According to DNAinfo
Nearly half of the church’s board of directors has resigned in the past six months in a dispute with its rector over the direction and mission of the 314-year-old Episcopal church, which became a symbol of downtown’s resilience and recovery in the wake of 9/11.
They accuse the Rev. James Cooper, the church’s rector and chief executive officer, of lavishly overspending church funds on Bach concerts and other events, and planning an opulent overhaul of the church’s office space at 68-74 Trinity Place rather than focusing on his ministry and helping the poor.“The rector has failed to define, articulate and advance the mission of the Church,” Andrew Lynn, a vestry member who resigned in February, wrote in a Dec. 16 letter to the rest of the vestry that was obtained by DNAinfo.