every means possible,” he said. “He evaluated every current contractual relationship we are under, from our food service contracts to our vendor contracts to our ministry partner contracts. He took a hard look at the staffing operational costs and discerned whether there needed to be changes there – and there were changes made – to lower our staffing costs. Yet, doing all of this, while still, as best as possible, keeping the doors open for business so we could keep the revenue as high as possible.

“All this was done in an effort to buy the diocese and the new Canterbury Board time to discern whether there was a clear pathway forward that wouldn’t result in major deficits,” Phillips continued. “And the place that the board arrived at was that we didn’t see a sustainable business model that would result in a financial situation that would be sustainable without continued significant cash-flow input from the diocese and donors. The operational costs are just simply too high. The debt burden and the debt service costs are too high. And the potential for revenues is low, given what the facility will sustain with its number of rooms and space available for conferences and retreats. The business model just doesn’t make sense.”

Holcomb presented the hard data in his June 18 letter to the diocese, in which he said:

As a result of these facts, on May 23, Holcombe joined the Canterbury Board in unanimously approving the following recommendation:

At its June 4 meeting, the Finance Commission reviewed this recommendation as well as the financial reports regarding Canterbury and unanimously endorsed a motion detailing “the cessation of retreat and guest services ministry at Canterbury,” stating that “The Real Estate Commission should contact the City of Oviedo and related municipalities to determine suitable uses for the property very early in the upcoming process.”

And the Real Estate Commission made its own recommendation to the Diocesan Board. In its May 29 meeting, members unanimously requested authorization from the board to hold exploratory meetings with the governing municipalities regarding potential uses for development of the Canterbury property and to solicit requests for proposal from at least three real estate brokerage firms. The stated goal of this motion was to “provide the Diocesan Board with this information by the August Board Meeting” so the board could begin its decision-making process.

“We feel like our tasking is to look at it from a real estate perspective, so the board has the most possible information as members go through the process of deciding what they think the best course of action for the property is,” said Murbarger, who worked for nearly 12 years in commercial real estate prior to attending seminary and becoming a priest. “I think what we’re trying to do is come up with as much information as we can, so that when it’s time for the Diocesan Board to sit down and have conversations like, ‘What’s the value of Canterbury?’ financially, from a real estate perspective, we will be able to give them the best possible answers as they weigh the alternatives.”

As reported by Holcomb in his June 18 letter to the diocese, during the June 13 meeting of the Diocesan Board, members heard the recommendations regarding Canterbury from the Canterbury Board, the Finance Commission and the Real Estate Commission. After reviewing the financial analysis, providing feedback and asking questions, they voted unanimously to adopt the commissions’ motions.

What is Canterbury’s current status?

As of July 19, all business operations at Canterbury Conference Center were officially closed. All customers with reservations were told that those reservations would be canceled, and all deposits were returned by July 31.

The diocese is ensuring that the grounds stay secure and in good condition, including paying for utilities along with a third-party maintenance company to care for the grounds. In addition, the diocese is working on securing an insurance reduction for the property since it is no longer in active use other than by the Church of the Incarnation, which still meets in the Canterbury chapel.

The Real Estate Commission reported to the Diocesan Board at its Aug. 15 meeting that, after the board’s June vote, it had sent out requests for proposal to four real estate groups, chosen from an original pool of 13. Three responses were received, with a variance in assessments of potential valuation.

Because of the apparent interest in the property, the Real Estate Commission requested and received permission from the board to seek and negotiate letters of intent, as well as to seek more information from the three groups that submitted plus any other interested parties. The desire is to have more information to share with the Diocesan Board at its Sept. 19 meeting.

What about the Church of the Incarnation, which was founded at Canterbury and still meets in the chapel?

Since the diocese exists for the churches, Holcomb and the Diocesan Board consider Church of the Incarnation among their top priorities and, as events and decisions have unfolded, have kept church leadership, including the Rev. Josh Bales, rector, informed. The church and its congregation are, in fact, the most important reason for the continued maintenance of the chapel and grounds.

Once the decision was made to cease business operations at Canterbury, Church of the Incarnation began discussions with the diocese and others about next steps. On Sunday, Aug. 11, Bales announced to the congregation that the church’s new location will be the chapel of Reformed Theological Seminary, also in Oviedo and approximately one mile from Canterbury. Incarnation’s first Sunday in the seminary chapel will be the first Sunday of Advent, Dec. 1. Even as they mourn the transition away from the church’s birthplace, Bales and his congregation look forward to worshipping in their new home.

