This will be interesting to watch, as I fear that an orthodox bishop will be a hard pressed concept to put into place. I pray I am wrong and if I am....then it will be a larger stone bridge than just a little one that has been won.

Geez Louise that is a a tiny Diocese.  It probably makes more fiscal sense to fold it into a larger Diocese.  But oh well.

And let me say on a personal note, one thing that lead me to leave TEC was all the stories I heard about orthodox parishes having to “play games” to call an orthodox priest.  They had to pray the Bishop didn’t ask him certain theological questions, the answers to which the Bishop wouldn’t like.  I know of one parish that intentionally looked for a woman priest in order to call an orthodox believer b/c it would be hard for the Bishop to reject a woman.  Enough.

And then a Diocese like Eau Claire, even if they wanted an orthodox believer as a Bishop, they would have to navigate the “Mark Lawrence” maze of “is he loyal to the Episcopal Church no matter how heretical it gets?” Enough.

While I am serving as the rector at All Souls’ Anglican Church & Mission, a parish in Okinawa, Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Japan), I am canonically a resident of Eau Claire and ALL my prayers will be for the election of an Orthodox bishop to serve the parishes in that diocese.  One name that comes to mind is John Rasmus.  Perhaps his early retirement from St. Paul’s Church - Hudson, and being the only rector of a parish in the diocese that actually grew, was for the good of the diocese as a whole.  Anyone who knows John can attest to his abilities and vision.  He was up for this ministry during the last election ... I truly hope he is nominated.  He could be a real blessing to this diocese.

Maybe Bishop Wantland can be persuaded to come out of retirement?

Other dioceses in a search process are Southern Virginia, Rio Grande, Idaho, Texas, Northwest Texas, Northern Michigan, Georgia, Dallas, and South Dakota.  In addition, there will be an uncanonical election this weekend at the San Joaquin organizing convention.

O God,
Your people have followed a false gospel and wandered away.  Bring to these dioceses shepherd-bishops who will gather the lost and return them to Your arms of love.  Amen.

...there will be an uncanonical election this weekend at the San Joaquin organizing convention.

Jill Woodliff,
Interesting that! They, those who are putting this altogether, are ranting on about how Bp. Schofield did not follow canon prodecure in his resignation, yet here we have an uncanonical convention and election! These people are real rich aren’t they?

Minnesota is also in a search process

Thanks, art.

This indicates.....to me, at least.....the slow but steady decline in membership which TEC is so quick to deny, yet the facts speak for themselves.  Constant denial is getting them nowhere, and all the while, the situation is getting worse with no letup in sight.

I hear from an inside source, they are looking to merge with Fond du Lac.

Fr. K’s suggestion of Fr. John as Bishop makes my heart leap. 
But Matthew, that would be an OPEN secret around here!

Jill (#5)
Dallas has 6 candidates for Suffragan Bishop nominated. The election is this Saturday. So I
guess you could say the search process is over
for this position.

Marie at Rez

Maryland had their walkabout last week. One of the female candidates stated that she was in the minority of the candidates there because while she supported open communion, she opposed violating canon to do it. Ugh.

I, for one, have always found it more than a bit unfair that there are three dioceses in the state of Wisconsin, while there is only one in the neighboring state of Minnesota, despite the fact that there are more Episcopalians in Minnesota.  Thus Wisconsin gets two more votes in the house of bishops and 8 more votes each in laity and clergy at General Convention even though they have a lower overall membership. As a Minnesotan, I would not be opposed to Wisconsin being reduced to two or even one diocese. 

Here are the numbers:
Total Wisconsin (Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee):
Parishes: 115
Baptized Members: 20,248
Communicants: 18,851
Average Sunday Attendance: 8,496

Diocese of Minnesota (State total, excluding Moorehead, MN in Diocese of North Dakota):
Parishes: 107
Baptized Members: 25,223
Communicants: 20,360
Average Sunday Attendance: 8,546

How come Wisconsin has three bishops?  TEC should streamline the HoB.  Of course, it is doing that----starting with SJ, FW, and Pittsburgh.

Bishop Whitmore has been talking about the Diocese of Eau Claire needing to be folded into another diocese for some time, so perhaps his moving on isn’t surprising.  I live in the diocese but don’t attend an Episcopal church (we left for our kids’ sake).

Trinitymatthew (#14),

You’ve made a good point.  But comparing the size of dioceses is always relative to your chosen base of comparison and what you assume is the normal or “right” size.

For example, my home church, Eternity Anglican in Richmond, VA, is affiliated with Uganda, specifically with the Diocese of Luweero.  When the African bishop, Evans Kisseka, visited us last fall I asked him about the size of his diocese.  Are you ready for this?  He has 644 congregations under his care.  That’s right, 644!  And that’s not unusual in Uganda, where they have 9-10 million active Anglicans, and only 34 dioceses.  And here’s the kicker, Bishop Kisseka only has 52 priests to serve those over 600 churches (they can’t afford any more).

Or consider this.  The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago claims 2.5 MILLION members.  That’s larger than the whole of TEC put together.

Finally, consider this.  I’m visiting my son and daughter-in-law and our two grandsons in Wheaton, IL.  I attended some fantastic Holy Week services at their growing, thriving AMiA congregation, Church of the Resurrection, which attracts hordes of Wheaton College students.  They had over 500 people attend the Maundy Thursday service (where everyone got a foot washed, but only one foot, not both feet to save time).  And over 600 people attended a THREE HOUR Good Friday service the next night.  And then, at the Easter Vigil Saturday night, over 1,000 enthusiastic worshippers crowded the place and fervently celebrated our Lord’s mighty resurrection in a glorious FOUR HOUR service (including lots of wonderful music).  And over half of them were under the age of 30!

Now what you want to bet that there weren’t 500 young people in all of MN and WI put together at the Easter Vigils in those two dioceses?

See?  It’s all relative (grin).

David Handy+

A more strategic merger would be for border congregations in southeastern Minnesota to join the Diocese of Eau Claire. Places like Frontenac, Lake City, and Winona are far more similar in ethos to Eau Claire than to the Twin Cities.  Such a creative merger would open up ministry opportunities in the neighboring part of Wisconsin, which is largely unserved by Episcopal parishes. There is even precedent for this. Morehead, Minnesota, was ceded to the Diocese of North Dakota not too long ago.  It’s been a good thing for the parish there.