QUINCY: Diversity embraced as steering committee leads reorganization
Episcopal News Service. February 27, 2009 [022709-02]
Joe Bjordal
A newly appointed steering committee, representing persons in the Diocese of Quincy who want to remain in the Episcopal Church, has met with the Presiding Bishop in New York, welcomed a bishop as consultant, and released a vision statement and immediate goals for the reorganizing diocese.
Last November, a number of clergy and laypersons in the Peoria, Illinois-based diocese voted to leave the Episcopal Church due to theological disagreements and align with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
The reorganization moves are in preparation for a special synod meeting which has been called by Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori for Saturday, April 4 to be held at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Peoria. In a notice issued February 27, Jefferts Schori called for the synod, saying there was "no bishop of the Diocese of Quincy, or any qualified members of the standing committee of that diocese."
She said the primary purpose of the meeting will be the election of a provisional bishop and that "thereafter, the synod is expected to proceed to the election of members of the standing committee, diocesan council, and other officers of the diocese; adoption of a budget; and consideration of resolutions related to recent purported amendments of the constitution and canons of the diocese as well as other resolutions relating to the organization and governance of the diocese."
In a separate statement released on February 27, the steering committee said it was committed to being a "fully participating, constituent part of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion" and said it will work to "ensure that everyone is welcome and that diversity is celebrated in this diocese."
Stating that it treasures "the splendid diversity of the Episcopal Church," the committee said it would "faithfully pledge to hold open a place in it for those with differing points of view."
The steering committee said it envisions a diocese where:
- "Christ's love for all people is proclaimed and offered in worship, in Christian service, and in lives alight with the joy of the Holy Spirit;
- We join the rest of the Episcopal Church in sacrificial service to the world beyond our doorstep;
- All – lay and ordained – conform to the canons and constitution of the Episcopal Church;
- The ministry of the laity, conferred in the Baptismal Covenant, imagines, promotes, and undertakes new ways to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through service to his blessed poor and all who suffer;
- Every voice is heard as we work, pray, and give for the spread of God's Kingdom where we live and throughout the world."
The committee is chaired by the Very Rev. Robert Dedmon, dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, Peoria. Other members of the committee are the Very Rev. Canon Laurence Larson, co-founding rector of the newly formed All Saints Episcopal Church in Moline; the Rev. Canon John Blossom, Bread of Life, Peoria; Tom Ewing, St. James Church, Lewistown; Dr. Lin Goldstone, Christ Church, Moline; Tobyn Leigh, St. George's Church, Macomb; Kathleen Leson, St. Paul's Cathedral and Bread of Life; and Michael Renner, St. Paul's Cathedral.
During meetings with Episcopal Church officials in New York February 9 and 10, committee members were introduced to Bishop Keith Whitmore, retired bishop of the Wisconsin diocese of Eau Claire and assistant bishop of Atlanta. In consultation with the Presiding Bishop, Whitmore was invited to serve as a consultant to the steering committee as it plans for the synod meeting.
Members of the committee also expressed an interest in restarting distribution of Episcopal Life, the newspaper of the Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of Quincy. Distribution of the newspaper was stopped during the episcopate of Bishop Keith Ackerman, who resigned in late October 2008.
Former leaders notified
The steering committee's statement says that the group who left the Episcopal Church for the Province of the Southern Cone "considers itself to be traditionally orthodox Anglican, and has taken issue with practices and theology in the Episcopal Church, which is also part of the global Anglican Church."
"The position of the Diocese and the Episcopal Church is that the dissenters have broken vows as both clergy and communicants to uphold the constitution and canons of the church, thus making themselves ineligible for any position of authority in the Diocese," said the steering committee members.
The dissenting group continues to use the name "The Diocese of Quincy" and is currently governed by a six-member standing committee, chaired by the Rev. Canon Ed den Blaawen, rector of Christ Church, Moline, who was also appointed by Southern Cone primate Gregory Venables to serve as "vicar general" of the diocese.
On February 25, the Presiding Bishop wrote to the group saying that the Episcopal Church does not officially recognize them as the standing committee of the Diocese of Quincy, saying that she regrets "the decisions that you have made to attempt to take the diocese out of The Episcopal Church and the necessary consequences of these actions."
Meanwhile, the group aligned with the Southern Cone has announced that Edward MacBurney, a former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, has accepted a call to serve as interim bishop. "Harvest Plain," the newspaper of the dissenting group, has also announced that former bishop Keith Ackerman will be "functioning in the diocese at the direction of the Standing Committee as liaison with various national and international bodies, including the emerging North American Province."
The articles states that Ackerman's tasks will consist of "regular conference calls, meetings, and conversations with international leaders and the diaspora clergy" and that he will "continue to be available to clergy in the diocese who are in need of spiritual care."
Seeking the faithful
The steering committee of the reorganizing diocese said its "main order of business is identifying and offering support to parishioners who wish to remain Episcopalian rather than follow former diocesan leadership to a foreign province" and that it will "provide encouragement and pastoral care for those who do not want to leave the Episcopal Church."
"We seek prayerfully to reconcile with any who contemplate leaving the Episcopal Church by inviting them into dialogue, by listening to them with open hearts and minds and by affirming that they too are valued members of this great church."