What about the Canterbury employees?

The closing of the conference center’s business operations meant the staff’s employment also ended. Holcombe notified the team of this coming change the day after the June 13 Diocesan Board meeting.

With a deep concern for these loyal staff members, the Diocesan Board made provision for appropriate severance to be paid to any full-time employees. One longtime staff member, Mrs. Irene Safier, has transferred to the diocesan office, where she has assisted Franklin in the shutdown of Canterbury’s business operations and is also serving as the Rev. Canon Dr. Dan Smith’s temporary executive assistant.

The remaining Canterbury employees ended their employment on July 19 when the facility shut down, and on Aug. 2, they received final paychecks and severance packages. Rather than using a formula, the diocese based the severance on “a combination of considerations,” including years of service and contributions, Franklin said. In addition, on Aug. 2, the diocese repaid a $95,000 loan related to Canterbury so the 9.5% interest rate would not continue to accrue.

What about other diocesan events previously held at Canterbury?

The two diocesan events that regularly met at Canterbury were the annual Clergy Conference, scheduled each fall, and Cursillo, which meets at various times through the year. This year’s Clergy Conference will be held as a one-day event at All Saints, Winter Park, on Thursday, Oct. 24. The Cursillo Board is exploring options and already has plans for events to be held at alternate sites, including Camp Wingmann, Avon Park (Spanish Cursillo Weekend, Nov. 4-7) and San Pedro Spiritual Development Center, Winter Park (two co-ed Cursillo Weekends in 2025).

Why is the Diocesan Board seeking to sell the Canterbury property?

At the present time, the board is not seeking to sell the property but to find the solution that maximizes the property’s value in a way that best advances the mission of the diocese. Franklin may have said it best: “Our mission should determine our assets instead of our assets determining our mission.” He uses one word to describe this mindset: stewardship.

In his discussion of the ongoing financial crisis at Canterbury, Phillips pointed out a key factor: “The majority of the business that Canterbury entertained was not diocesan business and not diocesan ministry and not even Episcopal ministry. That meant we were continually asking the diocese and faithful fiscal donors to underwrite every organization that used the facility through their donations. … we had to be honest and ask the hard question: Are we willing to continue subsidizing other organizational ministries and initiatives with diocesan funds and gifts from our fiscal donors? Why are we willing to do that?

“What would the diocese be able to do with that financial resource that would further the ministry and mission of the diocese if they were not required to underwrite the deficit, which is, in effect, underwriting non-diocesan initiatives and ministries?” he asked. “In effect, this is what we’ve been doing for the past five years. We’ve been underwriting Siemens; we’ve been underwriting Cru; we’ve been underwriting other denominational activities and organizations; we’ve been underwriting the Catholic Church’s summer missions program. Those are all good things, but is it a just use of diocesan resources to do that with regularity and perpetuity?

“I don’t think so,” Phillips said. “I think the money would be better spent underwriting diocesan initiatives, which is why I was the one who made the motion to no longer solicit diocesan [financial] input, to declare insolvency. Because we are insolvent. We’ve been insolvent for years.”

Murbarger shares Phillips’ concern, pointing out that the Canterbury Board “had asked us over and over again for money to subsidize the conference center that’s being used mostly for the benefit of exterior groups that are having to be solicited … and even then, they’re not able to do it in a way that doesn’t require the Diocese of Central Florida to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for its operations, maintenance and upkeep.

“There are other things the diocese could use that money for that’s just being used to fund Canterbury’s shortfall,” he said. “The question the Diocesan Board has to face is, ‘OK, we’ve got this beautiful piece of property; what are we supposed to do with it? And if there’s not going to be money that we’re allocating to keep it in this role [as a conference center], what should we do with it?’ The Real Estate Commission’s role is to say, ‘Here are some financial alternatives that Canterbury represents to the benefit of the diocese for the Diocesan Board to consider.’

“I would love to see the gift that is Canterbury Conference Center and its property continue to bless the Diocese of Central Florida for many generations to come,” Murbarger said. “And if it can’t do that in the role of retreat and conference center, what are some other ways that could happen?”

As the Diocesan Board examines its options, with assistance from the Finance Commission and the Real Estate Commission, the property may go up for sale, lease or some variation thereof. No matter what, the overall mission of the diocese will remain paramount.

