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Anglican Diocese of Quincy | |
|---|---|
 Cathedral of St. John in Quincy, Illinois | |
| Location | |
| Ecclesiastical province | Anglican Church in North America |
| Statistics | |
| Parishes | 29 (2024)[1] |
| Members | 3,663 (2024)[1] |
| Information | |
| Rite | Anglican |
| Established | 1877 |
| Cathedral | St. John's Cathedral,Quincy |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | Juan Alberto Morales |
| Website | |
| dioceseofquincy.org | |
TheAnglican Diocese of Quincy is a member of theAnglican Church in North America and is made up of 32 congregations, principally inIllinois but also inWisconsin,Minnesota,Texas,Iowa,Nebraska,Missouri,Hawai'i,Colorado,Tennessee, andFlorida in theUnited States. The diocese was a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009.
The Diocese of Quincy was founded in 1877 and was part of theEpiscopal Church until a majority of the diocesansynod voted to leave in November 2009 and to associate withAnglican Province of the Southern Cone as part of theAnglican realignment movement.[2][3] After the synod, statements from the Episcopal Church and the Southern Cone express conflicting views of what constitutes the diocese.[3]
After leaving The Episcopal Church, St. Andrew's ChurchPeoria, Illinois inPeoria, became the cathedral afterSt. Paul's Episcopal ChurchPeoria, Illinois, voted on December 4, 2008, by 181 to 35, to not be "realigned" or "removed" from the Episcopal Church.[4]
The offices of the Diocese of Quincy are located in Peoria, however, the Diocese retained the name of the location of its originalsee city,Quincy, and its original and currentcathedral ofSt. John's,[3] in order to lessen confusion with theRoman Catholic Diocese of Peoria.
Juan Alberto Morales, the founder and first abbot of Saint Benedict's Abbey in Bartonville, Illinois,[5] was elected as the 9th Bishop of the Diocese of Quincy on September 18, 2010. He was installed byRobert Duncan, Archbishop of theAnglican Church in North America.[6]
Keith L. Ackerman was bishop from June 24, 1994 until his resignation on November 1, 2008. He is a member ofForward in Faith, theSociety of King Charles the Martyr, theConfraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, theGuild of All Souls, theSociety of Mary, and the Society of Our Lady of Walsingham.[7]
The diocese does not ordain women to the presbyterate,[3] but does have eight femaledeacons.[8] As of 2006 it was one of only three dioceses in the Episcopal Church that did not ordain women to the priesthood; the other two were theDiocese of San Joaquin, whose convention voted to secede from the Episcopal Church in December 2007, and theDiocese of Fort Worth, whose convention voted in November 2008 to secede.[9]
In 2006, the Diocese issued a news release saying that it was "unwilling to accept the leadership" of Presiding BishopKatharine Jefferts Schori, and passed resolutions asking for "alternative pastoral oversight" and withdrawing consent to be included inProvince 5 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.[9]
On November 7, 2008, the 131st Synod of the Diocese of Quincy voted to leave theEpiscopal Church and join theAnglican Province of the Southern Cone. As Ackerman's resignation as bishop took effect on November 1, Edward den Blaauwen ofMoline, Illinois, was appointed to preside over the synod.[3]
The major resolutions, which both passed, were to annul the diocese's accession to the constitution and canons of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and to join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. After the vote to realign passed, it was announced thatArchbishopGregory Venables of the Southern Cone appointed den Blaauwen asvicar general in the absence of a sitting bishop.[3]
Also passed by the synod were: a resolution that parishes may withdraw from "the Synod of this Diocese" by a two-thirds vote within the following nine months, and clergy may transfer to other dioceses; a resolution that other parishes outside the geographic boundaries may join the synod of the diocese; funding for the Province of the Southern Cone and theAnglican Communion Network; support for theCommon Cause Partnership; and a new diocesan canon to govern marriage, defined as being between "one man and one woman".[3]
The Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop,Katharine Jefferts Schori, stated that "The Episcopal Diocese of Quincy remains, albeit with fewer members".[3] The legitimacy of other secession actions has been actively challenged by The Episcopal Church, which takes the position that dioceses and parishes may not leave without the Episcopal Church's governing bodies.[10] As a consequence, the long-term effect of these votes is unclear, as with similar cases in theEpiscopal Diocese of San Joaquin and theEpiscopal Diocese of Pittsburgh; both of those two dioceses have split into two factions, with each faction claiming to be the legitimate succession of the traditional diocese. Neither secession nor annulment of accession is provided for by the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church.[citation needed] The Constitution and Canons of the Province of the Southern Cone allow only dioceses in the six southern nations ofSouth America,[11] but the Province of the Southern Cone has agreed to accept realigning dioceses "on an emergency and pastoral basis".[12] None of these three dioceses was listed as part of the Province of the Southern Cone by the Anglican Communion office.[13]
The Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, which shall henceforth be called The Province, is composed of the Anglican Dioceses that exist or which may be formed in the Republics of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay and which voluntary declare themselves as integral Diocesan members of the Province.(Quote from Section 2.) Document onEpiscopal Diocese of Fort Worth website.