After a five-year strategic planning process, in which every possibility was considered for the future of St. George’s Episcopal Church, including the possibility of selling all or part of the property, St. George’s has decided to remain at its current location, on the southwest corner of Foothill Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue.
The decision is largely a result of policy making by the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, the six-counties regional body which would have to give its consent for any sale of church real property. In September, Bishop John Harvey Taylor decided that no such sales would be approved for any sacred property, including St. George’s, during the remaining years of his episcopate.
St. George’s had considered a sale not only for financial reasons, but also for reasons of size and scale.
“Our congregation had gotten so small that it would have made sense to worship in a chapel on a smaller geographical footprint, using a smaller-scale business model,” said the Rev. Amy Pringle, rector of the church. “But we’re no stranger to managing the whole two-and-a-half acres; we’ll just go back to doing that.”
St. George’s Preschool will remain closed since it had shuttered for reasons independent of the potential sale. Several of its former classrooms have already been leased as office spaces, with preschool-sized art sinks converted to full-size kitchenette counters.
And as for the future of the church, “Wait and see!” Pringle said. A number of ideas for new ministries and growth are being considered, as the church seeks to serve the La Cañada Flintridge community in this new era of its life.
First published in the October 5 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