If the financial situation is so bad, and Canterbury is still costing the diocese money every month, why are we not seeking an immediate sale?

The Diocesan Board is blessed to have numerous experts as advisers, including Diocesan Chancellor Todd Pittenger, who has recognized expertise in real estate law, as well as those on both the Finance and the Real Estate Commissions. They agree that becoming what Pittenger calls “an educated seller” (or educated owner, should the diocese choose another option than a sale) is a wise course of action.

Even if the property does go up for sale, moving too quickly to close a deal could result in what Pittenger termed a “fire sale” price, for which neither the buyer nor the seller would have completed the needed due diligence. Franklin agrees with this perspective, saying that selling the property too quickly could hurt the diocese financially and otherwise.

“There are going to be zoning adjustments,” he said. “There will be approvals that are necessary, and there are just timelines that we have no control over. I think what Chancellor Pittenger means is that if you’re going to close the sale of a property like this in six months, it means you’ve had to do it at such a low price that the buyer is willing to close on the purchase prior to what would be traditional, full due diligence. And so in order to compensate them for the risk they’re taking … you’d have to give them a steep discount to the actual market value.”

Pittenger also pointed out that the one-year-plus delay while Holcombe assumed management of Canterbury and the Real Estate Commission did its own due diligence has yielded positive results, including financial ones. “Although interest rates went up, values have gone up to a much greater extent, so the diocese will get its loans repaid by Canterbury in the end, and the equity far exceeds the mortgage indebtedness,” he said.

But what about all the wonderful work God has done at Canterbury?

Despite the recent decisions regarding Canterbury, no one denies that God has used it in powerful ways. Paulk, speaking in her role as chair of the Finance Commission, points out the connection between Canterbury and the overall mission of the church.

“We need to be clear-eyed on where diocesan money is needed and goes,” she said. “We have to be available for our churches, and to have money to support and aid where needed, and also to plant missions in areas of growth. It’s important for The Episcopal Church. We have a robust seminarian support program; we have several programs within the diocese to help the Episcopal religion grow and in particular, to help the diocese grow. And to support one entity like Canterbury takes large amounts of cash that then are not available for any other purpose.

“I think, to follow that logic, if the board authorizes it, we want any resolution with Canterbury … to be used for growing the diocese, to help our churches 50 years, 100 years from now,” Paulk said. “We want it to be there for the church. And to us that honors and supports the legacy of Canterbury, all of us who have been to Cursillo or had other spiritual paths that took us to and renewed us at Canterbury.”

While honoring the legacy of the conference center, Murbarger also pointed to the church’s gospel mission. “Canterbury, in my experience, is a very thin place,” he said. “By that, I mean that you feel the presence of the Spirit there because it’s a place that has been prayed over and prayed through and prayed at for such a long time by people in this diocese. As a rector, it’s easy to feel that way about the building you worship in, but we don’t want to miss the Great Commission, because it’s not the building or the piece of property; it’s the risen Lord that we’re working for.

“And so any means that we have of advancing that gospel message as the church changes throughout time, and the culture shifts, and what people want to do with long weekends in their lives shifts – from a cultural perspective, it just seems to me like the idea of ‘conference center’ is no longer at the forefront of people’s hearts, but it is a loving memory,” he explained.

Murbarger’s final question brings these thoughts together. “From my perspective, the question becomes: Is it worth funneling a huge amount of funds from the diocesan budget, which could be used for gospel advancement, to be able to continue to keep that warm memory in place, even if it’s not being used?”

What will happen to Canterbury now?

“Canterbury exists because faithful Christians, for decades, have given of themselves given the resource of their time, their talent and their treasure to make a place for ministry,” Phillips said. “And even as the use and potential existence of the conference center may change, those resources are still going to be leveraged for ministry. … The resources that have been brought to bear to create that facility would be leveraged in new ways for the diocese, which would ultimately result in continued ministry and mission.

“The question before us as a Diocesan Board is: ‘How do we best steward Canterbury as a resource of the diocese?'” he said. “In that sense, the investment that many, many parishioners and parishes have made in this ministry over the years has not been lost, even if it’s reappropriated and recommissioned in new ways,” he said.

The Diocesan Board will meet again on Sept. 19 and receive further input from the Real Estate Commission. Depending on that input, additional decisions may be made, and more research will be conducted. The bishop, the Diocesan Board and the Central Florida Episcopalian will continue to keep the diocese informed about the ongoing plans for Canterbury.