A Living Text

Is the Upper Midwest Diocese viable?

Apparently Immanuel Anglican Church in Chicago has left the Upper Midwest Diocese for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, at least temporarily. This adds to the list of parishes that have left or shut down, such as Light of Christ in Kenosha and two Minnesota churches that left. ACNA’s Constitution and Canons state:

Section 1 – Concerning Structure
A Diocese is a grouping of congregations gathered for mission under the oversight of a Bishop (the “Ecclesiastical Authority”). A Diocese is composed of a minimum of twelve (12) congregations with an ASA of at least fifty (50) each and a collective ASA of at least one thousand (1,000). A diocese shall demonstrate that there is sufficient financial support for the office of the Bishop and shall provide financial support to the Province in the spirit of Canon I.9.1

Like many areas, the Midwest has many overlapping jurisdictions. In fact, the Great Plains Mission District of Christ Our Hope just welcomed a parish from Lake Forest, IL that logically should have been in UMD. Is UMD still viable or should it be downgraded to a convocation?

In related news, Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton has ended a year long search for a rector and decided instead to get more leadership from a “fully exonerated” Bishop Ruch. “Bishop Stewart has agreed to a unanimous vestry request to provide leadership and vision to our church family in a greater capacity.” Bishop Ruch says that the church is in “…a kind of “John the Baptist hinge moment.”

  1. I.5.1 ↩︎

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5 responses to “Is the Upper Midwest Diocese viable?”

  1. Bob Cage Avatar
    Bob Cage

    There doesn’t appear to be any temporariness about Immanuel’s move. They join three other parishes in Chicago in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which makes Pittsburgh equal to C4SO and UMD for most parishes geographically in Chicagoland. It might be noted, because WO is always brought up in these discussions, Immanuel remains committed to openness to female deacons and not to female priests, and this is no bar to admittance in Pittsburgh, which includes parishes with female priests and parishes opposed to WO.

    In terms of UMD parishes lost/closed, your list is should also include Cornerstone Anglican in Oak Park. That means five parishes lost or closed in five years.

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    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Thanks for that update, I appreciate it.

      Reply
    2. admin Avatar
      admin

      I think that Pittsburgh might be a temporary destination–I could be wrong about that.

      Reply
  2. ShenouteOfAtripé Avatar
    ShenouteOfAtripé

    What’s being described here isn’t merely “overlapping jurisdictions.” It’s the slow erosion of ecclesial integrity disguised as strategic flexibility.

    When a parish from Lake Forest finds a home in the Diocese of Christ Our Hope, we are no longer talking about mission. This is opportunism. Words do not exist to describe how comedic this is. While the churches who are leaving the UMD (and rightly so) have few places to go the language of “mission districts” and “realignment” has less to do ecclesial discernment and more to do with redrawing borders by those with the leverage to do so.

    Who has eyes to see how all this is unfolding alongside the deeply compromised handling of Stewart Ruch’s trial, an episode that has left a lingering sense that accountability in the Anglican Church in North America is negotiable. That his own parish would now invite him back into visible leadership under the thin veil of “exoneration.” All this reads as institutional amnesia, or worse, defiance. One church stages rehabilitation while another nearby quietly absorbs parishes. The choreography is hard to miss. Then there is Bishop Alan Hawkins. His role here deserves more scrutiny than polite ecclesial conversation typically allows. For years, he was a critic of non-geographic dioceses, a voice for order and coherence. And yet now, through the expansion of the Diocese of Christ Our Hope, we see something that looks remarkably like a parallel jurisdiction emerging under the banner of “mission.” From TX to NC to IL to New England. Who will colonize Greenland first, the Diocese of Christ Our Hope or Trump? One cannot help but wonder whether this was less a change of mind and more a long game—mission structures functioning as a staging ground for a broader reconfiguration of power.

    Engineered consolidation perchance?

    Reply
    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Fringe movements attract fringe people. The entire thing seems like a farce.

      Reply

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