The Diocese of Northern Michigan’s Bishop Search Process & Timeline

I must say I don’t find much that St Paul would recognise in this profession of faith from the Northern Michigan website!

Our Vision
We envision a world in which all people live together in peace and in harmony with all of creation, where all can contribute and the gifts of all are joyfully received, nurtured, and supported, where our diversity is celebrated in community, and every creature is recognized as having eternal significance.

Consensus relies upon the community’s trust that God is indeed present in the exploration and conversation. Consensus is not so much a decision, as a realization, an “aha” – “yes, this is the way to go.” Consensus reflects the awareness that everyone involved “can live with the outcome.”

Episcobabble to English translation: 

Consensus = Fait Accompli

LOL @ the “Our Vision” statement.

Why exactly is this a separate diocese?

Diocesan Convention was a time for us to begin the discovery process of discerning who we are, what we value, and what that means for Episcopal leadership in our diocese. The fruit of these initial conversations will help the Standing Committee continue to shape a discovery process truly reflective of our common life in the waters of baptism.

What this means is that the diocesan standing committee will vet candidates in order to ensure that only reappraisers ever make it on the ballot.

Why exactly is this a separate diocese?

Irenaeus:  Don’t waste your time trying to find a reasonable explanation for the decisions of TEC!  Why is a state that is losing population divided into four dioceses?

Proliferation of microdioceses has contributed to ECUSA’s problems.

—- They increase overhead, diverting resources from mission (as traditionally understood) to administration.

—- They facilitate ecclesiastical and bureaucratic micromanagement.

As I recall, reducing the size of dioceses was supposed to help bishops pastor the clergy. It seems instead to have helped revisionist bishops master the clergy in a way contrary to ECUSA’s historic practice.

PS: Remember that the Diocese of Western Michigan is already on the financial ropes. Is the outlook in the U.P. really any better?

Piedmont [#7]: We cross-posted and seem to be thinking similarly.

The Diocese of Northern Michigan is the Upper Peninsula, separated from the rest of Michigan by the waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  It is a world apart in many ways, and so it is reasonable for the UP to be a separate diocese—although it is not very populated at all.  Those of the populace who are Episcopalians seem to be enamored of “new age” thinking.

Their former bishop (who died in a tragic car accident last summer) was, from what I have seen, a thorough “social gospeler,” believing that it is the business of the Christian to build the Kingdom of God on this earth—through political and social means, and at the expense of the government, because we (being rational people) really can’t expect God to act supernaturally to transform hearts and lives of benighted sinners—especially since there are no sinners, only those who are ignorant, improperly socialized, or psychologically unbalanced.

“I sense trouble when the title is ‘Seeking the Future: A Dance of Discernment and Discovery’”—-Sarah

Well, at least it didn’t include honeyed wine and raisin cakes.

Well #10, it does include “our common life in the waters of baptism”.
Sounds soggy.

AnglicanXn [#9]: You may be right. But note that the physical distance between the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula (population 300,000) is similar to the distance between Manhattan and Staten Island (population 500,000), the “forgotten borough” of New York City. The cultural distance is probably greater between Manhattan and Staten Island than between Traverse City and Marquette.

I think TEC or the General Convention Church should fold a bunch of smaller Dioceses into larger singular Dioceses; although the geography of Michigan being what it is, a good case can be made for dividing Michigan into more then one diocese . Didn’t Stand-firm post a bunch of new age jibberish from this crowd back in November or somewhere there abouts? I think it is safe to say, with facts on my side that Northern Michigan has constantly shown themselves to be heterodox. I think AMIA or someone should look into planting some churches up in the UP, eh. Making fun of TEC/ECUSA/The General Convention church,etc., is sadly much to easy. At least they/we are somewhat consistent. Dio. of Northern Michigan, yet more Techies,that need to meet the Jesus of Matthew.Mark,Luke and John and not that of the Gospels of Thomas,Phillip,and the of theological styling of Mr. Spong and one Matthew Fox etc.

Other than the cross shape embedded in the diocesan seal, there is not a thing on the website’s main page to indicate this is a Christian church.  “The Church in Hiawathaland” moniker is a real laugh, and is perfect for this “diocese”, because it evokes all the silly, un-Christian descriptions they use to describe what they are about—lots of “abundant waters”, “fruits”, and “gifts”.  No redemption, no transformational faith, no amazing grace.  Incredible.

