Controlled Church Auction

A Controlled Church Auction

 

The vestry has asked me to write about the amazing events of Monday, October 31,2016 for inclusion in our church history.Father John Mears and the congregation at little St. Peter's church in Forestville, New York, left the apostate Episcopal Diocese to join the Anglican Church of North America many years ago.

The Episcopal Diocese continued to claim ownership of this property, which by New York law they were entitled to do. The national Episcopal church leadership approved a rule that would not allow any congregation leaving the Episcopal church to buy the property it occupied.

Jim Fanning, Chancellor of the Diocese, greatly respected Fr. John and was sympathetic to the work being done at St. Peter's.Eventually, (we think with the Chancellor's encouragement) the Diocese decided to put the property up for public auction, giving us a chance to bid. The date was set for October 31, 2016 and advertised in the local newspapers.

Our vestry and Father White, who had become our pastor after Fr. Mears died, decided to limit the amount we would bid to $15,000,( all the funds we had.)  We were told there was a man from Evans coming to bid and someone was flying up from Florida with plenty of money. His plan was to strip the building of its stained glass windows (valued at $35,000) and remove the ancient timbers and fixtures.

The auction began at 9 a.m. Nearly all the congregation was there. The bidding began and surprisingly there was only one other person bidding against us.The bidding began slowly and when it reached $2700 our Pastor bid $3,000. Suddenly it was quiet. there was no other bid. “Going once, going twice, sold to St. Peter's congregation.”

 Later, the other bidder told a member of our congregation, he was planning on bidding a great deal more and using the building for storage for his business. He said, “every time I bid, the church people turned and stared at me. I decided I wasn't strong enough to fight that kind of 'Karma'.”

While officials were signing all the legal documents two angry men (including the man from Florida) came in furious they had missed the auction. They mistakenly had gone to the Forestville Clerk's office and not to the Hanover Clerk's office where the auction was advertised to be held. These were the men who were prepared to bid much more.

After the bidding was over, the Diocesan treasurer said quietly to Chancellor Jim Fanning, “that was the work of the Holy Spirit.” You can imagine the cheering and tears from our members because it was God, Who arranged the winning bid for us

And God wasn't through blessing our church. Later, after our pastor had shared our story at St. Bartholomew's Church in North Tonawanda, a parishioner came and handed him an envelope containing a check for $3,000. Praise the Lord.

Dorothy Mears, church secretary

Forestville, NY