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Three Midwest Episcopal Dioceses Move to Reunite as they Face Inevitable Extinction
A trialogue steering committee for Milwaukee, Fond du Lac and Eau Claire envision one new diocese
By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
March 27, 2023
Three Wisconsin dioceses are moving toward possible union and will vote at their October conventions, reports ENS.
Episcopal Wisconsin Trialogue Leaders of the Trialogue steering committee, representing Wisconsin's three Episcopal dioceses, say that the next several months will be pivotal in the discernment process that began in the fall of 2021. The process involves 58 leaders from across the dioceses of Milwaukee, Fond du Lac and Eau Claire.
This spring, the steering committee of the Trialogue is receiving reports from several of its seven task forces that were formed last spring. Their work will help the steering committee decide whether to recommend "reunion" to the standing committees of all three dioceses that they unite under one bishop. If they do, and the standing committees agree, a vote on "reunion" will be placed on the agendas of the three diocesan conventions that will meet on Oct. 21, reports ENS.
This is death by a thousand cuts wrapped up in the language of progressive aspirations and hopes of "shared mission," "common vision" with statements like this; "the future of God's mission is strong" even as churches die and close.
The average age of an Episcopalian in 2019 was 69, according to Ryan P. Burge, a political scientist. That is not going to turn these dioceses around. The average age and make-up of the Anglican Communion is black, female and under 30.
"We dream of a multi-generational church in Wisconsin," the Rev. Jane Johnson of the Diocese of Fond du Lac, a co-facilitator of the Culture and Mission Task Force, said. "A bigger diocese means more perspectives. People are longing to listen to different collective voices, hear their experiences and bring them to our life together and our work to create a more embracing and inclusive culture."
This is pure fantasy talk.
The issue of dwindling resources, namely less revenue income, means reducing staff sizes, contracting programs and much more.
To date there is no litigation planned for parishes that don't want "reunion" jammed down their throats.
The three dioceses might reflect on what VOL correspondent Mary Ann Mueller wrote on the Diocese of Eau Claire, in October 2021.
Wisconsin's youngest Episcopal diocese could become a historical footnote and slated for extinction; she wrote. You can read what she wrote here: https://virtueonline.org/diocese-eau-claire-slated-extinction
Apparently, that is now coming true.
In 2013, the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy also became a footnote in history when it was absorbed by the Diocese of Chicago. Quincy became the Peoria Deanery. More than half the parishes of the Diocese of Quincy left and joined the ACNA, with litigation costing the Diocese of Chicago northwards of $1MM.
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