I loved the movie. It was very inspiring, all the more so because apparently it really happened, or most of it did. However, I am an Episcopalian, and I know that some of what was depicted couldn't really happen the way it was presented.
A diocese can't balance its budget by the resignation of the bishop and the use of his salary for some other purpose. A diocese has to have a bishop. The definition of a diocese is the jurisdiction of a bishop. If the bishop resigns, there has to be an election of a replacement bishop.
Secondly, the Bishop of Tennessee can't appoint a priest in his diocese to a position at St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue, New York. For that matter, neither can the Bishop of New York. St. Thomas is a self-governing parish, and the rector, wardens, and vestry would make that decision. There might have been some conversation between the Bishop of Tennessee and the Bishop of New York which led to a suggestion by the Bishop of New York to the Rector of St. Thomas to consider Fr. Spurlock for a vacant position. But the decision was made at St. Thomas and was not as clear-cut as it was shown in the movie.
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