Posted on 07/31/2009 4:41:35 PM PDT by iowamark
Next step for church is to find a priest
GALESBURG, Il — The fledgling congregation of Grace Episcopal Church of Galesburg voted to take the first step in applying for recognition from the Episcopal Church USA in a vote Wednesday evening. In the next chapter of the local and national split between the Anglican and Episcopal churches, 12 members of Grace Episcopal elected a five-person vestry to go before the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy.
Twelve members of the church attended the group’s second official meeting Wednesday. One observer from Grace (Anglican) Church, where many members formerly worshipped until Grace (Anglican) ended its affiliation with the Episcopal Church in 2006, also was present.
“We’re not seeking to establish a brand-new church here; we’re seeking to jump into the spot vacated (by Grace Anglican). A vestry is essentially a board of directors for our church (to do that),” said Mark Kelly, who chaired the meeting in his law office at 151 N. Seminary St. because Grace Episcopal does not have a building.
Many Anglican churches and dioceses throughout the country removed themselves from the national Episcopal church in the fallout from issues related to the interpretation of the Bible and more popularly, if not accurately, the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
When the national organizations of Anglicans renounced Episcopalianism — the two faiths had been lumped together since the 18th century in America — Episcopalians throughout the country, like those at Grace, were left without a place to worship their chosen faith.
Grace Anglican’s Father T.A. Janikowski wasn’t present at Wednesday’s meeting. He attributes the split to far more than sexuality, and says it comes down to three things: Jesus, the Bible and the Trinity.
“The one that makes the news is human sexuality. Frankly, if you talk to most people in my congregation, they’ll tell you we’re more about Jesus than worrying about what people are doing in their bedrooms,” he said.
Janikowski makes it clear that his church never purposely excluded the Episcopalians but simply had to follow their bishop and keep the church Anglican, which involved removing “Episcopal” from the sign.
“Had I not supported the bishop (who was rescinding the Anglican diocese’s affiliation with the Episcopal Church), I would have been gone,” Janikowski said.
As for the Grace Episcopalians’ leaving, Janikowski says it’s simple. “When the Anglican church ceased being Episcopal, they left the building,” he said. “I fully support people’s right to worship at whatever church they want.”
Whatever the reason for Grace Anglican’s split with the Episcopal Church USA, one person present at the meeting Wednesday night said it was clear that a change needed to be made for Episcopalians at Grace.
Tom Colclasure, his wife and two children stopped worshipping at Grace Anglican in 2005. He said, “The priest and the vestry were joining the Anglican church, and we wanted to remain Episcopalian.”
Since then Colclasure has been worshipping at an Episcopal church in Burlington, Iowa, and at Trinity Lutheran Church, 304 E. Ferris St., which welcomed many Episcopalians following the rift.
“Once we heard the Episcopal gang was getting back together, we decided we wanted to get involved in that,” Colclasure said. “We’re just trying to make a home for ourselves. There isn’t really an animus or an ‘us vs. them’ mentality at all.”
As for when the Grace Episcopalians will receive national affiliation to worship under that name depends on when the elected vestry obtains permission to join the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy. Doing so will align the church with the Episcopal Church USA.
Complicating matters is that the Diocese of Quincy is itself split. As a result of the 2003-2004 troubles, one faction joined the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, while the other remained affiliated with the Episcopal Church USA. The 12 individuals at Wednesday’s meeting in Galesburg are seeking affiliation with the Diocese of Quincy that is part of Episcopal Church USA.
Members of the newly elected vestry weren’t worried, and were happy to just get the ball rolling on what has been a long saga.
Grace Episcopal vestry member Barbara Factor said, “We’re supposed to get a priest here and we are looking forward to that. We’ve got Trinity Lutheran for now” — which, according to Mark Kelly has agreed to let Grace Episcopal Church use that building for an upcoming bishop visit in August. “The point is you don’t really need the building, as long as you have group that wants to worship and we all love the Episcopal service.”
As confusing as this sounds already, neither the Anglican nor the new Episcopal Diocese of Quincy is actually in Quincy. They are in Peoria, but they kept the historical name of Quincy to avoid confusion with the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.
I sincerely hope the orthodox leaders and members form their own Church and that it does extremely well. My hope is that this would leave the leftie oddballs on the outside. Is that possible? Sorry I haven’t kept up with what’s going on...
Ping
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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The author of the extremely funny (well, to me) Fr. Jolly comics? Has he published more?
The Cathedra in which all eight Bishops of Quincy had sat was completely destroyed. This was after the schism - the walkout of 90 percent of the congregation to form a new anglican parish on the other side of town...
The original Grace Episcopal Church, founded 1859, continues as an Anglican Church:
Grace Anglican Church of Galesburg
http://home.grics.net/~gracechurch/
Pastor’s blogspot
http://gracegalesburg.blogspot.com/
What really undergirds this—on the diocesan level anyway—is the setting up of a legal shell group of TEC, that is suing the Anglicans for the properties.
Anglican worship & polity—depending on the Church—is identical to Episcopal worship & polity (except usually with better preaching)—hence the idea that people are spontaneously setting up a rival congregation as their own idea is bunk...
“Once we heard the Episcopal gang was getting back together, we decided we wanted to get involved in that,” Colclasure said. “We’re just trying to make a home for ourselves.”
“Episcopal gang” indeed—a dozen malcontents enabling the Episcopal Church to have standing to sue for that “home for ourselves”
I suspect that if the prospect of money or property were not involved, that the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy would have very little interest in cultivating a replant of Grace Episcopal.
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