Church Universal Changing Another Board Member Quits After Shift In Management Style

A member of the board overseeing day-to-day operations of the Church Universal and Triumphant has stepped down, citing dissatisfaction with the reshaping of the church.

Kathleen Boyle’s resignation is the latest in a series of departures by church officials.

Boyle had worked for the church since 1980 and was on its executive board. She organized the drive that raised funds for the church’s 1981 purchase of a 12,000-acre ranch that adjoins Yellowstone National Park.

Boyle left the board on Wednesday, but has not given up membership in the church, which is based in Corwin Springs. The church announced the resignation.

Boyle organized church recruitment tours and conferences, and occasionally conducted tours of the bomb shelters that church members built in Emigrant.

She served on the corporate board of directors from 1994 until May, and joined the executive board in 1996.

She left because “she couldn’t keep up with the sweeping changes in the church’s culture,” according to a church news release.

“The church is moving to a much more relaxed, teamwork style of management,” Boyle said in the release. “I like a more regimented style.”

Officials who have left the church in recent years include church leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet’s son, Sean; her daughter, Erin; and board members Timothy Connor and Richard Kalar.

In the past couple of years, about one-third of the staff has been laid off; Prophet and her husband, Edward Francis, have divorced; and some church assets have been liquidated. Much of the ranch is for sale. When Boyle was raising money to buy the property, it was touted as a spiritual retreat.

In other changes, land in the church’s subdivision of Glastonbury, at Emigrant, is being opened to the general public. For years, only people approved by church leaders were allowed to live in the subdivision.

The church says it is going through a process of “re-energizing.”