GOOD NEWS: Charleston gets a new cathedral

Charleston gets a new cathedral

Grace Episcopal Church on Wentworth Street is now the official cathedral for Episcopalians who are part of the Episcopal Church USA.

Grace Church Cathedral, Charleston, S.C.

On Saturday, some 300 delegates to the 225^th annual diocesan convention at Holy Cross Faith Memorial Episcopal Church in Pawleys Island approved a proposal to name Grace as the official new church home of Bishop Charles G. vonRosenberg. The church now will be called Grace Church Cathedral as a blend reflecting its history as a parish church and to highlight its leadership role of housing the bishop’s offices and diocesan staff.

The church, admitted to the Diocese of South Carolina in 1846 and consecrated two years later, is the largest congregation in a diocese now known as The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, a group of 30 Episcopal churches and missions loyal to the national Episcopal Church.

In recent years, local Episcopalians split over matters of theology, spurred in part in 2004 by the consecration of an openly gay priest as a bishop in New Hampshire. In 2012, conservative Episcopalians in 34 South Carolina parishes broke away from the national church, but kept the name “Diocese of South Carolina.” That led to an ongoing lawsuit over the breakaway diocese’s name and property. The matter remains in federal and state courts.

But Episcopalians who hold values aligned with the national church have moved on in many ways. Officials say parishes that remain in communion with the national church believe Grace as the diocese’s cathedral is a “positive move for unity.”

In other good news:

Big state impact. SCRA announced Friday that it had a $1.4 billion impact in economic activity in South Carolina in 2015, according to a new report by USC’s Darla Moore School of Business. High-tech jobs from the organization’s SC Launch pay an average annual wage of $69,000 and grew 52 percent in the last 12 months. “These economic output results indicate that we are advancing our mission to foster South Carolina’s high-tech economy,” said SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney.

Book program grows. Begin With Books continues to grow thanks to collaborations across the community. Overall enrollment of 2,724 children across the county receive free books through the early literacy campaign, according a recent update: “Wadmalaw and Edisto have been participation leaders from the beginning, but Johns Island, Hollywood, and the Peninsula are all now over 50 percent enrollment.  Overall, we have delivered 85,945 books to over 4,500 children.” More info.

Healthier babies. Leading Charleston chefs cooked for a Nov. 5 charity event attended by more than 400 people that raised $265,000 for the March of Dimes to benefit healthier babies. “Thanks to the generous support of the participating restaurants, event sponsors and guests, the March of Dimes raised $265,000 to support lifesaving research and educational programs aimed at giving every baby a healthy start in life,” said Benny Firestone, Signature Chefs auction chairman in a press release.