Wow.  A thread on which I can claim a degree of expertise.  I live here.  BTW- Thanks to Sarah for looking out for me and any other orthodox Anglicans up in these woods.

So, if you are an Anglo Catholic, or otherwise orthodox, and living in the UP, send me an email.  I am, by the way, working on a response to the diocese response to the Primates Dar Communique (see the link on the website Sarah links to at the top of the thread).  As I am fond of saying, “I am no theologian.”  But then, I’ve read their statement through several times.  They are not theologians either.

The circumstances up here are a microcosm of TEC.  A few very active reappraisers run everything.  If you look through the diocesan website, you will quickly realize that one person often holds 3 or 4 jobs.

Part of the discernment process currently underway, I believe, is to determine if they will, indeed, have a bishop.  Arguably, a suffragan traveling through from Wisconsin, Minnesota or the Lower Peninsula would be able to handle all the episcopal duties with much less expense.  Many of the churches up here are missions- or very near that status.  In some of the larger towns, there are quite impressive TEC churches, I am led to believe at one time there were substantial congregations, but at this point, you could fit almost the entire ASA of the diocese into St James in Sault Ste Marie.  At any rate, it is hard to see how the struggling parishes here can afford a diocesan structure, I have assumed the whole diocese is essentially a mission for TEC.

The danger, as I see it, is that the standing committee (the authors of the dreaded affirmations) will be left unchecked for a long period of time.  To date, I have not found many up here who actually affirm the affirmations.  I hear the usual “how terrible the diocese is” from any number of laity and clergy.  Oh, I should note, I have also heard what may be the worst sermon I ever heard from one of the lay preachers (who I do not know personally, but based on her preaching, I would guess her to be a full supporter of the standing committee).  I think the hope of some on the standing committee, based on reading between the lines, is that the diocese will remain a diocese, but without a permanent, full time diocesan bishop.  I suppose there are missionary diocese that work this way.  But that would leave the standing committee in charge, and based on their expressed theology, which is pantheistic and universalist- that will be a disaster.

Now, please do not read this to mean that I do not think there are some good people up here.  There are many.  And by all accounts, even people who hate the diocese were quite fond of +Jim Kelsey- and he was well liked by many outside the church as well.  I think it fair to say that he was a real liberal- by which I mean that he was tolerant of many views, although his own were clearly progressive. I am sure the standing committee is made up of people who believe they are doing the right thing, and who I would no doubt like socially, and quite possibly agree with on civic issues. But as church leadership, they have clearly failed to uphold the doctrine of the Church.

What is unfortunate is that the same people who tell me they cannot stand the officials in the diocese did nothing whatsoever about it at the last convention- at least not that I have heard about.

It is a great shame, from my point of view, that the affirmations of Northern Michigan are apparently accepted as “mainstream Anglicanism” while the Affirmation of St. Louis is not.

I should note, for those wondering how I maintain a church life up here, that in some sense, I don’t.  While I do regularly attend mass, I have not officially transferred to a parish.  And will not, until the clergy of some parish have the guts to stand up to the standing committee.  In public.

In the TEC Red Book for 2006 this diocese is listed as having 1,968 baptized members and an average Sunday attendance of 800.
Their day of infamy on Stand Firm in 2007 was October 11, 2007 when Greg posted “In Northern Michigan, Everybody is God”:
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/6799

TJMcMahon: Many thanks for your report!

Stand Firm readers may (although it’s off-topic) be interested to know why the Upper Peninsula forms part of Michigan. The U.P. does, after all, share a long land border with Wisconsin.

Ohio and Michigan both claimed a 10-mile-wide strip running from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan—-territory that includes the city of Toledo. In 1835 Ohio set up county governments in Toledo Strip. Michigan made it a crime for Ohioans to carry out governmental functions there. Both Ohio and Michigan mobilized their militias. President Andrew Jackson favored Ohio but his attorney general concluded that Michigan had the valid claim.

Congress ultimately settled the Toledo War by alotting the Upper Peninsula to Michigan, which felt royally cheated until the discovery of copper and iron in the U.P.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War