It’s the people I know in the pews who make it hard to let go. I don’t know Alex’s reason for leaving, but I wouldn’t give him a hard time for leaving the UMC. (I don’t know Mathhew Fox’s heresy) Many others have left, and I’ve not personally met one who didn’t have a good reason.
read this: http://goodnewsmag.org/2015/05/connectional-table-proposes-dramatic-change/
Matthew Fox left the Catholic Church for the California Diocese of the Anglican Church about two inches from the sharp boot of then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later to become Pope Benedict XVI who should never have resigned) who then headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under St. John Paul II.
Fox made many joint appearances with a self-proclaimed "witch" named Starhawk in which they demonstrated a mutual admiration society before soft-headed and spaghetti-spined audiences and other heathens.
I earnestly yearn for you to cross the Tiber but I also understand and admire your steadfast lashing yourself to the mast on behalf of those willing to be saved within UMC. We need talented and devout reinforcements for the forces of genuine Catholicism. Your church needs good pastors, however, as do all churches. Wherever you come down, I have every confidence that you will continue to be a great force for good and for God in your work on His behalf.
You ought to read (if you have not already) Imitation of Christ by the medieval (14th century?) monk and hermit Thomas a Kempis (second best-selling religious book of all time, surpassed only by the Holy Scriptures themselves).
The book is in four tightly written sections: Interior Conversation (with God), Spiritual Warfare, the Mass and the Sacraments.
I humbly submit that most Catholics have lost touch with their heritage of Interior Conversation and Spiritual Warfare and many Reformed Christians either have lost touch with the Mass and the Sacraments as we Catholics understand them or have rejected them altogether although they are powerful conduits for God's graces.
Thomas a Kempis suggested reading no more than 2-3 pages per day and pondering them. At 3 pages a day, it would take about three months to carefully complete reading Imitation of Christ.
Pastor, please keep in your prayers the continued restoration of my health and add prayers for Henry Poulson who is a 58-year old Texas pipefitter who crushed his pelvis in an awful vehicular accident, is confined in a nursing home as I was until recently and whose lovely daughter is my youngest daughter's roommate, and faces reconstructive surgery if his internal infections can be controlled, followed by long convalescence. He is a Southern Baptist and his daughter assures me that Scripture reading is the highlight of every day for him.
Anyone out there, of whatever faith, please keep those intentions in your prayers. I have never met Mr. Poulson and probably never will in this life since he and I are both unlikely to be doing any long-distance traveling between northern Illinois and Texas or vice versa.
I have read the linked article from your post. My mother’s very best friend was a woman named Hilda who was a Methodist of the old school (born in about 1903). Hilda was about nine years older than my mom. Hilda was a magnificent example of what a wonderful Christian can be. For you, for Hilda (she is no longer with us of course) and for each and every good Methodist who has fought and is fighting for what is good and true and beautiful, I pray for your success in Jesus’s holy Name.