Immediately after Cobb's departure on Oct. 19, Bishop Lee had attempted to impose the revisionist James Jelinek, the retired Bishop of Minnesota, on the parish. But after Jelinek announced his agenda to further deconstruct Ascension's 150-year legacy, an uproar ensued by parishioners. At a special Parish Meeting on Dec. 5, some 50 persons (more than twice the required number) begged Bishop Lee for a say in the choice of their next spiritual leader. None supported Jelinek, and half specifically rejected him. Jelinek begged off, citing serious health difficulties.

On Jan. 12, Bishop Lee tried again and announced the appointment of an old friend of his: one Fr. Patrick Raymond, who had recently resigned a controversial 5-year tenure at St. Michael's in Barrington, Illinois. Details of Fr. Raymond's Priest-In-Charge contract remain undisclosed, but it is rumored that it could extend for more than a couple of years.

On Jan. 17, Fr. Raymond told the parish that he was suspending the Annual Parish Meeting and Vestry Election, which is required by the Canons to be held every January. He cited a clause in his employment contract -- added by Bishop Lee -- granting him a dispensation from that canonical requirement.

Now the church is so divided that many have left and those who are staying, including "Save Ascension", are not convinced that Fr. Raymond is a good fit for the parish even though he told VOL that he would maintain the parish's traditionalist stance.

In an e-mail to VOL, Fr. Raymond said, "My first impression is that the Anglo-Catholic heart of Ascension is intact! It may even be so that, due to the recent troubles, the heart of the congregation is more intentional and passionate about its Anglo-Catholic history and ongoing identity than it has been in a long time. My own initial appointment by the bishop and agreement with the vestry is for six months. Whether I last that long or end up being there longer, I hope that the mark I leave as priest, shepherd, liturgist, preacher, and strategic leader will honor and serve that Anglo-Catholic heart of this beautiful congregation and make it more joyful, faithful and supple."

Many parishioners now believe the real conflict at Ascension is between the parish and the clergy. A choice of the bishop's is not necessarily their choice. They are asking Fr. Raymond to indicate his good faith by restoring to their posts the three senior staff members who Cobb fired a year ago, precipitating the whole fracas. These include the choirmaster and world-renowned conductor, Thomas Wikman and Chicago's best known organist, David Schrader, along with parish administrator, Charles Taylor. At a very minimum they would like them restored enough to train up their successors. Whether that happens remains to be seen.

What has happened is that parish finances have suffered with all the changes. Raymond reported dismal pledge figures for 2016 along with plans to draw off 6 percent of the parish's Endowment for operating expenses -- an amount generally considered unsafe for the preservation of principal. Sources tell VOL that pledges are at an all-time low of $15,000, endowment is less than $500,000 and half the parish has left.

The Anglo-Catholic tradition in The Episcopal Church is under heavy assault, as indeed it is in the Church of England. Those who are leading the assault have no heed for its consequences for their Churches' relationship with the Roman Catholic or Orthodox denominations. Those two denominations will never, in the foreseeable future, introduce the departures from orthodox ordination standards which TEC and its companions in liberalism have embraced in an effort to "stay relevant" with the changing mores and times. Accordingly, those who part ways with them are parting ways with the church universal -- the church catholic.

This is a turning point in the history of the Church of the Ascension. Episcopalians have been facing similar turning points for years, now -- and many have been forced to pull out of the denomination in order to avoid compromising "the faith once delivered". The appearance on the scene of the Ordinariate has, not surprisingly, scooped up many Anglo-Catholics.

Slowly but surely, once proud Anglo-Catholic parishes in the Episcopal Church are being ripped apart by revisionist Episcopal bishops and turned into Affirming Catholic parishes with women priests adorning high altars and gay men mincing down aisles in clouds of incense, intoning liturgies they no longer believe in, praying to a pansexual god of their own devising.

The Church of the Ascension, it seems, might just be another victim.

END