Bush Admin Leaders Religious Affiliation

Read "Episcopal Churches' Breakaway in Va. Evolved Over 30 Years" by lan Cooperman and Jacqueline L. Salmon in The Washington Post, January 4, 2007.

According to this article, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and former CIA director Porter J. Goss regularly attend church services in two Episcopal churches that have recently been in the news: The Falls Church and Truro Church. These are the churches that formally broke away from the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church in the United States, and became with seven other Northern Virginia churches a new missionary branch of the Anglican province of Nigeria.

The article states:

(F)or more than 30 years, Truro and The Falls Church have been part of a 'charismatic revival' within mainline Protestantism, said the Rev. Robert W. Prichard, professor of Christianity in America at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.

Charismatic, in this case, refers to an ecstatic style of worship that includes speaking in tongues, a stream of unintelligible syllables signifying that the Holy Spirit has entered the worshiper. It is a hallmark of the fast-growing Pentecostal movement but unusual for Episcopalians, who are so thoroughly associated with solemnity and tradition that they are sometimes referred to teasingly as 'the frozen chosen.'

Prichard, who grew up attending Truro, said many of its members and almost of all its lay leaders spoke in tongues in the 1970s. 'There was a kind of coaching in which people who had spoken in tongues would surround a person who was praying for the gift of tongues,' he said.

Parishioners say the practice continues today in both congregations, though not at Sunday morning services. Some members have never seen it.

'It's very much a part of our experience and lives,' said Truro Rector Martyn Minns, a new bishop in the Nigerian Anglican Church. But 'we've grown up. We integrate it rather than focus on it.'

Dean Miller, pastor of the young adult ministry at The Falls Church, said some members also have 'visions of the Lord' during healing services. 'I don't. I'm not gifted that way. But there are people in the community who do,' he said.

The article also states:

These days, Truro is a magnet for conservatives across the Washington area, and the percentage of 'cradle' Episcopalians among its 2,000 regular worshipers has dropped steadily. In the 1980s, more than two-thirds of its members had been raised Episcopalian, according to church surveys. Today, fewer than 40 percent grew up in the church......

Goss has attended with his family for years. He said he draws spiritual sustenance from the church's strong emphasis on the teachings of Jesus. 'It's a congregation that really exhibits the love of Christ,' he said last week. He declined to comment on the current controversy.