Diocese of Quincy merger with Diocese of Chicago will bring token 340 Parishioners
Lawsuits over properties continue
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
June 9, 2013
A jubilant Bishop of Chicago heralded the merger (he called it unity) of the Diocese of Quincy with the Diocese of Chicago as “a day that both dioceses have yearned for." The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee will be bishop of the reunified diocese. He says it will join [them] together in witnessing to the power of the Risen Christ who overcomes all divisions.A closer look at the numbers reveals a more practical reason for the merger that has less to do with history and the power of the risen Christ, and more to do with fleeing orthodox Episcopalians and dying Midwest Episcopal dioceses. It also signals the beginning of more mergers and acquisitions in the coming months and years as the effect of aging and dying Episcopalians continues and the apostasies of Episcopal actions continues to take its toll on the national church.
In 2011, The Episcopal Church reported nine congregations in TEC Quincy. Following the split in 2008, seven congregations continued to remain in The Episcopal Church. The total baptized are: 730. Total ASA: 340. Plate & Pledge: $685,000
These are the parishes:
Grace - Galesburg (18);
St. George - Macomb (17);
St. James - Griggsville (14);
St. John - Kewanee (24);
St. Paul - Warsaw (26);
St. Paul Cathedral - Peoria (175); and
St. James - Lewistown (14)
Two other congregations are either a church plant or the reorganization of a former congregation. Their 2011 ASA figures are:
All Saints - Moline (70); and
Bread of Life - Peoria (No figures given)
Episcopalians meeting in Chicago and Peoria voted to reunify their dioceses after 136 years of operating separately. Both conventions voted unanimously to approve an identical reunification resolution. The 2011 TEC reports show there are nine congregations in TEC Quincy.
Since 2008, the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy has tried desperately to forge a new identity and mission after its former bishop, the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman and about 60% of its members broke away to become founders of the theologically orthodox Anglican Church of North America.
According to the 2009 RED BOOK reflecting the 2008 parochial report figures before the split, there were 23 worship congregations and the Bishop's Chapel of Our Lady of Walsingham.
In 2008 the Diocese of Quincy was under Bishop Keith Ackerman. The congregations with (Communicant Figures) were:
Mission: Zion - Brimfield (No figure given);
Parish: St. Peters - Canton (170);
Mission: St. James - Dunlap (67);
Mission: St. Andrews - El Paso (18);
Parish: Grace - Galesberg (151);
Mission: Holy Trinity - Geneseo (104);
Mission: St. James - Griggsville (33);
Mission: Christ Church - Hanna City (15);
Mission: St. John Henry (30);
Parish: St. John - Kewanee (45);
Mission: St. James - Lewistown (46);
Parish: St. George - Macomb (68);
Parish: Christ - Moline (135);
Mission: Trinity - Monmouth (11);
Bishop's Chapel: Our Lady of Walsingham - Peoria;
Parish: St. Andrew’s- Peoria (59)
Cathedral: St. Paul - Peoria (394);
Mission: St. John - Preemption (27);
Mission: Transfiguration - Princeton (76);
Parish: St. John - Quincy (104);
Parish: Trinity - Rock Island (204);
Mission: St. Clare - Rushville (10);
Mission: St. Mark - Silvis (78); and
Mission: St. Paul - Warsaw (68)
ACNA Quincy congregations totaled 17 continuing congregations. Four other congregations are either church plants or reorganization of continuing congregations including:
Holy Cross - Lake Villa;
Christ - Fairview Heights;
St. Jude - Princeton; and
All Souls - Wheaton.
There are also five congregations outside of the original boundaries of the Diocese of Quincy or out of the State of Illinois which have joined with the ACNA Diocese of Quincy. They are:
Our Lady of Guadalupe - Chicago;
All Saints - Montrose, Colorado;
St. Dunstan - Largo, Florida;
St. Andrew - Nashville, Tennessee; and
St. Mary's-of-the-Snows - Eagle River, Wisconsin.
In 2001, when the Diocese of Quincy was under Bishop Ackerman, the baptized was more than 1,200. The ASA was more than 3,000. Its 2006 Plate & Pledge was $1,700,000.
Other Wisconsin dioceses that cannot survive for much longer include Eau Claire under the liberal Bishop William Jay Lambert III, which has a baptized membership of 2,037 but an ASA of 790.
The Diocese of Fond Du Lac under Bishop Russell Jacobus has a baptized membership of 5,778 but an ASA of only 2,135. The Diocese of Milwaukee under Bishop Steven A. Miller has a baptized membership of 10,029, but an ASA of only 4,020. In November of 2006, 16 clergy and laity filed a complaint with the national church against Bishop Miller over allegations that he persecuted a liberal woman priest at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, Wisconsin, who faced expulsion for violating her priestly vows.
They hoped the charges would lead to presentment with alleges abuse of power in the way he handled her discipline for an alleged breach of confidentiality. She was been barred from serving as a priest since May. Miller survived the charges.
In December of 2011, an Illinois court dismissed the claim that as a “matter of law” the Episcopal Church is a hierarchical with dioceses being subordinate to the national church, and rejected a motion for summary judgment brought by the national church against the breakaway Diocese of Quincy.
Later in December a decision by Judge Thomas Ortbal of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Adams County, Ill., sent the dispute between the Diocese of Quincy and the national church and its allies to trial. The court also concluded that even if the church is hierarchical, that would not end the matter because a "neutral principles of law" approach should be applied to resolving the property ownership dispute. The court case is ongoing.
Combined, the number of Episcopal parishioners in Quincy, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac and Milwaukee is not equal to any one of the top ten parishes in the Episcopal Church. More mergers are inevitable.
Recently the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) announced the formation of a new Diocese of the Upper Midwest. It should receive official approval and recognition by the ACNA House of Bishops when they meet later this month in Nashotah House, Wisconsin.
VOL correspondent Mary Ann Mueller contributed to this story.
'via Blog this'
