What Is Going On In Hiawathaland?

just rearranging deck chairs…

This is like saying “If we move the couches over here to give a different view maybe those who sit in them will get a better idea of how we see things!”
Maybe they too are seeking “Change” as many Americans have been and are now touting is happening!

Jackie,

I must protest the misuse of the term “Hiawathaland.”  Northern Michigan, like the rest of the continental US, was once Indian/Native American/First Peoples territory.  But Hiawatha seems to point to a more specific location, far from the shores of the Upper Peninsula.

I clicked on the new thread name, expecting to hear something from either Fr. Tim Fountain in Sioux Falls, SD, or maybe Anglicat in Minnesota.  Properly speaking, I believe that Hiawatha story is set in SW Minnesota.

But maybe by Hiawathaland, you were suggesting that the Diocese of Northern Michigan is now living in fantasyland, in their own make-believe world, where wrong is right and where diocesan bishops don’t have to be ordained.  And I’d have to agree with that cyncial assessment.  TJ’s diocese appears to win the grand prize for being the looniest of the leftist dioceses in the country.

David Handy+

The article’s title comes from their newsletter.

O, then it must be okay.

Jackie usually has her “i’s” dotted and her “t’s” crossed.

The Hiawatha National Forest is also found in Northern Michigan.

David+, you have your geography wrong for the Iroquois.

I read through the full link and I am quite baffled. What the——are they thinking?  Ordination appears to be optional, even seminary training too.  Of course that may fit the TEO model.  But to use South Carolina as an example?  Towards the end there is a comment that “traditionally” anyone could throw their hat in the ring and they call it “self-selection.”  I suppose that may explain how KJS got to be a bishop.  They also threw in some psycho-drool about “reflectors” and “companions.”  Seriously, what is going on?

Dat der’s “Yupperland” if antin’, eh?

OK, OK, I withdraw my complaint.  It appears that several places in the country lay claim to the Hiawatha legend.  I didn’t know about the Hiawatha National Forest in Northern Michigan.

David Handy+

I agree, Nikolaus.  Those were my thoughts exactly - although I think I did temper it with a My Word! 

Anyone who has been baptized (which is an improvement considering this bishop) can wear the mitre it seems.  Of course, some of the theology coming from our mitre wearing individuals leads one to wonder if this trend started years ago.

Sounds a lot like the arguements made to advocate Lay Presidency.  Once you let the toothpaste out of the tube - - -

Oh well - it really dosen’t matter much.

Jackie, did you see anything in these documents saying clearly that Northern Michigan looks to South Carolina for precedent? I searched the documents in vain for any such suggestion, but I may have missed it.
I’m doubtful of it for two reasons:
1. The dominant theologies in Northern Michigan and South Carolina are profoundly different. That Northern Michigan would cite South Carolina as precedent for anything would be miraculous.
2. South Carolina did not use this process in the first place. Instead, this happened:
—South Carolina’s search committee prepared a slate of candidates, from which Mark Lawrence was elected on the first ballot.
—The Presiding Bishop ruled against his approval by standing committees, based on some flawed last-minute ballots.
—South Carolina then re-elected Bishop Lawrence on acclamation, reinforcing its discernment that God indeed had called it to elect Bishop Lawrence.
—Bishops and standing committees responded more punctually and precisely, and we may now call Bishop Lawrence by his rightful title.

TEC = Titanic
Diocese of Northern Michigan = Edmund Fitzgerald.

@ # 15 Ho, ho.

Perhaps Gordon Lightfoot could write a sad ballad about the D. of N. Michigan.

Yes Doug!  She copied it in the excerpt above.  It is straight out of their newsletter. 

The Diocese of South Carolina recently presented one person for election at their Special Convention. He was elected Diocesan Bishop at that Special Convention.

D’oh! Thanks, Nikolaus, and please forgive me, Jackie, for my too-quick skimming of your post.

Doug,
They are using Mark Lawrence’s election as precedent for submitting only one candidate to the electing convention.  Would that they were using the good bishop Lawrence as a model for that candidate.

Did they mention to the good people of Northern Michigan WHY there was only one candidate in South Carolina?  What?  No?  Well, I’m not surprised.

Anti-clericalism, and just that.
It has been the “motor” since the Reformation.
There’s not such a thing as “reformed catholicism”.

Umm, both the “Gitchegumee” and the “Falls of Minnehaha” are in EASTERN Minnesota, thank you very much.

The diocese can save all that money on travel expenses for the bishop candidates by only having one!

Chris Johnson had a funny thread about a coke bottle running for bishop, I believe. That sort of inspired me to propose the following.

I think that Frostbite Falls is pretty close to the upper Pennisula. There is a 6 foot moose with a little flying squirrel friend who might work for free. Being an animated character can be looked at as a real advantage. (Well, there might be some trademark issues.) But I see real potential.

The diocese can save all that money on travel expenses for the bishop candidates by only having one!

Rumor has it they will be looking close to home.  Note the “discernment” process was limited to nomination of those known personally to <strike>the powers that be</strike> someone in the diocese.

There is a 6 foot moose with a little flying squirrel friend who might work for free.

Fearless Leader spends quite enough time in this diocese already, thank you.  You keep the Moose and Squirrel in Minnesota, where the moose would still be a big improvement over the current holder of the see.

Let’s not forget that the folks who designed and are leading the bishop discernment process gave us this:

Affirmations

Because each and every one of us is an only begotten child of God; because we, as the church, are invited by God to see all of creation as having life only insofar as it is in God; because everything, without exception, is the living presence, or incarnation, of God; as the Diocese of Northern Michigan,

We affirm Christ present in every human being and reject any attempt to restructure The Episcopal Church’s polity in a manner contrary to the principles of the baptismal covenant;

We affirm the full dignity and autonomy and interdependence of every Church in the Anglican Communion and reject any attempt of the Primates to assume an authority they do not have nor have ever possessed;

We affirm the sacramental gift of all persons, their Christ-ness, especially those who are gay and lesbian, and reject any moratorium on the blessing of same-sex unions and consents of gay bishops, as it would compromise their basic dignity.

Welcome, all, to the new, improved Episcopal/Ministry Developer Church of the General Convention.

I think that you all have misread the point. They are not saying they do not want an ordained priest as a candidate, they are merely saying that the TEC canons require that the candidate be at least 32 years old and less than 72 years old to be eligible to be considered to be ordained and consecrated a bishop.

26 - The canons also require that the candidate be in prebyterial orders. (III.11.4(a)) 

Of course if the PB and the majority of those who happen to be a HOB meeting decide differently, the canons could be interpreted to say that the “Bishop-elect thinks about “having been duly ordered Deacon and Priest.”

YBIC,
Phil Snyder

27-
I’ve been told by a member of the “Discernment Team” that there was one lay application, but that candidate has not made the “final four” (from which they will present the “chosen one” to the convention- I should note that even some of the diocesan progressives do have a sense of humor).

If they choose a deacon, I am sure they will fall back on Thomas Becket as precedent.  However, note that there is some time allowed between the convention and the scheduled consecration, although I think this has to do more with GC than with a window for ordination.

It is all real simple,when the church has no message,besides stale left wing talking points and new age,psycho-babble, they go outta business. Maybe,um, Northern Michigan could like invite,that Jesus dude they told to go away, to come back. Then maybe something good would happen for them.