Tonawanda: With regrets, several hundred local worshippers leave Episcopal Church

‘Sometimes God calls us out of our comfort zone.’— Rev. Arthur Ward Jr.
By Jay Tokasz
12/15/08

Don and Gladys Miller worshipped weekly for 53 years in the sanctuary at 1064 Brighton Road.
But Sunday, the Millers walked away from the Town of Tonawanda church building they’ve known as their spiritual home since 1955.

“We’ve been here a long time, and it’s hard to leave,” said Don Miller, dabbing at tears. “We decided a long time ago that we would move with the church.”

The Millers are joining an expected several hundred parishioners of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in a highly unusual journey: Not only are they moving into a new facility, they’re also leaving the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Western New York.

Henceforth, the members of St. Bartholomew’s will be known as Anglicans, not Episcopalians, and they’ll worship in a former synagogue on Eggert Road, less than a mile away from the former site at Brighton and Fries roads. the rest