Updated again Thursday morning
The Diocese of Quincy has voted to depart from The Episcopal Church and (separately) has voted to affiliate with the Province of the Southern Cone.
The Living Church has the details at Quincy Synod Votes to Join the Southern Cone.
Update Friday evening Episcopal News Service has a bulletin at Quincy members vote to leave Episcopal Church, align with Southern Cone.
Update Saturday evening
Episcopal News Service has this further very detailed report by Joe Bjordal Presiding Bishop says church laments Quincy departures.
Update Sunday morning
The Peoria Journal-Star has Episcopal diocese leaving national church by Erin Wood.
The Associated Press has 3rd Episcopal diocese splits from national church by Rachel Zoll.
Update Tuesday morning
Quad-City Times Episcopal Church split might turn into conflict over property by Deirdre Cox Baker
Update Thursday morning
There is a further report in the Living Church Quincy Promises ‘Christian Charity’ for Remaining Episcopalians.
No surprise.
God willing, like Pittsburg, we can look forward to greeting the faithful remnant that will remain with the TEC. If there isn’t one, that also speaks for iself and it is good that they are no longer part of TEC so that TEC’s name is not associated with such repression of diversity.
“He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you make it a den of robbers.'” (Matt.21:13)
Following Our Lord, let the evictions commence!
It sounds terribly grand that a Diocese is leaving and yet there are barely 1200 communicants in it!
I believe the voting numbers were such that a respectable minority in both lay and clerical groups will remain as the continuing faithful TEC group. One blog opines it is the cathedral that will remain as the TEC presence. In any event, far from a unanimous vote to depart. Next up is one of the Texas dioceses.
“It sounds terribly grand that a Diocese is leaving and yet there are barely 1200 communicants in it!” Grand indeed that such a small number of valiant defenders of the Gospel could have such faith as to srike out on their own, free of the taint of Godless hell bound liberalism, surrounded by a hostile society that hates them for their righteousness and wants nothing more than to see them destroyed, and has even taken over the Church whose dust they now shake off their sandals. One has to admire their fortitude and faith in the face of such oppression!… Read more »
True, RIW. Word on the street is that Quincy is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and has been for years.
Funny–I thought that the “orthodox” dioceses were all growing so fast they couldn’t pack everybody into the church without a shoehorn, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for Quincy, as with quite a few other fundamentalist dioceses.
So, let me get this right, what you’re saying Cheryl, JCF, and Robert is, “…those grapes were probably sour, anyway.” Nice.
The Diocese of Quincy, according to the charts on the Episcopal Church website, has an ASA of less than 900 people. The largest church in the diocese, the Cathedral, has an ASA of 250-300 people showing un Sundays. The Cathedral, as of the vote, is more than likely staying with the Episcopal Church according to people in the diocese. The majority of the other churches, many of which have an ASA of 10 people on Sundays, have already joined the Southern Cone as have all priests and deacons.
Taken on by a province which is Evangelical and protestant..and was brought together by the anti Catholic South American Missionary Society . What hypocrisy.
“”By realigning with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, we are now back in full communion with the majority of over 75 million Anglicans around the world.” – PJ STAR.Com – The re-Asserters of Quincy are surely kidding themselves, if they think that leaving the Episcopal Church in the US ‘re-aligns’ them with the Anglican Communion around the world. How can this act of desertion possibly qualify them to be recognised as ‘members’ of the Communion, when they have ‘dismembered’ themselves voluntarily. It seems like another episode of “Alice Thorugh the looking glass”. One expects the White Rabbit to… Read more »
The vote to depart for the new virtual realms of the Southern Cone is no surprise at all. This exit in a high huff has been carefully engineered over several years, more or less strictly according to the IRD-inspired meanness as embodied plainly ahead of time by the infamous Chapman Memo. Read the memo, tick off the steps in realignment. The big clue here is the hubris of denying church membership and authority from above, while seeking to enforce a localized conservative religious version of just that, within the virtually departing people. Sending new certificates to all clergy, insisting that… Read more »
It is amazing to me how un-Christian many of the sentiments on this page appear to be. The fact that any of our brothers and sisters would leave the church is one of great pain. Remember, Jesus left the 99 sheep to look for the one. I would remind many of you that the Episcopal Church by numerical standards is also shrinking and losing many members regardless of how many diocese stay put. What kind of commentary is all of this infighting, hardened pride, and obsession with property rather than compassion saying about us loyal Episcopalians. The fact is that… Read more »
J
Your comment is compassionate.
You might not be aware of the degree of shunning and exclusion that has been done to “non-suitables” by conservatives.
Philip Yancey gives embarrassing testimony from a few decades ago. There are liberals, catholics, women and/or GLBTs who can testify to aggressive measures to exclude them from their local diocese’s parishes and communities still today.
TEC is making a stand to protect those who were previously unprotected. Those who complain that there is no capitulation to institutionalised bullying might complain but it is usually a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
“The fact that any of our brothers and sisters would leave the church is one of great pain.” It is, and I am not for schism. But what about all the gay people who have left? What about the gay kids in those GAFCON parishes? How many of them are squirming till they get out from under Mom and Dad’s control so they don’t have to be exposed to this kind of hatred and bigotry? What emotional damage has been done to them, and how much will they hate the Church and God Himself when they are finally free? How… Read more »
“It is amazing to me how un-Christian many of the sentiments on this page appear to be.” – J – Dear J, If you think the correspondence on this site to be ‘un-Christian’, I suggest youi take a look at some of the other sites – the oxymoronically-named ‘Virtue-on-line’ blog, for instance. If arguing for tolerance seems sometimes to be intolerant, you do have a point of course. But how else is one to enter the argument? After all, Jesus is known to have been intolerant of some of the attitudes of the Scribes and Pharisees. How intolerant of him… Read more »
“I’m sure Jesus had people – especially among the Scribes and Pharisees – who would have found Jesus ‘un-Jewish’ in his castigation of their inhumane treatment of the marginalised of his own day. Does that mean that he was wrong in how he countered their behaviour?” Careful with this one, Fr. Ron. We are called to be more Christlike. But each side believes itself to be more Christlike. But, if we are to exhibit Christlike anger, who is to be the object of that anger? Liberals who want to revisit things we have believed for 2000 years in the light… Read more »
“In one of the final legislative acts of the synod, members approved a resolution submitted by the Rt. Rev. Donald Parsons, Bishop of Quincy from 1973-1987, requesting “that the leaders of The Episcopal Church seek with the Diocese of Quincy to find ways in which the two entities might carry out the mission” – Living Church –
This might be a possibility if the re-Asserters of Quincy were willing to stay within the TEC family. However, since the departing bishop and clergy have decided to sever their connection with TEC, such a ‘joint’ mission is not possible.